Lesson No.

As the preface to Jasbir Jains book Writing Women across

Cultures points out Writing Women is a complex
verbal unit in itself. As Virginia Wolf has points out about
the phrase women and fiction which can have multiple
meanings, Writing Women also has a number of
implications. It can mean women as they write
themselves, or construct womanhood; they may be
feminine or feminist in their approach. For women writing
becomes a platform from which they question, formulate,
resist and assert themselves. They write their bodies,
question familial and social constructs and there is a
noticeable shift in their writing from subjectivity to a
wider perspective through which they discuss the
vulnerability of all human beings irrespective of their
being men or women. They no longer accept social and
religious institutions which are the given norm Womens
writing has grown immensely in both regional and the
English language and it reflects their intellectual and
creative abilities. There is no doubt that women have
traversed a long distance from the kind of writing
practiced by Kamata Das and her generation of writers.
NayantaraSehgal and Anita Desai began with feminine
1
and feminist concerns but evolved into writers with post-
feminist concerns. From probing the psyche of women
they progressed to exploring the psyche of man as well.
The women characters they portray are not quite,
submissive; victims but rebellious, bold, assertive and
independent individuals. They have the capacity to face
all the hardships of life and find ways of compensating for
their shortcomings in their relationships.

The image of the married women has also undergone

tremendous change in the fiction written by women
today. The Sita, Savitri image is replaced with that of a
woman who combines modernity and individuality with
tradition. They are more vocal about their sexuality and
reject the stereotypical roles generally assigned to
married women. Women writers no longer regard men as
their enemies. They challenge the earlier perceptions
about men and reflect the pressure on their minds to live
up it the gender roles constructed by patriarchy. Womens
writing not only projects the observations, status and
struggle of women it also reflects the gender constructs
framed by kinship, marriage and procreation. It raises
questions of oppression and colonization. While the idea
of female self has to some extent shown the concept of
2
all the inclusive male I, Womens writing is engaged in
changing traditional concepts and definitions. It is also
said that the writing of women is the literature of silence
because it makes an effort to give voice is all that has
been submerged and suppressed.

Indian womens writing has also come of age. All

earlier womens writing dwellsupon the oppression and
suffering of women. However, though the focus remains
on the condition of women the image has changed from
the oppressed to the dominating figure of women. Now
women are not the helpless creatures quietly bearing the
behavior of the men who are too busy is give them the
love and attention that they crave for. ShashiDeshpande
is one such writer who unlike some of her contemporaries
presents the image of a new woman in India, one who
can combine tradition with modernity and is never afraid.
She takes things in her stride and finds solutions to all the
problems that come her way she is not wallowing in self-
pity and sorrow, she is compassionate, understanding
and caring. She does not look at man as an enemy or
opponent but gives him as much concern as she shows
for women. Family, traditions and their influence on
people are carefully studied and analyzed by her.
3
 Among the recent women novelists of India
ShashiDeshpande occupies a front- ranking position. Born
in 1938 in Dharwad, Karnataka, daughter of the famous
Kannada dramatist and Sanskrit scholar Sriranga, she
inherited the legacy of writing from her father who is a
veteran writer and artist. She moved to Mumbai at the
age of fifteen, graduated in economics and then acquired
a degree in law at Bangalore. She also did her post-
graduation in Literature and is now settled in Bangalore
with her pathologist husband. Despite her foray into a
number of fields, Deshpande has a penchant for writing
which also covers a vast arena of journalism, short-story
writing and novel writing. Deshpandes short stories are
collected in five volumes entitled The Legacy and Other
Stories (1978), It was Dark and Other Stories (1986), It
was The Nightingale and Other Stories (1986) followed
by The Miracle and Other Stories in the same year and
The Intrusion and Other Stories (1993). She has written
ten novels The Dark Holds No Terror (1980), If I Die Today
(1982), Come up and Be Dead (1983), Roots and
Shadows (1983), That Long Silence (1989), A Matter of
Time (1996) Small Remedies (2000), Binding Vine (2002),
Moving On (2004), and In the Country of Deceit (2008)

