Writingbywomanstrivestodestabilizethewomansfixedpositioninthelarger

societybyredefiningandvalorizingawomansspherewhichoftenappearsin
malewritingasunproblematised,assomethingmerelygiven.Thefemininetext
generates female centred experiences and symbols which are not merely the
obverse of the male tradition or simply on imitation but a multidimensional
discourseembeddedinbothfemaleandmaletraditions.
Writingbywomanisdifficulttodefineorcodify,itisadarkcontinentwhichhas
neverbeenrepresentedorvoicedinthelongsilenceofhistory.Thefemininetextis
likeavolcaniceruptionthatbringstothesurfaceviolently,whathasbeenhidden
thesubterraneanleveloftheearth.Soitcanbestbedefinedasanewinsurgent
writingthatchallengeswithseveralherstories,thesingular,linearandhomogenous
discourseofhistory.
Thesignificanceofwomanwriterscontributiontotheliteraryestablishmentliesin
the fact that they have seen the female identity as a continuous process of
becoming and thus have reflected its flexibility. This can be considered as an
alternativemethodofcharacterportrayal,andithadbeeninitiatedbytheforgotten
originatorsofthenovelgenreinthe18thcentury.
Whenawomanwriters,sheputsherselfintothetext,intohistory,intotheworld.
Thewomanwriterunthinkswhathistoryhassaidandthenwritesherselfanew.
Eachfemininetextisanewvoice,anewexperiencewhichisarecordofpersonal
herstorybutthepersonalbecomespoliticalbecausewhenthecollectiveherstories
convergetheyfracture,deconstructandrewritemalecentreddominantdiscourse.
Butitisimperativethatwedonotlookatwritingbywomanasapolarizationof
maleandfemaletraditionsbutacomplexdiscoursewithseveralintersectingpoints

whichinterrogateseachothercontinuously.Thepersonalispoliticalinafeminine
textbecausethepersonalherstoryblendswiththeherstoryofallwomanaswellas
withlocal,nationalandworldhistory.Therelationsbetweenwomanandmenare
notonlymediatedbyhistory,cultureandmoralitybutarealsopresentedinawider
contextsothattheredefinitionofwomanbecomessimultaneouslyaredefinitionof
man.
Therearenumberofdifficultiesinvolvedinbeingafemalewriter.Theideais
clear;itisdangerousforanywomanwhowritestothinkofherselfasapassive,
subordinatebeinginthehouse.Tobeawriteronehastodestroythestereotyped
imageofwomanasadomesticdrudge.VirginiaWoolfsaidthatwhenevershe
usedtowrite
the Angel in the House used to come between her papers. It was she who
botheredherandwastedhertimeandtormentedwheresomuchthatatlastshe
killedher.Shesaidthatitwasforhardertokillaphantomthanareality.
Elaineshowalter,inheressaytowardaFeministPoeticshasdefinedthisfemale
literarytraditionasLaGynocritiquewhichseektoconstructafemaleframework
fortheanalysesofwomanliterature,todevelopnewmodelsbasedonthestudyof
thefemaleexperienceratherthattoadoptmaletheories.
Objective
Writing woman emphasised the validity of female experience. It is about the
female need for choice and personal expression outside the Lakshman Rekha
drawn for them. There has been a tendency to ghettoize womans writing by

