Image of Woman in the Novels of Shashi Deshpande

Image of Woman in the Novels of Shashi Deshpande
Author: Dr. Varsha P. Zanwar
Publisher: RUT Printer and Publisher
Total Pages: 43
Release: 2014-12-27
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN: 9384663050

Though not an avowed feminist, Shashi Deshpande occupies a significant place among the contemporary women novelists who concern themselves with the problems of women and their quest for identity. Her creative talent and accomplishment have established her credentials as a worthy successor and contemporary to the Indian English writers such as Desai, Shobha De, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Bharati Mukherjee etc. In this book, two novels by Shashi Deshpande – 1. The Dark Holds No Terrors. 2. That Long Silence are studied in detail for the sake to find image of woman in both the novels. Shashi Deshpande's novel "The Dark Holds No Terrors", seeks to discuss the male ego which refuses to accept a secondary position in marriage. The novel narrated the harrowing experiences of the protagonist 'Sarita', who enjoys a greater economic and social status than her husband Manohar. Deshpande also makes the readers aware of society's reaction to the superior status of the wife in a marriage, which leads the husband to develop an inferiority complex. The novel also seeks to discuss the blatant gender discrimination which is shown even by parents towards their daughters. Deshpande effectively conveys the craving by parents for a male child and the disastrous effect it can have on a sensitive going girl. Denied of parental love and victim of her husband's frustrations, 'Sarita' undergoes an arduous journey into herself and liberates herself from guilt, shame and humiliation to emerge in full control over her life. Shashi Deshpande's novel, "That Long Silence", brought her into limelight as it was rewarded by the prestigious "Sahitya Academy Award". The novel deals with the protagonist Jaya's passage through a mare of self doubts and fears towards the affirmation of herself. A crisis in the middle-class family of the protagonist triggers off a chain of events which compel her to view her life in retrospection. What follows is an honest and frank account of Jaya's life. In her anxiety to play the role of wife and mother to perfection. Jaya realizes that she does not do justice to her talents as a writer. Her constant fear of displeasing her husband and inviting the censure of society, not only make her give up writing but also discourage her from acknowledging her friendship with a man who is not her husband, brother or father. The novel focuses Jaya as a representative of the modern young woman - educated and aware - nevertheless unable to break free from the strangle - hold of tradition. In the process of telling her story, she offers us a glimpse into the lives of ostensibly content housewives who are nevertheless suppressed under the weight of male dominance. Thus this book helps to find out image of woman in these novels. I record my gratefulness to the principal of J.E.S. College, Jalna- Dr. R. S. Agrawal, Head of the Department of English- M.A. Sami Siddiqui for support and encouragement at every stage of my work. I also offer my sincere thanks to the senior teachers of my Department for their valuable suggestions. I feel deeply to put into words my sense of thankfulness to my family.

Shashi Deshpande's Novels

Shashi Deshpande's Novels
Author: Siddhartha Sharma
Publisher: Atlantic Publishers & Dist
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2005
Genre: Feminism and literature
ISBN: 9788126903856

The Present Book Seeks To Study The Feminist Perspective In Shashi Deshpande S Novels. It Reveals Deshpande S Sincerity And Ability In Voicing The Concerns Of The Urban Educated Middle-Class Woman. Trapped Between Tradition And Modernity, Her Sensitive Heroines Are Fully Conscious Of Being Victims Of Gross Gender Discrimination Prevalent In A Conservative Male-Dominated Society. A Culture-Specific Approach Has Been Adopted To Unravel Shashi Deshpande S Pragmatic Resolution Related To The Modern Indian Woman S Beleaguered Existence. The Book, It Is Hoped, Will Make A Rich Contribution To Women S Studies.

That Long Silence

That Long Silence
Author: Shashi Deshpande
Publisher: Penguin Books India
Total Pages: 210
Release: 1989
Genre: India
ISBN: 9780140127232

Jay'S Life Comes Apart At The Seams When Her Husband Is Asked To Leave His Job While Allegations Of Business Malpractice Against Him Are Investigated. Her Familiar Existence Disrupted, Her Husband'S Reputation In Question And Their Future As A Family In Jeopardy, Jaya, A Failed Writer, Is Haunted By Memories Of The Past. Differences With Her Husband, Frustrations In Their Seventeen-Year-Old Marriage, Disappointment In Her Two Teenage Children, The Claustrophia Of Her Childhood&Amp;Mdash;All Begin To Surface. In Her Small Suburban Bombay Flat, Jaya Grapples With These And Other Truths About Herself&Amp;Mdash;Among Them Her Failure At Writing And Her Fear Of Anger. Shashi Deshpande Gives Us An Exceptionally Accomplished Portrayal Of A Woman Trying To Erase A 'Long Silence' Begun In Childhood And Rooted In Herself And In The Constraints Of Her Life.

