A COMARISON OF ISOLATION This essay compares the theme of isolation in the novels "Fire on the Mountain" by Anita Desai and "The Cripple and His Talismans" by Anosh Irani.

In the literary works Fire on the Mountain by Anita Desai and The Cripple and His Talismans by Anosh Irani, the main characters have chosen to isolate themselves from the world; mentally, physically, and socially. Nanda Kaul, the main character in Anita Desai's Fire on the Mountain, lives alone and feels it is the only way she can live. But when her great-grand daughter comes to visit, Nanda has a strange reaction towards the child's …

…rarely used it properly. <Tab/>Although both novels were very distinct in style and events, Fire on the Mountain being uneventful until the final climatic end, and The Cripple and His Talismans being absurd and full of many stories, the characters developed and realized things they had hidden from themselves. Raka helps Nanda hear a yearning within herself, and the cripple's lost arm allows him to make peace with his past.