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The Tyranny of Patriarchy in Shashi Deshpande’s

The domination of a male in the life of a woman is a natural phenomenon in

patriarchal society and consequent relegation of a woman to secondary position

promoted some women writers like Shashi Deshpande to take up issues of women.

Indian mythology and ancient literature, both, internalized concept of an enduring

wife and a sacrificing mother through the images of ‘Sati, Savitri and Shakuntala”.

Indian Woman, like any other society, is controlled in numerous ways to preserve

the ethnic collectivities and national identities. Shashi Deshpande, a popular Indian

woman writer deals with the inner and social world of women. She took up the

cause of Indian women to shake them out of the patriarchal order. She stresses the

need for women to break free from the shackles of their traditional position and

recognize their need for self-fulfilment as more important than the duty of

sacrificing themselves for their children and husbands. Deshpande’s art lies in

selecting situations with which most Indian women can identify. Her focus is on the

women within marital, domestic relationships. Her novels, featuring female

protagonists, reconstruct aspect of women’s experience and attempt to give voice to

muted ideologies, registering resistance and on her own admission. She charts the

inner landscapes of women in her novels, where the women characters are provided

with a context to understand themselves. Deshpande consistently explores the

experience. She represents different facets of the trapped female psyche and

attempts to transcend its’ boundaries.

That Long Silence, an acclaimed masterpiece of feminist writing in Indo-Anglian

fiction highlights the image of the middle-class woman sandwiched between

tradition and modernity.

Keywords: Patriarchal, Issues, Women, Sacrificing, Supressed, Psyche.

If one looks at the Indian society of 1950-1970 and post 1980, there is a great

difference between the female and male psyche. There was a scope for every male

heir to run the business and globalization was not a common concept to middle

class. Females were not aware of the feminist theories dominant in the Western

World. Eventhough there was discontent in the minds of women about their

secondary position in society, they were not allowed to express their feelings or

opinion. Most of them were contended in their roles assigned and imposed on them

by the males. They were satisfied in rearing children and doing the house chores etc.

After 1980, with the change in times, their outlook also changed. They started

becoming aware of their identity and status in the society. When they became

familiar with the feminist theories, they also became conscious of their status. Social

conformity for s women was always obligatory than for a male. That is why Shashi

Deshpande’s protagonist Jaya chose to be silent when she had to urge to revolt.
Educated women like Jaya are confused whether to continue their traditional role of

a wife or revolt against the tradition that puts them in shackles.

Deshpande is a feminist writer who focuses on feminine sufferings in her

novels. She presents a concept of a New Woman in the context of present day world

situation in general and Indian society in particular. Her novels take us deep into a

woman’s world and highlight female endeavour in search of true identity. In her

other novels also, we find the same woman’s quest for self and an exploration into

the female psyche. The novel That Long Silence brings under identity focus the

anxieties, difficulties and hardships of a middle class family. In view of Deshpande,

when women undertake journey of pursuit of their self-knowledge, they do no start

light, “ we are already burdened with a baggage that has been given to us by others

that determine our behavior, ideas, expectations and dreams.” (WFM,87). Her

Novels are not only gender-specific and depict the predicament of educated middle

class Indian woman but also the life which a woman leads in a male dominated

society. She gives minute analysis of the unwholesome situations in which a woman

has to work, to adjust herself, and to live and move about. She is caught between

two powerful currents of traditional patriarchy and modernity, of terror and

suppression.

That Long Silence is a story of a woman who remains a sufferer throughout

her life. In her Childhood, she is criticized for her inquisitive and witty nature. Her

grandmother is not happy with her and says, “for everything a question, for
everything, a retort, what husband can be comfortable with that?” (TLS,24). Thus

she is given a heavy dose of advice all the time that for a woman, husband is like a

sheltering tree which she must not leave in any circumstances. Her husband is her

career, her treasure, her happiness of life, which she must preserve by all possible

means. Initially after her marriage with Mohan, she leads a contented life with no

disturbance, no tension in their conjugal life. She is apparently a satisfied house-

wife, living happily with husband, well placed in life and with two children, Rahul

and Rati. Jaya’s life is not much different from a sparrow’s who has built an edifice of

security around her and feels completely satisfied amidst her loving husband and

children. She confined her activities to attending to the needs of husband and

children as it was for her full-time occupation. Thus she became totally dependent

on her husband and allowed her personality to become dwarfed and stunted. So

when the testing time comes and she faces a crisis, she fumbles, stumbles and

proves herself a complete failure as a wife, mother and as an individual.

In That Long Silence, Shashi Deshpande depicts two different pictures of

Indian women- the lower strata of women, engaged in domestic chores to earn their

living and educated middle class women. “ The story entirely revolves around Jaya,

her married life and her role as a dutiful wife, affectionate mother, ‘carefully being’

dutiful to her in laws, the ….Aai…Ajji…kaka and her relatives. It gives simple

enchanting scenes solely expressed by the author…the travails of being a middle

class educated yet confined to restrictions posed by the conservative society is well
established. According to the author, husbands take in for granted their wives’

emotions…likes and dislikes to be same like them and these emotions are expressed

in vivid detail like that of love-making…relationship with children”

(mouthshut.com). Jaya was brought up in a traditional family full of culture and

etiquettes. Since her childhood, she had to bear the comment of being ‘‘dark

complexioned’’ by her mother, which could be a hurdle in marrying her to a suitable

boy. As for the girls, “fair complexion” is a mark of beauty. This was so deeply

engraved in her psyche that the first question she asked was whether ‘he was fair.’

Deshpande in the novel focuses on a woman who has lost her voice of self-

assertion, which ultimately leads to confusion and tormentation. She shows his

protagonist, Jaya, on the road of self-discovery after the tormentation she goes

through. Jaya is taught right from her childhood that a woman's position and status

is inferior to a man in a family where husband's will reigns supreme and wife is

orderly pushed into the background. A wife is supposed to be in the house ‘to serve,

to obey and to suffer’ (TLS, 84). She is destined to go on waiting throughout her life

as if she has no independent will and power to regulate her life. Her life is a series of

endless waiting. "This process of waiting starts right from her childhood days. As

she attains adulthood and puberty, she waits to the right man to marry and settle

down in family. She is waiting all the time for one thing or the other. As she grows

up and goes to her in-law's house, she is waiting for the baby to be born. With the

passage of time, the game of waiting for to life continues and she is waiting for
sometime children going to school and then for them to come back so that they can

all enjoy meals together” (mouthshut.com). The habit of waiting goes so deep into

her psyche that when she has nothing to wait for, she starts waiting for some

catastrophe and disaster.

Jaya suffered more because she was told that “husband is a sheltering tree, a

place of refuge and protection and without a husband, she is non entity for

everybody in society” (TLS,36). She was supposed the stand by her husband,

through thick and thin, justification or no justification. Here was a grim situation

developing which cracked the relationship of husband and wife. Mohan wanted Jaya

to justify his act but Jaya silence made him restless and irritated. She knows she

cannot dare to protest, but “I had learnt it at last-no question, no retorts. Only

silence” (TLS, 193). As a matter of fact, Mohan had assumed that he would get full

support from Jaya and she would agree to his plans. “she would follow him as every

Indian orthodox wife follows her husband. Sita followed Rama in exile, Savitri

dodged the God of death and Draupadi shared her husband’s travails” (TLS,64). Jaya

is unhappy not only as a wife and mother but also as a writer. She remains under the

guilt that the writer in her could not see the light as to her husband, she was ‘no

writer’. She writes the kind of stuff which gets approval from both the publisher and

her husband but does not satisfy her.

Jaya had to suppress her emotions as Mohan warns her, “My mother never

raised her voice against my father however badly he behaved to her” (TLS,83).
Mohan often told Jaya how his mother was illtreated by his father. As we go deeper

into stories of all the women characters, it is seen that ‘Silence’ is the only weapon of

these women, who felt terrorized by their husbands. Mohan and Jaya had a different

reaction about his mother who faced hardships of life without grumbling, patiently.

To Jaya, she was an image of despair rather than a woman of strength. She felt that

her life was all struggle with no respite and ‘Silence’ was the only weapon left with

her. Mohan’s sister, Vimla’s life was no better. She had no issue for five years after

her marriage Her death, too was mysterious like her mother as they both died in

peculiar circumstances and a common thing in both these deaths was the deep

‘Silence’ in which they died. Jeeja, Jaya’s maid servant is another example of the

oppressed woman. She supports her alcoholic husband even after she is battered

about by him. She observes ‘Silence’ when he brings another woman home and

justifies it by saying that God didn’t give her any children. She even accepts the child

of her husband and his mistress. Not only does she accept him but also sides up with

her son when Tara, his wife abuses or curses him." Stop that, and don't forget, he

keeps the kum-kum on your forehead. What is a woman without that? (TLS,53)

Jaya's silence in not speaking in favour of Mohan’s act is misinterpreted by

Mohan as indifferent attitude to the problem he faced and touched him the most.

She wondered why she could not speak out what her husband wanted to know and

why she fumbled. She felt herself foolishly inadequate, for not giving him

satisfactory answer to his charges when she was not at fault? Why did she allow the
situation to drift to such a pass? Mohan had accused her of not caring about

children, of isolation from husband and his concerns, and that she was behaving in a

very revengeful way. While he taunts her with his accusations, she cannot restrain

herself and cries out, "No, that is not true. It is terrible thing to say, it is stupid”(TLS,

79). Mohan in his mood of annoyance retaliates in the same tone. “It is not just you.

It is all women. My mother” (TLS,79). Jaya feels so enraged at these false accusations

that instead of crying, she bursts into a loud laugher. She goes on laughing in a

historical manner soon to realize that she is laughing in a manner that is mad,

unwarranted and uncalled for. But the realization comes to her too late. She tries to

explain to Mohan, “I am sorry, I did not mean to laugh. I was not laughing at you. I

was only laughing at every thought, marriage, as this whole absurd thing and

exercise, we call life.” She tries to explain to Mohan everything but her body

becomes sagged and she begins to perspire. She suddenly sees him retreating his

steps towards the door and he is gone forever. She rushes to the balcony to look for

him but he takes a taxi and disappears.

The thought of Mohan’s leaving home for good pushes Jaya to a trauma. She

felt as if she was losing not only her peace of mind but mental equilibrium and

Sanity as well. Life seems to have no meaning and charm to her without Mohan. Her

body feels paralyzed and she is panic stricken. She starts turning the needles of the

radio frantically, listening to various sounds and stories. After listening to various

screeching sounds, she ultimately says to herself, “Am I going crazy like Kusum”
(TLS, 102). With the thought of Kusum, she falls in a reverie and visualizes deranged

Kusum welcoming her as an additional member in the category of ‘Unwanted Wives’

deserted by their husbands. She recollects how people would use two names

together – Jaya and Kusum. Both of them have met the same fate, rejected by their

husbands, by their families, devoid of all comforts and happiness. Initially, she

thought of herself as far more superior and intelligent than Kusum but now she feels

they all both victims of hostile circumstances. Kusum was sure of her sanity and in a

crazy mood, Jaya says, “No, Kusum, you are not crazy. It is I who is crazy. It is poor

jaya who is crazy” (TLS,102).

Another thought grips her the next moment and she says to herself in a mood

of self-examination, “Mohan has not left me. He would be back" (TLS,104). She

rebukes herself for not breaking her silence to stop him. She should have screamed,

Do not go, don't leave me and go. What if I had done that " (TLS,105). She

remembers the fate of Kusum. How Kusum got maltreatment at the hands of cruel

world and cried out to stop her, “Do not go Jaya, do not leave me here and stay with

me” (TLS,58). After torturing herself with a sequence of thoughts, she suddenly sits

up abruptly, ties her hair in a determined bun and resolves to push herself out of the

self inflicted pitiable condition. She forgets her sorrows and tells herself, “Mohan

would never leave me. I was Jaya, Jaya for a victory. Retreat you Kusum, poor

pitiable unwanted ghost. I have so much to do. I must do that ( TLS, 98).
 Her name in the novel changes as per the wishes of other people. Deshpande

has given two names to her protagonist - Jaya and Suhasini; Jaya meaning victory, a

name given to her by her father father at the time of her birth and Suhasini meaning

a smiling, soft, motherly and a placid woman, a name given to her at the time of her

marriage (P.16). Both the names symbolizing different traits of the personality. One

symbolizing revolt and the other submission. The dreams of Jaya’s childhood-to

change the situation so that the women can achieve their goals which are often

shattered by the surroundings, environment and the society that imposes

restrictions on women. When she gets helpless and is not able to improve her

situation, she starts revolting in silence. When Mohan talks about women who bear

the cruelty of their husbands, he calls it strength, ‘He saw strength in the woman

sitting silently in front of the fire, but I saw despair. I saw despair so great that it

would not voice itself. I saw struggle so bitter that silence was the only weapon.

Silence and Surrender" (TLS, 36). Jaya cannot say 'yes' when asked by Mohan if he

hurt her during their physical relationship. "The emotion that governed my

behaviour to him, there was still the habit to being a wife, of sustaining and

supporting him.(P.98).

Shashi Despande, in her novel, emphasizes the need of educated women

analyzing their position with respect to the society and taking time out for

themselves to rejuvenate their lost identity. She wants to give to the society a

message that it needs to understand the importance of a woman's economic

status of a woman in any society. The writer is aware of the duties of an ideal wife

but at the same time, wants to portray a woman’s inner struggle. Despande’s

protagonist wakes up towards the end of the novel but makes herself move to a

position where she can maximize her potential.

 John Cunnignham, Indian Writer’s Block, The Indian Post, March 6, 1988.

 Lola Chatterji. Ed. Woman Image, Delhi: Triank, 1986.

 Meena Shriwadker, The image of Women in the Indo-Anglian Novel; New

Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1979.

 Mrinalini Sebestian, The Novels of Shashi Deshpande in Post Colonial

Arguments; New Delhi : Prestige, 1980.

 Promila Kapur, Love, Marriage, Sex and Woman in India, New Delhi: Penguin

Books, 2003.

 Shashi Deshpande, That Long Distance. New Delhi : Penguin Books, 1989.

 Shashi Deshpande, Writing from Margin, New Delhi, Penguin Books, 2003.

 http: www. Mouthshut.com/review/ That-Long-silence, Shashi Deshpande –

review – rmppturst Nov22, 2005.