Emergence of new women in the novels of Shashi Deshpande and Anita Desai

Emergence of new women in the novels of Shashi Deshpande and Anita Desai
Author: Dr. Rachana Yadav
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2018-12-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0359224989

Since ancient time's Patriarchal hegemony on socio-cultural institutions has established the general notion about woman as a shadow figure to a male concierge, be he a father, a husband or a son. It was also a granted notion that reader, writer and even critic of all literature can only be male because this notion assumes the exclusion of female voice from the institution of literary expression- shunning her as an inferior sex. The purpose of all Patriarchal conspiracy is to retain power and possessive right over womenfolk. To make women believe that there is such a thing as essence of femaleness called femininity serves the purpose of Patriarchy. This speaks of the Male-chauvinistic conspiracy and prudish notion of the male-dominance in the world for exploitation of womenfolk.

Women in the Novels of Shashi Deshpande

Women in the Novels of Shashi Deshpande
Author: Suman Bala
Publisher:
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2001
Genre: Women in literature
ISBN:

The Anthology Reveals Deshpande`S Ability To Articulate The Feelings Of The Contemporary, Urban, Educated, Upper Middle-Class Woman Caught In The Transitional Period Between Tradition And Modernity.

Tradition and Modernity. Changing the Images of Women in Selected Fiction by Manju Kapur and Anita Nair

Tradition and Modernity. Changing the Images of Women in Selected Fiction by Manju Kapur and Anita Nair
Author: Sasikala Alagiri
Publisher: Anchor Academic Publishing
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2017-11-21
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 396067709X

Along with a range of socio-cultural, political and economic concerns, the focus on ‘self’ has been an inevitable assertion of writers during the last quarter of the twentieth century. Individualistic in tone, the contemporary women novelists are trying to portray realistically the predicament of modern women torn between the forces of tradition and modernity, their sense of frustration and alienation, the emotional and psychological turmoil and complexities of man-women relationships and subtleties of feminine consciousness against the persistent patriarchal social set-up. Cognizant of the evils originating from patriarchy, a positive sense of feminine identity has been recognized by them and the result is the emergence of a new woman in Indian society and its concept in the Indian English novel which has assumed a strident posture in the contemporary writings by women. The shift from submission to assertion, acquiescence to resistance and obedience to rebellion, however, has not been abrupt and effortless. Women are still in the process of negotiation with different limiting factors and thresholds of patriarchy to claim their due space and affirm their identity. The present study is an attempt to critically investigate the negotiations with cultural norms by the women characters in the selected novels by the contemporary novelists, namely Manju Kapur and Anita Nair. Almost all the women characters, major and minor, from the selected novels have been considered and positioned as per their ideological leanings and convictions under two thematic chapters namely “Women in the Clutches of Traditional Norms,” and “Tradition to Modernity.” The major issues around which the novels move – education, marriage, gendered space and mother-daughter relationships – are taken up to put them within the contemporary social conditions in which women characters live. The present book is divided into five chapters to make a critical and analytical study of the select novels of these contemporary Indian women writers in English. The present work is focused on five selected novels: Manju Kapur’s “Difficult Daughters”, “Home” and “Custody” and Anita Nair’s “Ladies Coupé” and “Mistress”.

Dark Holds No Terrors

Dark Holds No Terrors
Author: Shashi Deshpande
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2000-10-14
Genre:
ISBN: 9351181618

Why are you still alive-why didn't you die?' Years on, Sarita still remembers her mother's bitter words uttered when as a little girl she was unable to save her younger brother from drowning. Now, her mother is dead and Sarita returns to the family home, ostensibly to take care of her father, but in reality to escape the nightmarish brutality her husband inflicts on her every night. In the quiet of her old father's company Sarita reflects on the events of her life: her stultifying small town childhood, her domineering mother, her marriage to the charismatic young poet Mahohar.

The Binding Vine

The Binding Vine
Author: Shashi Deshpande
Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2002-09-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 155861785X

“There can be no vaulting over time,” thinks Urmila, the narrator of Shashi Deshpande’s profound and soul-stirring novel. “We have to walk every step of the way, however difficult or painful it is; we can avoid nothing.” After the death of her baby, Urmila finds her own path difficult to endure. But through her grief, she is drawn into the lives of two very different women—one her long-dead mother-in-law, a thwarted writer, the other a young woman who lies unconscious in a hospital bed. And it is through these quiet, unexpected connections that Urmi begins her journey toward healing. The miracle of The Binding Vine, and of Shashi Deshpande's deeply compassionate vision, is that out of this web of loss and despair emerge strand of life and hope—a binding vine of love, concern, and connection that spreads across chasms of time, social class, and even death. In moving and exquisitely understated prose, Deshpande renders visible the extraordinary endurance and grace concealed in women's everyday lives.