4
 Deshpande mirrors contemporary society through
her work. A realist at heart she relates her stories with
the world and the people around her. She does not
eroticize or try to create a world full of wonder and
fascination but keeps her characters deeply rooted in the
world they occupy. They are all ordinary human beings
struggling to survive in the world in which their desires
are frustrated, their dreams unfulfilled, the drudgery of
their existence persistent and they are on the lookout for
tangible and workable solutions to the problems they
face. They are not escapists, if they make an attempt to
run away it is only a temporary, momentary loss of
courage but, they ultimately return to face the situation
bravely. As Deshpande believes running away is not the
answer to any problem, to face it, accept it and then to
solve it should be the way to deal with life. Deshpande
generally presents her stories through a single narrators
mind. Like in the stream of consciousness novels the
reader embarks on a journey through the mind of
protagonist learning about the narrator and the world he
inhabits. Thus memory plays a significant role in
Deshpandes novels and the chronological order or often

5
disrupted as the reader moves back and forth in time and
learns about the protagonists life.

Often labeled a feminist she protests When I sit

down to write, Im just a writer my gender ceases to
matter to me. I am concerned with the same problems
any writer is, the problem of language narrative structure,
continuity (Writing fromThe Margins and Other Essays
p.144) however, women have always occupied her
attention and she does focus on the feminine psyche.
Most of her novels deal with troubled marital relationships
and the loneliness and alienation experienced by women
in the apparently normal relationship that they have with
their husbands and families. A lot of research has been
devoted to the study of her women protagonist and her
feminist leanings. However a deeper look into her work
reveals that Deshpande considers men to be equally
oppressed and troubled not only due to the marital
relationship but due to various other factors in their lives.
Most of her novels may trace the lives of professional
middle-class defiant heroines who after having married
men of their choice momentarily stray away only to
return after the realization dawns on them that life has
not been kind to the men as well. She does not always
6
treat women as targets in the patriarchal set up but,
reflects upon the condition of men as well. She seems to
believe like bell hooks that feminist writing does not tell
us about the inner misery of men. She bellies the claims
of critics who state that for all women writers the male is
a representation of patriarchal order and domination. She
has a balanced point of view regarding the man-woman
relationship and objectively describes it in all her works.
She realises that gender is a cultural construct and not
necessarily natural come out of the biological sex of an
individual. As Beauvoirs famous statement regarding
women not being born a woman bespeaks of how women
becomes a woman, Deshpanderealises that man too is
not totally capable of living freely. Patriarchy has also
provided a framework of masculinity, which needs to be
practiced and followed by men. This leads to the pressure
on a mans mind as to how he can fulfill the expectations
that society and his family have of him. Deshpande shows
the attitude of a humanist in dealing with men. She is
balanced in her viewpoint and objectively discusses
marriage and human relationships without reflecting any
bias though her inclination is towards highlighting
womens issues.

7
 That Long Silence is the story of Jaya and Mohan. It
begins at a juncture when Mohan is facing some trouble
at work and is being asked to leave his job because some
allegations of business malpractice are being investigated
against him. Jayas familiar world is shattered and them
life is disrupted because her husbands reputation is at
stake and their future uncertain. Jaya who is herself a
writer who has not succeeded in her career is haunted by
past memories. Her alienation from her husband,
disappointment with her teenaged children added to the
claustrophobia of her childhood all begin to surface.
She has lived as a wife and mother for the past
seventeen years, but her return to her small suburban flat
in Bombay makes Jaya introspect and grapple with the
issues that have disturbed her peace. She also picks up
courage to face the truth about herself as a wife, as a
writer, as a daughter. It is an existential analysis of Jayas
life. Jaya is trying to face the facts that she is afraid of
certain things and has failed as a writer. She realises that
a long silence has prevailed in her life and it is time to
erase it, also there is an inherent fear of anger in her
mind which makes her maintain that silence despite all
odds Deshpande has compassionately rendered her

8
understanding of human relationships with tolerance. This
is what makes the novel strong and powerful in its effect.

