Ruhi

Research Scholar in English, Arka Jain University, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India

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Dr. Manoj Kumar Pathak

Associate Professor of English, Arka Jain University, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India

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Abstract:

The major concern of Shashi Deshpande is to depict the miserable plight of woman belonging to the Indian middle class. She shows how women struggle to liberate themselves in their quest for identity and freedom. This paper portrays the courageous efforts of Indian women amidst all odds creating possible avenues in Indian society through a study of select short stories of Shashi Deshpande. In her works, Deshpande reveals how women overcome multiple levels of oppression through emancipation and empowerment. Women, in Shashi Deshpande’s works are hardworking, silent and sincere. They live like animals. They embrace intolerable sufferings, yet hope for a better future. Woman was considered fit only for household affairs. Thus, she started living a routine life of child-bearing, rearing, cooking and fasting for the welfare of the family and dying in the process of serving others. She usually describes the Indian women of our families. There is a voice of protest against the marginalized condition of women. Instead of meek heroines, we find bold and courageous women. Shashi Deshpande through her stories show how education became instrumental in bringing significant transition in the middleclass life-style of women. Most of them assert themselves or fight against the odds; some of them easily accept the role traditionally offered to them, while few of them opt for death as the ultimate solution to the mundane man-made problems. Today, India is a nation of women, who are ready to buck that trend, stand up for what they believe, in the face of hostility.

Key Words: liberate, oppression, freedom, sufferings, courageous, transition, hostility 

Introduction:

The dominating theme of quest for freedom is what every female writer of post-modern era has tried to express in significant proportions. Freedom is one's birth right. Every person is born to be free and likes to live freely. But the problem is how to define the term "liberation." "Liberation" in its dictionary meaning means "having the freedom to do what one wants."' The women writers have tried to discover the complex identity of women in the patriarchal set up and tabooed social system. The prominent changes in the cultural, social and economic patterns in India, especially during the last two decades, have been clearly brought about by the prominent women writings, which though written in English, are genuinely Indian to the core. Shashi Deshpande, however, occupies a unique position among contemporary Indian novelists in English. She deals with the middle-class Indian women.

The condition of woman deteriorated due to certain social evils like Sati system, child-marriage, ban on widow-marriage etc., which become a part and parcel of our society in different ages. Due to the impact of Islamic culture, the purdah system came into being which secluded woman from the society. The social freedom was snatched away and woman was considered fit only for household affairs. Thus, she started living a routine life of child-bearing, rearing, cooking and fasting for the welfare of the family and dying in the process of serving others. The dyed-in-the-wool customs enhanced the ideology of female subjection in India. She was forced by tradition to curb her freedom, condition herself to suppress her needs and sublimate herself in martyrdom of self-denial, effacement and service of others like her sisters around the world.

In women's fiction, one can see the female protagonist in all shades- the power of women, the deviousness of women, the helplessness of women and the courage of women. Shashi Deshpande, when compared to other writers of twentieth century is much more candid in voicing the fears and concerns regarding the future of women in uncongenial surroundings. In all her novels and short stories, Deshpande writes about, a society in which we breathe, a culture to which we belong. Her major concerns emerge from our own environment, from our immediate world, holding up mirrors to our own lives. She is, thus, acquainted with Indian temper and endeavours to bring forth in her works, aspects of the changing Indian society.

Shashi Deshpande emerged on Indian fictional scene only in the seventies. What is seen in her fiction is the perceived and felt "human relationships" amidst a husband and a wife, a mother and a daughter, a brother and a sister.

Deshpande expresses her views in her interview to Vanamala Viswanatha, "It's necessary for women to live within relationships" but "rules" should not be "rigidly laid. This is what I have tried to convey in my writings." (Literature Alive, 13.)

In Deshpande's short stories, all the protagonists undergo mental conflicts of varying intensity. Some of them fail during the struggle due to their inner weakness, while others face the inner challenges boldly and due to their strength they attain freedom. Conclusion will probe deeper into narrative technique of the novelist. It seems very interesting to investigate what does "liberation" mean to her middle-class educated women; and what type of liberation they seek - social, economic or spiritual; and to what extent are they successful in achieving it.

Education became instrumental in bringing significant transition in the middleclass life-style. Given the opportunity, the middle-class woman acquires education and aspires to escape the hackneyed roles and wants to widen the space allotted to her by the society. For the first time, she has the glimpses of a world, which was earlier, the exclusive domain of males.  Now, she enjoys recognition and respectability. Nevertheless, her employment has enhanced further her tales of woes. At home, her contribution is scarcely ever recognized while at her working place, repeatedly, she is considered as inferior being or is harassed and exploited. In the house of an employed couple if one has to leave the job it is the woman who is, generally, asked to do the same. Even after education and embarking on a career, she continues to be regarded as being incapable of taking decisions. The working woman has to confront the problem of marital adjustment as well. Most of the husbands are reluctant to share the domestic responsibilities like looking after children. These duties are, however, considered to be solely that of the wife who after completing the household task rushes to the working place. Not only this, the man likes his wife's salary but it hurts his ego to accept her as his equal. The situation becomes so crunchy when the earning of a woman is higher than that of the husband and when she is more competent in her work. The bulk of employed women have to hand-over their earnings either to their husbands or to their in-laws. Oftentimes her working hands remain invisible. Usually, her contribution to the survival or betterment of the family and the society is viewed as a natural outcome of her caring, nurturing and self-effacing nature.

There was a time when the Indian woman was hailed as pativrata and someone who has to be protected by man, but she is a changed person now and is aware of the stirrings of her conscience, her individuality and her place in the society. Deshpande exhorts her women protagonists to raise themselves from victimhood and realize their own "power" and responsibilities.

The valiant Jayu in the story – It was the Nightingale.

The story "It was the Nightingale" portrays the protagonist, Jayu, who is sacrificing her conjugal bliss for the sake of preserving her identity. For centuries, the woman in India has lived under the protection either of her parents or husband. This pattern of life has made her life outwardly safe and smooth, but actually slavish and dependent. As a result, she has started thinking of her independent and self-reliant life. Jayu too has the courage to define herself, and therefore she decides to go abroad on a two-year professional tour despite her husband's mild objections. “To go when you need not have gone, when we had made other plans…” Other plans. To have a child. Now the child will have to wait. We will not let it be born yet. Can you feel a traitor to someone who does not exist? “I couldn’t miss this chance,” I say, sensing that my tone is petulant. “if you had been me…”  (Shashi Deshpande Collected Stories, Vol. 1, 65,66)

Her mental condition is revealed, when she feels guilty for the hurt she has caused him by her decision. She knows that her husband is not happy with her plans but has put on a facade of "understanding but not caring" attitude. He gives me a wry smile. “All these people. And for you, only me.” “That’s how I wanted it.” (Shashi Deshpande Collected Stories, Vol. 1, 68)

She refuses to sacrifice her identity for her husband as her mother-in-law had done. Jayu does not want to follow the life pattern of her mother. She soon overcomes the fear. Her inner courage and strength surpass them all. ‘We let go of each other and I walk away, my bag cutting into my shoulder, my eyes tearless and dry and burning.’ (Shashi Deshpande Collected Stories, Vol. 1, 69)

Gender Inequality in the story- It Was Dark.

