Theme Of Women By Shashi Deshpande

Tyson explains the basic concepts of feminist theory, and the ways in which readers can use the theory as a lens to examine the social pressures and gender roles within a literary work. To examine through a feminist lens, theorists need to first look at the different characters’ genders to determine whether their roles and responsibilities “conform to traditional (patriarchal) gender roles” (Tyson 84). “According to [patriarchal] gender roles, men are naturally rational, strong, protective, and decisive,” but “women [are] naturally emotional…, weak, nurturing, and submissive” (87). Moreover, “anyone who violates traditional gender roles is [looked upon as] unnatural, unhealthy, or…immoral” (86). Therefore, due to the “oppression of women” in

A feminist lens looks at the relationships between men and women. It specifically focuses on the portrayal of women within the work of literature. It attempts to analyze how women have been affected by men and their actions. It not only works to show how women have been marginalized and suppressed by society, but also how they have been privileged. However, a “feminist lens” mustn't solely focus on femininity. It also examines the role of “masculinity” in the portrayal of men .The “feminist lens” accomplishes all of this in the pursuit of analyzing gender boundaries and norms (Delahoyde 1).

     I have thought about many different ways to organize this paper and have come to the conclusion that the best way to approach the topic is on a book-by-book basis. My perceptions of the gender biases in these books vary greatly and I did not want to begin altering my views on each so that they would fit into certain contrived connections. What interests me most in these stories is how the authors utilize certain character’s within their given environment. Their instincts and reactions are a wonderful window into how the authors perceive these “people” would interact with their surroundings and often are either rewarded or punished by the author through consequences in the plot for

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.

These books look at each gender on an entirely different level of each other. The roles they fill are completely different. Socially they are held to different standards. I found this to be something that stuck out to me while reading this story. Women are looked at as property that switches from the fathers to the husbands in marriage. Likewise women seem to feel the need to have a man in their presence. These situations are throughout the story.

In the novels of Shashi Despande , Silence is the theme which can easily be felt by the readers throughout her novels. Breaking of silence by her protagonists in different ways makes their voice heard by everyone. So far as women’s work, speech,

As a result of the abuse female characters have faced, it has become an objective for authors to prevent this. There have been clear strides recently, putting women as the protagonists, and not in a manner that has them dealing with persecution. The amount of strong, female characters is a large stride in the right direction to end the conflict regarding women’s roles in literature. However, this sudden influx of women in literature may lead to the reversal of the issue; the absence or abuse of men. While certainly literary equality is the end goal, to flip the issue would be just as bad and lead to sexism on the opposite spectrum. To truly mend the rift between genders, there must be no discrimination, the idea that an author is trying to use sexist undertones by not writing the lead as a female should not have to be an idea that readers think about when analyzing modern books. While even still there are issues of gender inequality in literature, there must be moderation from both ends for a resolution to be possible. The only way for equality to be achieved is with the absence of sexist ideals from all

The lack of male presence symbolizes their disdain in the women’s lives. As portrayed in the book, the protagonist and other major characters are all females, suggesting self-sufficiency. The author writes about the women being left by their husbands, but moves on, depicting male triviality. The female characters also develop their independence when they rely on each other during difficult times.

For Deshpande's protagonists, giving up of their roles as daughter, wives, mothers, homemakers and professionals

Masculinity is an odd concept, because in many ways it is representative of strength and power. However, it is also represented through pop culture, literature, media, etc. as being rather fragile. In feminist literature, we see this fragility come through at incredible rates. While simply looking at a couple of novels, it is possible to evaluate how the power dynamic of masculinity puts up its walls when facing the smallest threats to its power. Through analysis of Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, it is possible to see how the figureheads of masculinity panic as soon as they are posed with the smallest threat. The protagonists of both stories are categorized as “mad” or “abnormal” throughout the course of each respective plot. They are placed there under the pretenses that this classification is what is best for them because it allows them to get the help they need and deserve in order to get better. However, these declarations of madness are really born from the infringement of both characters upon the pre-established patterns of masculinity and the panic that ensues from the male voice as a result of this deviance from traditional norms.

Cinema is taken by feminists to be a cultural practice representing myths about women and femininity, as well as about men and masculinity. Many characters in the novel break the boundaries of traditional male or female gender roles. Sofia’s strength and sass, Shug’s sexual assertiveness, and Harpo’s insecurity are major examples of such disparity between a character’s gender and the traits he or she displays. This blurring of gender traits and roles sometimes involves sexual ambiguity, as we see in the sexual relationship that develops between Celie and Shug. Disruption of gender roles sometimes causes problems. Harpo’s insecurity about his masculinity leads to marital problems and his attempts to beat Sofia. Likewise, Shug’s confident sexuality

Give that this novel is written by a woman, about women, it was interesting to notice that almost all male characters are portrayed negatively. For example Aliyah’s abusive father, Suzuki and the rest of the neighborhood boys, Aboud, the neighbor who raped Aliyah’s sister, and Aliyah’s “crocodile” husband.

Anita Desai undoubtedly holds a prominent position among the Contemporary writers of Indo –Anglican fiction. She is a bold and experimental Novelist with a new sense and vibrant richness. Much attention is given to the emotional crisis of her protagonists who live in a chaotic society. She delves deep to find out the factors responsible for such a despair and attempts to suggest solutions to overcome it. From her novels, it is clear that she, possesses one of the healthiest and psychologically most balanced minds in the realm of Indo – Anglican fiction and the sanity of her tastes and attitudes, is almost exemplary, a point worth emulation for her fellow religionists in the field of writing. As a woman writer she does not profess to be a feminist and yet she voices the fears and concerns, the hopes and aspirations of her characters in her own artistic way. She is deeply fascinated in exploring the social structure through the central characters in her novels. She is a minute observer of the society existing around her, perceiving everything minutely and delicately so that the situations can be presented in a poetic style.

All characters in the novel are living in a man’s world; nevertheless, the author has tried to change this world by the help of her characters. She shows a myriad of opportunities and different paths of life that woman can take, and more importantly she does not show a perfect world, where women get everything they want, she shows a world where woman do make mistakes, but at the same time they are the ones that pay for these mistakes and correct them.

Bharati Mukherjee is one of the accomplished diasporic writers. Her writing focuses mainly on women’s suppression, struggle to overcome the problems and attempt to attain identification. Bharati Mukherjee also depicts the cultural conflicts between the East and the West. When a person enters into a new culture from the old one, the conflict arises between the two cultures in the alien land. This paper explores how the female character, Jasmine is portrayed as protagonist in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine. Bharati Mukherjee portrays Indian woman as protagonist in all her novels and the character takes brave decision to emigrate which is the first major step of heroism. The character is portrayed with the capable of facing adventures and creates own happiness and identity, unyielding by conventionality. In Jasmine (1989),