Lesson no 1 (Question -Answers)

1. What does the phrase writing women imply?

Ans. Writing women is a complex phrase as Virginia

Woolfs women and fiction. It can mean various things. It
can mean women as they write themselves, women as
they construct womanhood or how they are written about
by men. But generally womens writing becomes a
platform from which they question, formulate, resist and
assert themselves. They write about their bodies, they
question familial and social constructs and there is
noticeable change in their writing more recently. From
subjectivity they have shifted focus to a wider
perspective which talks about the vulnerability of all
human beings irrespective of their sex and gender.

2. How has the image of women changed in

contemporary Indian womens writing?

Ans. Earlier Indian women writers focused on the married

women. Most of these women were oppressed and felt
victimized by religion and marriage. These institutions

9
forced them to remain passive recipients of whatever was
given to them. However, The Sita, Savitri image has now
been replaced by the professional educated modern
women who combine tradition and modernity.
Individuality and assertiveness are the qualities they
possess. They are vocal about their needs and desires
and reject the stereotypical roles generally assigned to
women. They question religious and social institutions.
They also do not look at men as their greatest enemies as
earlier writers did. They are trying to voice the concerns
that were earlier submerged beneath the silence that
they were forced to imbibe and practice.

3. How is ShashiDeshpande different from other Indian

women writers?

Ans. ShashiDeshpande has five volumes of short stories,

about ten novels and various other articles and essays to
her credit. They most noticeable difference is that she is
realistic and does not fantasize or eroticize facts she is
firmly rooted in contemporary reality. She is also capable
of rising above the anger and animosity that some writers
express for male characters in their fiction. She shows
compassion and places greater value on human

10
relationships than on the assertion of womens rights. As
she says her gender ceases to matter to her when she
begins to write. She does not like being called a feminist
and shows an objective undertaking of women well as
women.

Lesson 2 That Long Silence : Textual Analysis

The text has an epigraph from a speech by Elizabeth

Robins, actress, playwright, novelist and suffragette that
refers to That long silence of one half of the world.
This is not just the source of the title but it refers to the
thrust of the novel which deals with women and their
generally assumed silence. Women are not just required
to remain silent in a male-dominated world, they become
accustomed to keep quiet and Robins avers in the speech
from which this line is taken that if men were caring
enough they would themselves feel uneasy about the
silence they have repressed women into. They would not

11
only feel uncomfortable but also perhaps guilty about
restricting the speech and language of women. John,
Stuart Mill in his On the Subjection of Women has
also spoken about one half of the world as being
oppressed and silenced. He feels that this silence should
now be broken and justice be done to that half of the
world by providing equal opportunities to women.
Although ShashiDeshpande refuses to be labeled a
feminist and almost all her novels have protagonists who
are women professionals temporarily alienated from their
husbands but they return to their homes . This is because
as she says the situation is not resolved by running away
but by staying amidst the problem and finding a solution
to it. That Long Silence is a novel in which
Deshpande describes the story of Jaya and her husband
who after leaving lived together for more than a decade
and a half are unable to continue together in life any
more. While telling her own story Jaya discusses about
the lives of other women around her. The impression one
gets is that Deshpande is using Jaya as a spokesman for
her own sympathetic consideration of the lot of women.

The text of the novel is divided into four parts with no

chapter divisions except for spaces in between different
12
sections to indicate a shift in the focus from one idea to
another or one character to another. It has a first person
narrative form and Jaya the protagonist of the novel is
herself a writer. The narrative begins with a statement
regarding the need to be ruthless if one wants to be a
saint, painter or writer. Emotional involvement makes
writing different task as she says self-revelation is a cruel
process (p.1) and the real you never emerges because
what different people think about you is like ten different
faces reflected in ten different mirrors. She wants to
detach herself and write about herself from a distance
and when she tries to make a bio-data of herself the only
facts that seems relevant to her are her birth, the death
of her father when she was fifteen, her marriage with
Mohan and her two children (the third was not allowed to
live). Thisanalysis of herself in a way highlights what is
considered important about a womens life in a
patriarchal society. A woman is generally thought of as
performing an important role if she is a good daughter,
wife or a mother.

Launching upon the journey of self-revelation from these

basic details Jaya recalls the Pseudo-Puritanism after
the death of Mahatma Gandhi when as a young girl she
13
was discouraged from listening to Hindi film songs
because they were regarded, as vulgar by her father.
However, like all other desires a women has to control,
she could never express her eagerness to listen to film
music or see the ads preceding a movie because even
her husband did not like them. She found these ads with
happy families very fairy-tale like and attractive.

They spelt sheer poetry to her. Shethen thinks about the

present state of her family, she recalls having come to
the Dadar flat only ten days ago and the dinner time
scene she recalls is of an apparently happy family but
the scum of hostility floating to the top, marring a
placid clean surface. This obviously describes the
undercurrent of tensions that are underlying the happy
life that they are supposed to be leading.

Marriage has always been considered the dream and

destiny of a woman's life but Jaya realises that it simply
provides an illusion of happiness. Like Simone de
Beauvoir who talks about the terrible drudgery of the
housewife's existence that forces her into the same
activities day in and day out Jaya too observes, "I had to
admit the truth to myself-that I had found family life

14
unendurable. Worse than anything else had been the
unchanging pattern, the unending monotony. I remember
now how often I had sighed for a catastrophe a disaster,
no, not a personal one, but anything to shake us out of
our dull grooves. (page-5) All of a sudden her peace is
broken by "my own special disaster". Mohan, her husband
had once told her how he had seen people like
themselves brought to the streets. Due to some reason
he felt threatened with the same fate and though no
details are given. Mohan talks about the manner in which
the families were placed in an awkward situation by the
men. Imagine putting your family in such situation it
seems totally irresponsible to me. Jaya's observation
that she should have taken the story told by Mohan as an
omen of their own future suggests that their life has gone
away and they are no longer secure.
When they were pushed into a similar situation she
felt like rebuking him for it but she realised this revenge
would not be fair. The question she asks is very telling
'But have I ever been a trodden worm?' In their
relationship she had allowed him to have an upper hand
initially but then they had developed what she describes
as a delicately balanced relationship'... in which

15
they had 'snipped off bits of ourselves to keep the
scales on an even kneel.' The give and take of the
marital situation, the compromises one has to make and
her feeling that they are 'a pair of bullocks yoked
together' which is reiterated a number of times and is
suggestive of the compulsion of two persons to remain
together despite their differences. They have been
married for seventeen years and yet they are two
persons- 'A Man, A woman. Emphasisingtheir separate-
ness.
However the novel does not show an extreme
feminist bias because of the understanding she shows
towards her husband who has suddenly changed from a
confident self-assured man was now a 'sad bewildered
man'... 'A sad obsessed Man reconciled to failure...' She
also states that it was not 'he who had relinquished his
authority' but she who no longer allowed him to exercise
it. She talks about the guerrilla warfare one has to
practice in family life by subtly resisting the attempt of
other to intrude into ones space. Mohan always felt he
had been perfect in every role and relationship he was
involved in. So much so that when he is caught up in
some illegal case he tells Jaya that whatever he had done

16
was to provide better life to her and their children.
Her thoughts betray her apprehensions about the
shame and ignoring they would have to suffer because of
his actions. She thinks that only suicide could save her
family from social disgrace. However, Mohan refused to
agree on the grounds that this would be scandalous. Her
fantasy had made her think of an escape that would
move the hearts of people and prevent condemnation but
as she thinks we who could not even decide upon a meal
or a movie without bickering- could we have chosen
death in such a harmony? One of his colleagues Nair had
resorted to such a drastic action to save himself. He had
been openly corrupt. But Aggarwal another colleague who
was also involved was trying to save them from disaster.
So they had shifted to the Dadar flat for some time and
Mohan had taken leave. Luckily, the children were away.
The condition of an Indian wife who is taken for granted
by her husband is reflected in Jaya's assertion : 'I
remember now that he had assured I would accompany
him, had taken for granted my acquiescence in his plans.
So had I,Sita following her husband into exile,Savitri
dogging death to reclaim her husband,Draupadi stoically
sharing her husband's travails...' She reflects she had just

17
gone along with his plans because they were two bullocks
yoked together and it is more comfortable for them to
move together in one direction.

