Theme Of Shashi Deshpande

Life story of Shobha De is the story of a ‘new woman’ of the post-independence India. Shobha De bears multitalented personality. Almost all her books are best sellers because of her realistic projection of the image of the upper-class woman of modern India. Shobha De tries to reveal the above-conferred feminine features. She delve into the world of urban woman and firmly speak about the despicable rising of the graph of woman exploitation in the modern day society reaching new height of socio-political and economic accomplishments. Shobha De’s anxiety with diverse features of life of woman makes her depict a diversity of women from the dominated, marginalized and conventional to the incredibly

Women in India were unaware of their miserable condition. It is in the post independence period the women’s quest for identity of her own commenced. The 20th century saw the shift from outer to inner sensibilities and no one can better understand a man or woman better a feminine writer. In modern English fiction a number of women novelists have arrived on the literary scene, they have set out making new forays in to the world of women. Nayantara Sahgal being a feminist writer has emphasized in her novels on freedom and a new definition of the New Women. Sahgal’s heroines are well aware of the injustice done to them in their marriage and they come out of this traditional bond.

This paper attempts to examine the fictional projections of Indian girls, to see how they emerge in ideological terms. Their journeys from self-alienation to self-adjustment, their childhood struggles against the hypocrisies and monstrosities of the grown-up world, eventually demolishing the unjust male constructed citadels of power that hinder their progress- are the highlighted issues. The point of comparison between the two novels focused on here is the journey of Rahel in The God of Small Things and Sai in The Inheritance from a lonely childhood to a tragic adulthood passing through a struggle with the complex forces of patriarchal society. Both the novels portray the imaginativeness, inventiveness, independence, rebelliousness, wide-eyed wonder and innocence associated with these young girls.

Anita Desai presents to reader her opinion about complexity of human relationships as a big contemporary problem and human condition. At the level of inner consciousness words are not mere meanings recorded in a dictionary but are symbolic which trigger feelings and meanings that an individual draws out of one’s subconscious storehouse. Her women characters make a reader look at them with awe with their relationship to their surroundings, their society, their men, their children, their families, their psychological make-ups and themselves. Though not admittedly a feminist, Anita Desai is well aware of the predicament of the Indian women and their relationship with men. Running inward her fiction grapples with the intangible realities of life. Man-woman relationship in the urban society is her concern and in novel after novel she delves deeper and deeper in this dilemma. D.H. Lawrence rightly points out that "The great relationship for humanity will

In Hindu culture, the sex of a baby is more significant than in western cultures. In eastern countries, boys are revered and cherished while girls are considered “curses” since being born a girl brought to the father the burden of paying a dowry. This type of gender hierarchy is exemplified in Mukherjee’s novel by Jasmine’s statement, “I had a ruby-red choker of a bruise around my neck and a sapphire fingerprints on my collarbone after my birth. When I revealed this to Taylor’s wife, […] she missed the point and shrieked at my ‘foremothers’ […]. My mother was a sniper. She wanted to spare me the pain of a dowryless bride” (Mukherjee 40). Mukherjee utilizes Jasmine’s nonchalant description of her near death experience coupled with her rationalization to show that the brutal treatment of baby girls is a common occurrence in her culture. Conversely, the reaction of Taylor’s wife is a metaphor for the western perception that the conduct of Jasmine’s mother is a form of barbarism. By using Jasmine’s birth, Mukherjee exposes the realties of a male patriarchal society in which girls bring considered dilemmas to families.

Unlike other women novelists, Anita Desai concentrates on the exploration of sensibility, that too feminine sensibility by probing deep into the inner life of a woman. Desai reigns supreme in her fictional world by focusing attention towards “the quest inward” and concentrating on the still grimmer and more harrowing presentation of Indian life. In fact all her characters are sensitive, solitary and hyper- introspective. Her fiction balances itself delicately on the fringes between things and awareness of things, between chaos and order of mind. Her primary interest lies in exploring the disturbed depths of the female psyche. . The most prominent feature of her fiction is her mode of individualizing the character. She is preoccupied primarily with the portrayal of women protagonists as living in a

Kapur has explored the agony of a woman under patriarchal pressure and state of social ostracism. In their search for individual identity, the women characters prove themselves as real women of flesh and blood who have their own emotions and sentiments and urge for new identity in the life. The novelist explores their yearning for intellectual space in the traditional society. Kapur’s novels reveal disintegration in woman’s life, her struggle for basic rights and quest for identity and survival. She portrays how women are suffering from economic and socio-cultural lacunas in the male governed society. They have been still deprived for their basic rights, their aspirations to their search of individuality and self-reliance.