categorising it as concerned with issues of victimization, domesticity and non

intellectualism.
IndianWomanwriter
TheIndianwomanwritercanbedividedintothreecategoriesdifferentiated by
locationandlanguages.
a) IndianEnglishwriting
b) WritinginregionalIndianLanguages
c) Diasporicwriting
Theconcernofeachcategoryshouldbetodifferentiateitfromwesternfeminist
discourse,validatefemaleexperienceandwritenotjusttostatebuttochange.
The Indian woman writer seeks to strike a delicate balance as she mediates
betweenwesternselfindividuationandherfamilyandcommunalpersonainthe
Indian ethos. The woman writer in India needs to challenge genderised sub
alternitybycreatingaknowledgeofselftomarginalisemalecentreddominant
discourse and confront reality of feminine inheritance in the Indian context.
Femininewritingdoesnotaddressanornamentalvacuum,butisanendeavourto
recovertheircollectivepastandtorestructurethemissingwordsinthesentenceof
their lives contemporary IndianEnglish writing by woman is moving from
statement of victimization to changing the subordinate image of woman. The
Feministbiedungsromanisnotaboutayoungadolescentgirlonthethresholdof
maturitybutaboutagrownwomanwhohasexperiencedthedifferentroleplaying
ofthetraditionalIndianwoman.SincerealityfortheIndianwomanisgenderised,
thatiswhyexplorationofsexualityremainsamajorissue.
WomaninIndiaherstorythenandnow.

TheIndianconceptofwomanhasbeengovernedbytwoparallelcurrentsthe
visible one of woman in the subordinate role, the abala or the weak one; and
underlyingitisthatofwomanasasymbolofenergy,theactiveprinciple.InIndian
mythology,theconceptofthefemalepresentsanimportantduality:ontheone
hand she is aggressive malevolentthe destroyer and on the other hand, she is
benevolent,fertilebestowerthecreator.WomenisIndianpresentsaconfusing
paradox,theyareeitherworshippedorburnt.Inthepastthegirlchildwasburied
aliveaftershewasborn,nowwehavegoneonestepahead,femalefoeticideisa
technosavvywayofdisposingoffunwantedfemalebabies.Shebeginsherlifeas
theother,theoutcast,theunwantedasparayadhan.Rape,domesticviolence,
sexualharassmentattheworkplaceandreproductivecolonizationonlyconfirmher
statusasthesubordinatesexwhoseprimaryroleascaretakermakesheradomestic
slave.
Position of women in various era
Vedic period which was the golden age for women, men and women lived a free
pastoral life and society was patriarchal. Father used to be the priest but if a
woman could chant and compose hymns she was not forbidden to be the priestess.
She was Jaya Jani Patni the supreme ruler of her domestic world and the pivot
around whom the, whole household revolved. For ex. Draupati despite being a
queen has to cook the meal for her husbands. She also looks after the income and
expenditure of king Yudhistira and superintended his vast treasury. Thus women of
Vedic India were neither primitius nor ignorant creature but civilized and cultured,
and perhaps would claims more enlightenment than many ignorant women of
today.

Ancient period. During this period women too had the freedom to select their
husbands. The system know as Swayamvar. They were educated too as facts are
available from the works of Grammarians such as Patanjali and Katyayana.
Medieval Period. Women position deteriorated during this period women were now
looked upon as sex object.s for female it became necessary to be physically
attractive. Child marriage, ban of widow remarriage, sati purdah become part of
social life in various communities in India. Bapsi Sidhwa; water a novel portray
these events in an excellent way.
British Period. British Rule in India has a deep Impact on Indian women in three
different ways. Women were the sites on which imperial and colonical strategies
were worked out. Child marriage polygamy. Sati and widow remarriage all become
central issues. Women come to symbolize nationhood and with the myth of woman
as the motherhood being identified with them, they come to be treated as the
custodians of culture. Women entered public life on their own strength but were
not necessarily able to transcend gender roles and the post-independence
development strategies, gave them marginal or subordinate roles.
Partition forced many a woman to enter the job market as a main wage-earner and
led to many women-headed household coming into being. The beginning of
modern feminism can be traced to the mid 19th century when the woman question
acquired a political dimension. One of the first national level issue that brought
women groups together was Mathura Rape Case.
Modern Trend Although educated but it would be hard to say the violence against
women does not exist. Despite the ontensible acceptance of women being equal to
men and plethoro of law and human rights guarantees violence against women
which is also as (GBV) Gender Based Violence is a reality that has assumed huge

proportion. A quick look through the daily newspaper will give one an idea of the
epic proportion phenomenon that has taken.
a)
b)
c)
d)

At least one out of 3 women are beaten, forced into sex or abused.
One crime against women every 3 minutes.
4 out of 10 women experience violence in the home.
Molestation case every 15 min.

A women is violated because of being a women, which means gender is the reason
but there are many live example of women who has fought against all prevalent
violence and stood as an icon in front of the world.
Examples
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Purple Dandetion.
Yasmeena Choice.
Radika Story
Malala Yousafzai
Kiran Bedi
Indra Noorji
Indu Jain

Thus a women is never weak she has something a power to do even when she loses
control over everything else. The strength of a women is not measured by the
impact that all her hardship in life have had on her; but her strength is measured by
the extent of her refusal to allow these hardship to dictate her and who she
becomes.
What I personally feels that:
Ladies! You are not sexual object, not a punching Bag not a target for emotional
abuse! You worth more than that! You are created by God to be a partner to men
not a slave, to provide strength and support to them, not to be used and

manipulated by them, to submit to them not to become fool in that process. You
have your dignity and self worth Never Sacrifice that.
Shashi Deshpande Portray
Even in modern times, when women have achieved economic independence and
high education, they are still regarded as inferior too men. Despite holding a
responsible professional position, a womans work is not valued. Commitment to
her career is viewed as a deviation from her socially orclained roles of wife and
mother, while her career is often seen just as a means of earning extra money. The
man continues to remain the master of the house.
Shashi Deshpande portrays the dilemma of the modern Indian woman as she
oscillate between tradition and modernity. Born in 1938, in small town of dharwad,
shashi deshpande is the daughter of late Adya Rangachar Sriranga the famous
kannada playwright. Her writing career began initially with short stories, of which
several volume have been published. She is also the author of four children books
and seven novels. Her short stories have been collected and published in four
volume.
The legacy and other stories.
It was dark and other stories.
It was the nightingale and other stories
The miracles and other stories.
Deshpande novels like.
1. The Dark holds no Terror
2. If I Die Today
3. Roots and Shadow

4.
5.
6.
7.

Come up and be Dead

That Long Silence
A matter of Time
Small Remedies

Depicts the anguish and conflict of the modern, educated, independent, Indian
women roughly between the age of thirty and thirty five caught between patriarchy
and tradition on the one hand and self-expression, individuality and independence
for the woman on the other. She has examined a variety of common domestic
crises which trigger off the search. While revealing the woman struggle to secure
self-respect and self identity for her self, the author subtly bares the multiple level
of oppression, including sexual oppression experienced by women in our society.
What makes her an especially interesting author to study is her ability to depict
situations, characters, dilemmas straight out of everyday domestic life. Her novels
and short stories primarily explore the experience of oppression of Indian women
in the domestic set up, experiences which are rooted in the presumption that (a
woman) is an inferior being, an unwanted female child, of having to battle an
ingrained, deeply entrenched patriarchal system- all of which give rise to the
problem specific to the sex".
Deshpande feminism does not uproot the moan from her background but tries to
expose the different ideological elements that shape her. These include religious
and cultural elements such as myths, legends, rituals and ceremonies and social
and psychological factors such as womans subordinate position in the family as a
institution and western ides of self identity and expression as working philosophy
for the Indian woman.

In this chapter we have discussed Shashi Deshpandes novels, That Long Silence
which fetched her the Sahitya Academy award in (1990) small remedies (2000)
and
The Dark holds no Terror (1980)
All these three novels focus on the problem faced by the protagonist Jaya, Madhu
and Sarita in their domestic life and how all three of them strive to create a room of
their own within the confines of their domestic spheres.
The protagonists, subject their past to a close scrutiny and searches for answer to
their present problems. The narrative shifts back and forth, using the technique of
flashback. In the process of deluing into their past, the protagonists develop from
anxious, unhappy, unassertive women which they are at the beginning of the
narration into mature awakened, assertive women who understand and perceive the
gender politics of socialization and the need to break its shackles. They also
recognize the need to make their choices as free women and human beings.
That Long Silence attempts to break the silence imposed upon women and their
experiences by an overpowering phallocentric society novel employs a first person,
confessional mode, with its setting entirely domestic and its action almost entirely
in the realm of the protagonists consciousness.
Jaya Warns the reader at the very outset that she is not the heroine of her story, nor
is she taking about her isolated self but her preoccupation and man-woman
relationships, marriage and family life.
The novel is divided into four parts, the first part deals with Jaya disillusionment
with her married life, her exile to the Dadar Flat and recollection of her childhood
memories. Part II throws light on Jayas relationship with her children Rahul and