Jaya recalls Mohan's love for orderliness in the home

which is contrasted with her parental home. She herself
had cleaned the flat conscientiously when they had
shifted to this flat. She had been named 'Jaya' for victory.
There is also a reference to a man named Kamat who
seems to know Jaya and her nature very well. She recalls
a story told to her when she was a child about a crow and
a sparrow and the lesson to be inhibited from it was to
become like the sparrow who stayed at home and looked
after the babies, ' keep out the rest of the world and
you're safe'. But after the experiences she has had, she
has learnt the lesson 'you're never safe'.(page17)
The focus them shifts to Vanitamami's niece Kusum
who is not really a favorite with Jaya who wants to keep
her just because Mohan tells her not to Burden herself
with the responsibility of looking after her. Kusum was
mentally sick and the only thing that deters Jaya is the
fact that her children may be affected by Kusum's mental
condition. The response of all the men in the family was
the same and this aroused all the more sympathy for
18
Kusum in the mind of Jaya. Kusum also provided Jaya a
chance of knowing herself and her life by contrasting it
with the former's. Jaya's thoughts return to their present
situation which 'the nothingness of what had seemed a
busy and full life was frightening.' She feels that Mohan
always knew exactly what he wanted whereas she had
been unsure about her own wants. 'To know what you
want... I have been denied that ' At present it is Mohan
who is uneasy and she who is comfortable in their life.
She recalls her grandmother Ajji who had been very
enticed of Jaya's behavior towards Mohan. These
thoughts are interrupted by the sounds of Nayana's
sweeping. She was pregnant and wanted a male child
because girls suffer because of men all their lives
according to hereven though she cursed all her male
relatives and called them wastes, good-for-nothing
and drunkards.' While she is conversing with
NayanaMohan is watching her and she realises in spite of
all her assertiveness she is free. She can feel the burden
of his wanting, the burden of his clinging.
Jaya also contemplates on the issue of contentment.
She realises she is restless because of the waiting that a
women's life entails. The plight of women who have to

19
start playing the waiting game at a very early age, Wait
until you get married. Wait until your husband comes... I
had done nothing but wait...' and now with the disaster
that had occurred in their lives there would be no more
waiting in their lives. Men never shoulder the
responsibility of the disaster they let loose upon the
family because they claim whatever they did was for the
sake of the family and as a wife she would remain an
accomplice in the crime. Women are taught to dwell their
attention away from the wrongdoings of their husbands.
The situation was not much different in the west. The
examples of Souria and Reskolnikov and Aunt
Bertran'scounselling of Fanny Price reflects this. Ironically
Vanitamami had described a husband as 'a sheltering
tree. Without the tree you're dangerously unprotected
and vulnerable. The tree has to be kept and alive even if
it is watered with deceit and lies. Despite her critical
overview of her relationship with her husband she
realises that his mind is also filled with ghosts of the past
and these need to be exorcised. His memories of his
childhood were filled with wistfulness about the
innocence of his desires and his clear unclouded vision of
the future. He recalls the song of the mulberry bush as if

20
he means to say that one may think life is progressing
but one is actually just moving around in circles back to
the same point. He spoke of the unpleasant memories of
his childhood, his dominating father whose needs his
mother catered to despite all odds. He calls his mother
tough women whereas Jaya realises the bitterness and
despair of the women who had to remain silent and
surrender...'Silence was the only weapon'. She
understood her Better because she herself was a woman.
As her sister in law Vimala tells her about Mohan's
mother's death and remarks that she could not share this
with Mohan Jaya talks about Conspiracy of women which
binds them together and which makes them keep each
other's secrets. Jaya's comment that something links the
destinies of Vimala and her mother'...the silence in which
they died.' See also talks of Vimala dying within a week
after going to the hospital for treatment, with her silence
intact.

This part of the novel begins with a reference to the

long silence that women have been subjected to through
centuries of subordination which can emerge at times in
the form of the hysteria that Mohans mother expressed a
week before she died. Thissection also ends with a
21
reference to the silence remaining intact even when a
woman dies. The idea of female bonding and the better
understanding between women is also referred to through
the relationship between Jaya and Vimala, Jaya and
Kusum, Jaya's concern for Nayana reflects. However,
Deshpande is not blind to the oppression that men
experience in their lives and her treatment of Mohan is
not condemnatory. Later on the title will assume a greater
significance as the silence will also refer to the lack of
communication between Jaya and Mohan which she says
needs to end and a fresh start to be made.

