Theme Of Women In Shashi Deshpande

Indian Writing in English has been entered a new phase in finding the New Woman, a dissatisfied woman with the cultural and sexual roles assigned by the patriarchal society. The New woman attempts to rebel against the cultural and social oppressions. But at the same time she cannot reject the cultural social background in total. There is a female dilemma a conflict in her mind. Because of this conflict she cannot depict her revolutionary spirit to the highest level. Women, in India, were long unaware of their miserable condition. It was only with the advent of the Indian Renaissance, the new education, political struggles and the ever-increasing western impact that they began to show some signs of awakening. Fortunately, there were many …show more content…
Shashi Deshpande is writing at the transition of tradition to modern. The woman in this state is neither free nor dependent. She is in between the two. There is an urge for the identity and independence in them. The collision of culture and the revolutionary spirit of woman are vividly portrayed in the novels of Shashi Deshpande. The main theme of her novels is redefining the role of new woman and reinforcing the state of confusion imposed by the age old tradition in the patriarchal society. Shashi Deshpande's novels depict the Indian Women who are at the cross roads and the protagonists suffer to overcome the cultural barriers on the way to 'self identity'. She attempts to closely analyze man-woman relationship within the perimeters of family and the contemporary social set-up. The women she portrays are educated urban middle class women who are in search of their 'total personality' in the fragments of shattered roles in family, career and society. She primarily focuses on the captivating problems and the suffocating environs of her heroines, who struggle hard in this malicious and callous male-dominated world to discover their true identity. Deshpande has thrashed women’s problems and situations in a fast-changing social scenario. We cannot brand her either as 'typical Western liberated or an orthodox Indian …show more content…
Both are educated middle class women, confronted by the female dilemma. Sarita (saru) a career woman has been tortured by her husband physically. In The Dark Holds No Terrors Saru has been a successful doctor in the day but a 'terrified trapped animal' at night in the hands of her husband, Manu. The economical freedom and the social status she has got with the help of her profession have disturbed the 'male-ego' of Manu. Saru is not ready to compromise and so the ego of the two becomes the base for the problem which destroys the happiness they found in their love marriage. The tortures are endless and Saru has been driven to her long forgotten parental home where she finds the time for self- analysis and self-