Ratim her encounter with a variety of women like Jeeja, Nayana, Tara & Mukta
which leaves a strong impact on Jaya making her realize that her life was just an
mundane and cumless as their. Her unsuccessful career as a writer of a weekly
column Seeta is also discussed. Part III deals with the relationship with her aunt
Vanita mamis niece Kusum, her difference with Mohan and the relationship with
her neighbor and mentor kamat. Part IV deals with the jorney of Jayas Self
realisation when she resolves to break her long silence and kill the angel which
had annihilated her individuality.
Jaya silence is symbolic in the larger context of whole generation of women who
suffer silently but never find the courage to speak out. Deshpande female
protagonist used their creative talent to articulate their suppressed feelings, sew
together their real experiences and make their own special identity. Jaya life as a
wife and mother has been influenced by the plastic image of the middle class
dream disseminated by television commercial. She is contented in her domestic
domain hill Mohan finds his job in jeopardy and they are forces to move to Dadar
where she starts contemplating the bits and peces of her past life and discovers
how she had successfully managed to suppress her feeling for seventeen years of
her marriage in her zeal to play the roles of a good wife and a caring mother.
In Indian society a marries woman is expected to suppress her own feeling and
need to those of her family and this unacknowledged martyrdom becomes part of a
housewife existence. The continued exaltation of self-effacing norms cerates an
environment which pressurizes a woman to accept or at least not to resist them
often silences is the only option to women in such situation.
Jaya had given up creative writing because Mohan disapproved of it. Her heart
warming story about a man who could not reach out to his wife except through her

body had won her a prize, but Mohan was against it. Mohan decision to crub
Jayas free expression is indicative of how the patriarchal society restricts self
expression of women.
Seeta symbolised the patriarchal construct which barred any sensitive real writing
by women and wanted women to be portrayed as men saw them, not as they really
were.
Jayas journey toward self actualisation that started with her climbing the staircase
of the Dadar flat and an archeological survey of her past reaches it culmination
when she is chaken form her slumber by multiple factors including her solitude,
her female neighbors, her mentor Kamat and final message of Lord Krishna
highlighted by her father diary.
Yathecchasi tatha kuru- the final words of Krishnas long sermon to Arjuna Do
as you desire!
I have give you knowledge. Now you make the choice. The choice is yours. Do
as you desire. Jaya becomes aware that despite being educated and having a
probing mind, she had distances herself from her inner self. Thus Jaya decide to
reveal her true self to Mohan, instead of making him understand the truth about
herself. Thus Jayas decision to erase the silence and her self realization of a real
self was closely allied with her writing and she finds her identity and self
expression. She kills the angel that engulfed her as a writer and decide to reveal
her true self in her marriage and writing.
Thus it is woman herself who has to exhort and come out of the mire of patriarchal
oppression and assert herself as an individual.

Small Remedies celebrates female ancestors, its focus is not on women who
suffered silently at home but on those who were pioneers in the world. It is about a
community of women- three strong women, Savitribai Indorekar, a great singer;
Leela, an active party worker and Lata, a career women who influence the
protagonist narrator, Madhu Saptarishi, who learns from them how to cope up with
problem of life. The three women are quite different from each other and Madhu
serve as the medium through which they are linked to each other. She looks upon
these women as embodiment of strength and admires the control, over their lives.
Novel explores the lives of two women Savitribai Indorekar born into an orthodox
Hindu family, elopes with her Muslim lover and accompanist, qhulaam saab to
pursue a career in music and Leela, a strong-willed and gentle woman gives her
life to the party and to working for the welfare of the factory workers of Bombay.
After fifty years, Madhu, leelas niece travels to Bhavanipur, where she is passing
her last year to write a biography of Bia caught in her own despair over the loss of
her only son Aditya, Madhu tries to make sense of the lives of Bai and those
around her in doing so, seeks to find a way out of her own grief.
Novel Small remedies present the philosophy of life that it is impossible to keep
disaster at bay and if we desire happiness, we have got to accept the sorrow and
pain as well. Novel gives one the strength that even if there are non dreams left for
a person because of some personal loss, life has to be lived.
The Novel is divided into two parts. Part I deals with Madhu Saptarishi stay in
Bhavanipur, in Hari and Latas house. She goes down her memory lane to
Neemgaon where she had spent her childhood. She tells the reader with her
obsession with the singer, Savitribai Indorekar and her daughter Munni. She also
talks about her relationship with Tony, her close friend and brother who is Leels

step son. Her meeting with Bai Makes her wonder how Bai has totally wiped out
the memories of her only daughter, Munni who died in the same bomb blast as
Aditya. Madhu is unable to understand how a mother can be so cruel as to never
mention her only child who is no more.
Part II deals with Madhus effort to come to terms with her life and accept the fact
that her son is no more. Madhu is Bais doppelganger, because bother women have
shared the same experience of bereavement, but while Madhu is grieving for a
beloved child, Bai seems to have wiped out Munni from her memory. In trying to
understand Bais experience Madhu finds answer to her own dilemma.
Communities of women are emblems of female self-sufficiency which create their
own corporate reality, evoking both wishes and fears and counter anti-love which
is fostered by a sexist society. In this novel too, the domestic crisis triggers off the
search for self for Madhu. Does this mean that there are no remedies in life? Of
course, there are available are small remedies for example an affectionate hug like
Tony gives to Madhu, the words of a song like the one sung with feeling by Hasina
etc.
Thus Deshpandes work makes a significant contribution to and individual of
becoming and she has moved beyond the give gender of stereotypical role models,
even beyond androgyny to assert the right of woman as woman to a human space
in the large world.
Even as images of domesticity and martial unhappiness are explored, the task of
deconstructing and dismantling these confining spaces goes on. She uses the
cultural heritage, so often described as Indianness to subvert patriarchal
hegemony and counter the male imagination of socio-cultural realities with a
womans view of the same.

 The Room is your own, but it is shill bare. It has to be furnished; it has to be
shared. How are you going to furnish it, how are you going to decorate it? With
whom are you going to share it and upon what terms?
Shashi Deshpande Novel The Darkholds No Terror Portray the modern, educated,
career oriented women who are sensitive to changing time and situations. They are
equally aware of the social and cultural inequalities to which they are subjected to
and rebel against them in their quest for freedom and identity.
The novel open as Sarita arrives at her father doorstep from Bombay in fight from
a husband who rapes her violently every night but behaves the next morning as if
nothing has happened.
Saru is a wife, doctor and mother of two who marries Manohar for love and has
been estranged from her parents over since. News of her mother death becomes the
ostensible reason for Sarus escape, since her low self-esteem has prevented her
from confroning Manohar about his abuse. The rest of the novel consist of Sarus
flashbacks to her traumatic childhood, college and professional career and married
life. At last it is her father who wiges her not to run away from her problem but to
face her husband when he comes to ask her to return. The novel ends as Saru is
called away to attend a sick child, telling her father to ask Manohar to wait. Her
social role as a doctor gives her the confidence to face him, in prompting the
recognition that she has a public identity in addition to her private roles of
daughter, wife and mother and that furthermore, she is
all of these and much more.
This the novel is highly symbolic and presents the need for confrontation through
metaphor of light and dark.

Women are always caught in the Darkness. As soon as they begin to speak, at the
sometime as they are taught their names, they are also taught about their, territory
i.e Dark or Black. They are taught that Dark is dangerous, you cant see anything
in the dark. So, dont move you might fall.
The Dark Holds No Terror is a female bildungsroman which traces the protagonist
Sarita growth from a guilt ridden, fragmented individual to a woman who
unconsciously recover the hidden mother and affirms her identity. Thus in the
Novel Sarus journey towards self-actualisation starts from low self-esteem to the
recongination of her worth as an individual who is not dependent on others.
Through novel it becomes clear how sexual politics work in a devious manner in a
patriarchal society. The idea of masculinity is synonymus with strength, superiority
and this view has been perpetuated by myths and society.
In a patriarchal setup since the mother is the one enforcing rigid rules of dos and
donts, she become the source of anger and resentment for the daughter. The
arguments between Saru and her mother highlight the bitterness between them.
Thus it is relative term who is oppresses and who is in the same time oppressing.
Sarita is a modern woman caught between her traditional roles as a mother, wife
and the demands of being a professional woman. The author subtly highlights that
an Indian woman is willing to forego her professional development to mountain
her marital status.
Saru also come across women in the neighborhood who are angels in the house
suffering in silence. She tries to understand their problems and empathises with
them. These women farm a part of the maternal web which connect Sarita to her
mother and helps her regain her true self. The mother wit of bonding, sisterhood

and compassion helps Saru to realize the strength and perseverance of her maternal
past and her real identity as a mother, daughter and doctor.
Towards the end Saru resolves to take the reins of her life into her hands. She
introspects philosophically and reaches the conclusion that escape is a ridiculous
idea and one cannot attain happiness though anyone else.
The protagonists in Deshpandes novels are not portrays as victims but are equally
blames for their oppression as they do not stand up for their rights.
Thus a womans life is her won and she should start thinking as a individual quite
capable of withstanding all the trails of life. Far a woman to become person, she
has to cross over from being an object with no will of her own and no role in
carving her life, to a subject who can take her own decision and make other listen
to her.
As a woman writer she has create a female literary tradition by creating text that
speak of womans powerlessness yet celebrates female power. She looks at the
construction of womanhood specifically in the context of the social and cultural
condition that exist in Indian mynths, tradition and legends. And expose the
patriarchal ideology hidden in them. Thus her novels has questioned these sexual
and stereotypes and advocated the need for women to address their sexuality as a
medium of self identity.
Conclusion:
The purpose of this study is to revise misconception that trap women within a male
literary discourse and make a sustained investigation of the feminine text as a work
of art. S.Deshpande interprets feminism as a balancing act between the need for
selfhood and respect for the family as an institution.

Woman centred world present a shifting representation to counter a static definition

of woman and invite a more problematic awareness of women as individual
character.
The Indian feminist novel perform a significant function of instilling a positive
sense of feminine identity by portraying positive role models of women who are no
dependent on men. The image of a journey is employed as a personal and
psychological one and it fallows an evolutionary spirit as women move form
victimization to consciousness. Thus writing about women helps in the retrieval of
subaltern voices and the creation of New Sita.
The Indian woman writer uses marriage not as the end of a womans life but as a
beginning of the journey to self-actualisation. The leit motif of the journey to
selfhood in all the works is a return to the past, to understand in retrospect how on
becomes wo-man.
Writing becomes a metaphor for self expression, for retrieving the gaps and holes
of her story and to recover a collective past. Moreover his has enable the woman
writer to move beyond images of women as victims, to women as doers, creating a
consciousness of women power and a literacy tradition to which all woman can
relate.
The Indian feminist novel does not offer utopian solution to the problem of
women. It believe that the key to female empowerment begins and ends with the
self. It does not remove a female sphere from the general culture shared by men
but presents a woman centred world within the large world, contextualizing it
within two traditions at the same time. Thus women writing has established the
importance of women as a producer of textual meaning and created a space a

room of their own and a female idiom where the voice of women can be
articulated.