In another story, "It Was Dark" Shashi Deshpande portrays the mother as a strong woman who tries to liberate her daughter from the fear of "dark." To ensure her daughters' welfare, the mother forsakes the conventional attitude, regarding the problem of rape. The grief-stricken mother narrates the grim and gloomy tale of her fourteen-year-old daughter who gets kidnapped and raped by a stranger. Silence and the feeling of isolation haunt the family members since the girl was brought back home after three days of her abduction. The girl had lost her mental equilibrium and she was not in a state to recognize even her parents. The mother recollected those three days, when they waited for the daughter, "were like an abyss, cutting us off completely from the past". The parents face, not only the grief of the daughter and the risk of her pregnancy but also the censure of the society, hidden behind the ugly mask of sympathy. The news about the girl in the paper made the neighbours curious and a group of women have come to meet them.  ‘The knock was repeated. He went out, I heard the door being opened, the murmur of the voices. Whoever it was, I wouldn’t, I couldn’t… “Some neighbours,” he came in and said. “Women.” “I don’t want to see them.” (Shashi Deshpande Collected Stories, Vol. 2, 127)

The typical male attitude is revealed when the father condemns the mother for not teaching the girl about the lurking dangers round the corner. “Why didn’t you warn her?” my husband had asked me angrily. (Shashi Deshpande Collected Stories, Vol. 2, 129)

The mother is no less worried than her husband but she keeps her self-cool and looks for a solution out of the mess, they are in. The mother remembers her own youthful days when she had been warned, "Don't, don't, don't [...] you're a female".

In a patriarchal society, a female child is brought up under the strict control of her parents with the view that she is to be given to a new master, her husband, who will determine and shape her life in future. The moment a girl reaches adolescence, she is perpetually reminded of her femininity. She is prevented from developing her individuality. Her mother constantly reminds her that a girl is destined for man. The traditional feminine virtues and graces are instilled in her so that she could be an attractive commodity in the marriage-market.

Simone de Beauvoir observes, "the daughter, for the mother, is at once her double another person, the mother is at once overweening affectionate and hostile towards her daughter”. (The Second Sex, 309)

An Impotent Woman in the story- Intrusion.

Shashi Deshpande takes up another crucial issue for discussion which is the problem of rape within marriage. The story "Intrusion" is an indictment of the male arrogance and brute power and strikingly delineates how the right of women to her body and her privacy is violated by the husband. It explains all that happens in the name of honeymoon, which turns out to be an "intrusion" into the privacy of the protagonist's life. It is a sensitive story woven around the experiences of a honeymooning couple especially that of the wife, at a sea-side guest-house. The story is an intimate confession of the protagonist's experience of rape within marriage. “Do you think I enjoy feeling that I’m forcing myself on you? What’s the problem? Why are you acting so strange?” I felt contrite at the sight of his bewildered face. But I had nothing to say.  (Shashi Deshpande Collected Stories, Vol. 1, 206)                                                                            

In another story "A Man and a Woman" a widow, Lalita finds it difficult to break the age-old taboos that a widow should not make love with another person. Though she is thirty years old, still she is full of beaming beauty and youth as if nature has created her for "the joy of life, a body made for a man's hands". She finds herself on the horns of dilemma when she realizes that her seventeen years old brother-in-law, Ajit, was physically attracted towards her. For some time she was overwhelmed by the question of morality.

Conclusion

The young women, in Deshpande's fictional world, are the helpless victims of the taboo-ridden, conventional society. Most of them assert themselves or fight against the odds; some of them easily accept the role traditionally offered to them, while few of them opt for death as the ultimate solution to the mundane man-made problems.

The term "liberation" has been construed in various ways: firstly, "as absence of constraint, inner or outer or both;" secondly, "as release from ties or bonds or duties;" thirdly, "as personal rights and social and political liberties;" fourthly, "as freedom of action."' Whatever meaning we attach to the term "liberation," its "one indispensable characteristic is that it should be open or available to all irrespective of their difference in respect of class, sex, education, etc."

Today India is a nation of women, who are ready to buck that trend, stand up for what they believe, in the face of hostility. Today, woman "no longer swing in the ancient orbits."'' Unfortunately, her efforts and pursuits to extricate herself from her wretched and sordid position and carve out a place for herself in the men dominated society have further worsened her state. But can this male-dominated society explain to a woman why can't she have the freedom to live life her own way if men have been granted the same liberty? Why cannot she pursue professional dreams the way men can?

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