The main protagonist Prem, a Hindi teacher with a second class B.A., in Mr. Khanna’s private college in Delhi and the other representative of his class Sohanial confront against several social and familial realities which are the consequence of Indian planning. The break –up of the joint family and the mashrooming of nuclear family have created some problems in Indian society and then there is need for new adaptations and adjustments. This phenomenon as a feature of the new India comes in Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s fiction for

Literature provides a window into the lives, thoughts and actions of women during certain periods of time in a fictitious form, yet often truthful in many ways. Through submissive natures, complaint men, using only silent means of escape. Literature forms a means to express the pent up feelings of women and women worldwide have used literature as a tool for expression. Many Indian writers have established a place for themselves by voicing out their cries on behalf of the Indian women. A close reading of British literature up to 19th century reveals that social issues and challenges faced by women form a part of it but they were represented by male writers, the validity of which is ambiguous. Women’s literature which Jane Austen gave rise in true sense, flourished not only in English Literature but also in other literatures.

The traditions, culture and society in India have given precedence to men over women in multitude of issues concerning family, administration, decision-making and several other matters of high magnitude. This gender bias has gradually taken a shape as male chauvinism, which resulted in the oppression of women and subjected them to insufferable physical, psychological, moral and ethical castigation. Women, albeit contribute equally with men in societal and domestic affairs, are not allowed to enjoy equal status with men in traditional India. Indian society has always manifested them as obedient daughters, dedicated mothers, devoted wives and loving siblings. The funniest thing in Indian culture is a mother, being a woman, alienates her daughter and manifests antagonism to her, if she makes attempts to question gender-bias in her family or in society. The novel is an impeccable manifestation of post colonial period where a woman is fighting for her constitutional rights for education and power. The female protagonist Saritha in the novel acquires good education and becomes a doctor despite her mother’s antipathy to girl education. She sustains her mother’s antagonism to her who perpetually maltreats her with her offhand attitude to her very existence in the family as she wrongly concludes her as the murderess of her dear brother, Dhruva. Further, she is estranged from her family as she marries a person of her choice. Her husband, Manohar is a school teacher. Saritha, being a

Anita Nair is a name indelible in the arena of female Indian writers in English. Her books, set in the everyday world of India, mesmerize the reader with evocative language and descriptions. For Bangalore based author Anita Nair Kerala is the source of inspiration, weakness and strength. In her works Nair presents the dilemmas that women face in their relationships with parents, husbands, siblings, friends, employers and children and their struggle towards self-realization. It is not easy to be a contemporary Indian woman. On the one hand

For the protagonist, Sampath, struggle arises from his reluctance to accept his social expectations. “ He thought of public transport, of the Bureau of Statistics…of never ever being left alone…I want my freedom” . Sampath also defies his gender role through his misadventure at the wedding where, “he attached a noise ring decorated like a chandelier with glassy, glinting drops. He wondered if he could be considered beautiful” . Desai’s extensive satire of the patriarchal Indian society

Women writers of all ages have a natural preference for writing about women characters. Anita Desai is no exception in so far as she has written by women characters. Most of her novels move around women characters. She is preoccupied with the theme of incompatible marital couples. We come across different kinds of women characters in her novels. Many critics have addressed the theme of broken marriages and unmatched couples in her novels. She represents women 's mind and psyche in its varied moods. In one extreme there are sensitive characters, on the other hand the thick skinned women with a sensibility.

Anita Desai is recognized as the first Indian author writing in English who delineates feminist themes seriously, focusing on the conditions of women in India. The conflict of her characters is noted to be as one, between reason and instinct, the will and reality, involvement and detachment. She is deep rooted in her native culture that is evident from her themes, style, landscape, images and of course, in her successful experimentation with English novel. Her novels raise many issues of universal relevance and its beauty lies in the fact that it can be interpreted from various angles. All her novels have themes chiefly exploring the human psyche to its deepest depths. Anita Desai’s exploration of female domains historically,

Indian novelist and short story writer, Anita Desai is specially noted for her insightful depiction of the inner life of the female characters in her writings. In most of her novels Anita Desai dwells on the themes incongruity, incertitude and hazards of human relationship particularly the man-woman relationship. D.H. Lawrence points out: