Theme Of Identity In That Long Silence By Shashi Deshpande

1874 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Position of women in modern Indian society

QUEST FOR IDENTITY IN SHASHI DESHPANDE’S
THAT LONG SILENCE
Shashi Deshpande is an award winning Indian novelist. She is the second daughter of famous Kannada dramatist and writer Shriranga. She is also a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award for her novel That Long Silence (1988). Most of her works have centred around women, and their encounter with self as well as their quest for identity in this male-dominated world. Her women characters try to subvert the traditional model of a man-centred world where the women are always marginalized and pushed towards the periphery.
Deshpande’s women characters are not the uneducated and under-privileged women. Rather her protagonists are women of good education and cultured upbringing. It seems natural that an uneducated and naive person can be easily exploited and suppressed. But the story becomes different when a well educated and professional woman is succumbed to oppression by her male counterparts. Because in this situation both are standing on the same plane and are equals. Still the female characters yields to the domination of the males – be it her father, brother, husband, or a colleague. This very unreasonable and illogical oppression becomes the dominant theme of Shashi Deshpande’s novels. Deshpande portrays a very realistic picture of the middle class educated women who though apparently independent, are still facing the confusion, convictions, and problems of adjustment; thereby feeling frustrated and bearing that long silence which has been their lot for many centuries. Most of Deshpande’s heroines are educated women who struggle and break out of the family mould to choose their own way of living life. All her novels deal with the women’s psyche and feminine consciousness. As ...

... middle of paper ...

...forward and carve out a fresh and new identity for herself. Through etching out the ‘real’ Jaya , Shashi Deshpande very aptly puts forth her idea of the ‘new woman’ – a woman with a refreshed identity. The novelist, through Jaya, tries to illuminate the idea of a woman who is capable of taking her decisions, her responsibilities, and liberating herself from ‘that long silence’. She is the ‘new woman’ who has been given the knowledge, and now the choice is hers. She must do as she desires.

Works cited and referred
Deshpande,Shashi. That Long Silence. New Delhi: Penguin Books,1989. Print.
Dhawan,R.K. Indian Women Novelists. New Delhi: Prestige Books,1991. Print.
Haldar,Santwana. Shashi Deshpande’s That Long Silence: A Critical Study. New Delhi: Asia Book Club,2005. Print.
Sivaraman,Shanti. The Fiction of Shashi Deshpande. New Delhi: Creative Books,1998. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Rigoberta Menchu

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her realization that she is not alone in her oppression brings her a sense of freedom. It validates her emerging thoughts of wanting to rise up and shine a light on injustice. Her worries about not wanting to grow up because of the harsh life that awaits her is a common thought among others besides the people in her community. As she makes friends with other Indians in other communities she realizes the common bonds they share, even down to the most basic such as what they eat, which comforts her and allows her to empathize with them.

    Read More

  • The Power Of Context Gladwell Summary

    1869 Words  | 4 Pages

    The entire society never really knows the true them. Gladwell would impose that “our inner states are the result of our outer circumstances” meaning that we are products of our environment, or immediate social context (157). The way being a women affected Jayanthi immediate social context is by her having promiscuous relationships without her family knowing. Gladwell would impose that the power of her social context, which is one of a traditional Hindu family where she is supposed to have one sexual encounter would make Jayanthi behave in that manner. Although she goes against this she is not in control of her identity because her new immediate social context that shapes her. Bell states Jayanthi’s bad-girl mentality allowed her “to control her identity, rather than having it controlled by either her family or the men she encountered” (34). Jayanthi believes that she is finding herself by changing her social context, but in reality she 's becoming a product of her new environment. The first man she had feelings for, played her and after she “vowed not to be played by a man again” (32). This experience is what cause Jayathi to take up this bad-girl persona in hopes to find herself. Unfortunately she is unable to because she just becomes like the men who played her, and starts playing men. Her identity becomes one of her new social

    Read More

  • Sense Of Identity In In Defense Of Masks By Kenneth Gergen

    971 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article “In Defense of Masks” by Kenneth Gergen, he claims that instead of developing “a coherent sense of identity”, people put on different “masks” that he constantly changes. Gergen believes that an individual’s development of a coherent sense of identity can make him “experience severe emotional distress”. People tend to act a certain way so they can receive the approval of others. The approval of others can bring satisfaction and enhance the self-esteem of a person but to succeed in this he must adopt different public identities. Moreover, in some cases individuals consciously wear various masks because of the situation they’re found in.

    Read More

  • Endurance: Hidden in A Thousand Splendid Suns

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    If Hosseini aims to convey a message that women are tantalizing and provide warmth to society but are hidden and masked, evidently there must be an issue causing this suppression of women in society; thus the political and cultural backdrop plays in to the impression the reader takes away from the novel. Hosseini conveys his message of enduring and optimism profoundly through these two characters. If not for the political and cultural backdrop of the novel, the story could not have been developed with the significance and comprehensiveness that it currently has, which essentially are the backbone of the impact this novel has on the reader through a striking presentation of reality that has never been seen in this light, sending a motivational message to fight for the right cause and endure when necessary to achieve the ultimate target.

    Read More

  • Transgression Of Love Laws In Arundhati Roy's The God Of Small Things

    2250 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...ly plays out the dilemma of the postcolonial writer that Anantha Murthy had discussed. Her writings and concerns are clearly subversive of the traditional bastions of power and keep out of the trappings of regressive social forces. On the other hand through her creative use of language, Roy engages in a dialogue with the West, challenging dominant narratives of India’s history. She does not confine herself to redressing the ‘insults’ of a colonial past, but is also keenly aware of the shadow of an older pre-colonial history. In her narrative of Transgressions, Roy offers a view of a Nation caught in transition and proves herself to be a product of its postcolonial culture. She makes no clear choices between tradition and modernity in any exclusive way, instead striving to arrive at a heterodox reality that does not belie the complexities of the Indian Consciousness.

    Read More

  • The Significance Of Identity In The Namesake By Jhumpa Lahiri

    1580 Words  | 4 Pages

    have not realized the significance of identity and the ways values are affecting them. Regardless of this, individuals who struggle with their identity have taken action to protect themselves. When one is in question about one’s identity, they must evaluate the morals and beliefs that they carry to form their identity and build it to become bolder. Some have experiences from which they learn while other may not have had opportunities. Through literature many learn about other’s experiences and assess what they have valued and whether it is part of their identity. Unlike many, I have experienced and assimilated to my identity. Literature teaches us the value that holds in our identity. To many individuals literature helps find specific values that they have not realized before, for me literature taught me to appreciate my identity.

    Read More

  • thematic essay on identity

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many aspects of identity in the poem “Sex without Love,” by Sharon Olds. I can relate my own thoughts to how the author views the subject that she talks about in this poem. There has been a situation in my own life where I was thinking to myself, just as the author was, “How do they do it, the ones who make love without love?” (Olds 740). Having been raised as a well-rounded and disciplined person, as well as religious, I know the discouragement of having premarital sex. It’s not just the immorality that these characters are experiencing that the author is talking about, but they probably have personal issues that have to do with a their self worth and identity. These characters think they know what love is, but the truth is that they are in denial of what they are really doing.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Sense Of Identity

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    Our sense of belonging can change according to our perceptions of the world around us. Belonging is a part of human nature,and it can be enriched or challenged by our ever-shifting contexts. Significant experiences in life can often limit an individuals sense of belonging. The choices you make to overcome experiences, that can include barriers can enrich ones sense of identity. Barriers may arise when the individual fails to connect with community. They may also be evident due to cultural differences. The Crucible written by Arthur Miller and Shaun Tan’s The Arrival utilise various techniques such as juxtaposition symbolism and metaphors that explore the notions of enriched or limited sense of belonging using characters or real historical contexts to convey the complex nature of belonging.

    Read More

  • Sense Of Self And Individuality In The Namesake By Jhumpa Lahiri

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout life, it is important for individuals to obtain their own sense of self and individuality. Jhumpa Lahiri narrates a story of this young man, Gogol, who is caught between two worlds, through her novel The Namesake. Through the progress of the novel, Gogol comes to terms with his multicultural and complicated identity. Gogol’s struggle with his identity is the focus for the novel, and his name becomes a symbol for this difficulty. Gogol grows up never understanding the significance of his name and grows up hating it. By choosing one name over the other, Gogol decides to define himself under a different self. And last but not least, the narrative depicts Gogol's fractured identity as he tries to disassociate himself from both his family and his cultural heritage to forget his own self.

    Read More

  • A Woman's Place in Fantasia and So Long a Letter

    3217 Words  | 7 Pages

    Through these two novels, we’re able to see the quandaries that women must face when modernity and old customs come head to head. Both of these women remain brave and to try to sustain their new found freedoms, despite any difficult encounters. It is these women with their fierce ideals that would make them pioneers for all women liberation movements.

    Read More

  • Gender Trouble by Judith Butler

    1724 Words  | 4 Pages

    In this chapter Mahasweta Devi’s anthology of short stories entitled Breast Stories to analyze representations of violence and oppression against women in name of gender. In her Breast Stories, Devi twice evokes female characters from ancient Hindu mythology, envisions them as subalterns in the imagined historical context and, creates a link with the female protagonists of her short stories. As the title suggests, Breast Stories is a trilogy of short stories; it has been translated and analyzed by Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak and, in Spivak’s view, the ‘breast’ of a woman in these stories becomes the instrument of a brutal condemnation of patriarchy. Indeed, breast can be construed as the motif for violence in the three short stories “Draupadi,” “Breast-Giver,” and “Behind the Bodice,”

    Read More

  • Vision of Man-Woman Relationship in The Hungry Tide

    2385 Words  | 5 Pages

    Ramamoorthy, P. “My Life is My Own: A Study of Shashi Deshpande’s Women” Feminism and Recent Fiction in English Ed. Sushila Singh. New Delhi: Prestige, 1991.

    Read More

  • The Quest For Identity

    645 Words  | 2 Pages

    Zora Neal Hurston’s book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, reveals one of life’s most relevant purposes that stretches across cultures and relates to every aspect of enlightenment. The novel examines the life of the strong-willed Janie Crawford, as she goes down the path of self-discovery by way of her past relationships. Ideas regarding the path of liberation date all the way back to the teachings of Siddhartha. Yet, its concept is still recycled in the twenty-first century, as it inspires all humanity to look beyond the “horizon,” as Janie explains. Self-identification, or self-fulfillment, is a theme that persists throughout the book, remaining a quest for Janie Crawford to discover, from the time she begins to tell the story to her best friend, Pheoby Watson. Hurston makes a point at the beginning of the novel to separate the male and female identities from one another. This is important for the reader to note. The theme for identity, as it relates to Janie, carefully unfolds as the story goes on to expand the depths of the female interior.

    Read More

  • A Study of Mahasweta Devi’s Draupadi

    1276 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mahasweta Devi, always writes for deprived section of people. She is a loving daughter, a clerk, a lecturer, a journalist, an editor, a novelist, a dramatist and above all an ardent social activist. Her stories bring to the surface not only the misery of the completely ignored tribal people, but also articulate the oppression of w...

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Susanna's Seven Husbands

    1750 Words  | 4 Pages

    Indian Writing in English has a special status in English Literature owing to its treatment of women characters. Short stories help the writers to project select characters in an impressive way to the readers. In Indian context the status of woman in a society and her treatment is very different from those of her European or American counterparts. Women are depicted both as a good and evil in literature by various writers. However, in no literature is a women stereotyped as was done in Indian literature. Away from the mythical stereotyping of women, Ruskin Bond portrayed his women in a different way. The female characters of his short stories range from a small child to a grandmother. These characters are as powerful as men and have left a strong impression on the readers. I have chosen following eight short stories for the critical analysis of Ruskin Bond’s Women in this paper.

    Read More

More about Theme Of Identity In That Long Silence By Shashi Deshpande

Open Document