Abstract:
Feminism has always meant independence of mind and spirit and body. Feminist effort to end patriarchal domination should be primary concern precisely because it insists on the eradication and oppression in the family context and in all other intimate relationships. Its theory is that men and women should be equal politically, economically and socially. It is difficult for a common man to understand female psyche in totality: so the fight was fought by feminist to have clear understanding and expression of female psyche. Feminism as movement might have originated in the West but with the deterioration in the status of women in India and the subsequent efforts made during the freedom struggle to pave the way for equal access to education and equal status, there arouse a need for feminist studies. Some of the issues evoked by the Western women were bound to be taken up by their Indian counterparts. Shashi Deshpande derives the title of her novel ‘That Long Silence’ from the classic understatement by Elizabeth Robins made in speech to a world body. That Long Silence comes relatively close to real life experience. The novel achieves greater credibility from the fact that Jaya, the Protagonist, is a very well-read person, possessing a literary sensitivity which corresponds with her fictional role. Deshpande may not be a formal feminist in strict scene of the word, but it must also be observed that feminism can mean different things to different people. In That Long Silence, the writer has presented this phenomenon through the character of Jaya, who is known by two names: Jaya and Suhasini. Jaya, which means victory, is the name given by her father when she was born, and Suhasini, the name given after her marriage which means a “soft, smiling, placid, motherly woman. In the Indian context, once a girl get married to a man, whether it be a love marriage or an arranged one, the husband takes complete control over her. Whether the husband follows the right path or wrong one, she has to blindly follow in his footsteps. Due to her sensitive nature, Jaya is very particular about moulding her tastes in order to suit those of the rest even if her superior intellect is not satisfied.
Author Name : S. Hannah Evangeline
Keywords: Feminism, Independence, the Long Silence.
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