Part 2 refers to the fact that the return to the flat in

Dadar is like a journey through memory lane. The
complexity of human relationships is brought out through
Jaya's description of how she had got this flat which
originally belonged to Makarandmama. It had been
passed on to the brother by her uncle and he had in turn
passed it on to her. When she tried to protest by asking
him what his wife Geeta would say? Dada had simply
asked 'Can you imagine Geeta living here?' The
transformation of Geeta into an upper-class being after
going abroad added to the hostility she harbored in her
22
mind for her husband's sister could lead to trouble but
this did not affect the camaraderie between Jaya and her
Dada at all. Despite their Good relationship with their
other maternal aunt Vanitamami, Jaya objectively
describes her character and says that she claimed that
she had looked after Chandumama and had a right to get
the flat. Another thing to be noticed about Jaya's
narrative is that unlike Afro-American writers who talk of
the bonding between mothers and daughters and other
women. However, here women are hostile towards men.
Both the grandmothers are not very pleasant women and
Jaya's relationships with other women around her
including her mother are not all that congenial. In fact the
women are agents of patriarchal authority more than
anything else.

Jaya's analysis of all the characters is extremely

objective; whether they are women or men it does not
matter. Makarandmama is also discussed or being a rebel
who did not pay heed to the objections of his family on
his selection of acting as a profession. His looks did not
match his courage and determination,He hadweak chin,
vulnerable, unsure eyesthe manner in which he had
acquired the flat from a Muslim actor who was in a hurry
23
to get to Pakistan before partitionand how Vanitamami
suddenly became good to him because she came to know
about his ownership of that flat. Ai's (Jaya's mother)
attitude towards her sister-in-law is quite typical of the
relationship they share. She is sarcastic and critical about
Vanitamami. Jaya simply terms these as "family friends."
(page- 44) Mohan had wanted to live in this flat till he got
better accommodation had brought him and Jaya back to
the flat and to the memories of Makarandmama. These
continue to haunt her when she comes to Dadar with
Mohan when he is trying to escape the consequences of
some rash act which has resulted in a threat to his
position in his office.

Kusum is introduced in this section of the novel she is

childless Vanitamami's niece and adopted daughter and
the weakest of her siblings. But Jaya states that her aunt
had never learnt to choose because after her marriage
she had always been dominated over by other Ajji. It
looks a long time for Vanitamami and Kusum to have their
way. The family had not accepted Kusum easily and she
had been terrified every time she was told 'Run Kusum,
Chandumama's coming'. Yet as Jaya remarks, Oh well
there is always the terrible tenacity of the weak.
24
 The irony of life is all those who are condemned while
they live are respected after death. When Jaya narrates
about Ai's instruction to Dada not to remove
Maharandmama's photographs from the walls of the flat.
'The beautification of Maharandama had already begun.
We, who had been the scorned, the despised failure had
become that familiar clich- Tragic genius who died young
unrecognized by a stupid cruel world. Ai claims to have
forced Appa to keep him but this is lies and despite all
efforts made by Mohan later on to erase traces of the
photographs their rectangular shapes seemed to re-
emerge on the walls. This is suggestive of the influence of
the past on ones life.

The passage of time since their initial stay at Dadar

has changed quite a number of things though all the
people are the same. As Jaya narrates, But I could not
sustain for long even the illusion that things were as they
had been. Things can never be as they were. The
underlying meaning of these lines is not only that the
people around them are the same but, It was Nayana
not her mother-in-law, Sona, carrying out the garbage.
And, if it was still Jaya, swabbing the floor, it was a

25
changed Jaya, minus all the symbols of wifehood-her
Kumkum, her green bangles, her black beads.

This section also records the absence of Rahul and

Rati, Jayas children who have gone for a holiday with
their friend Rupa and her family. Both Rupa and her
husband had excellent family backgrounds and this was
one of the reasons why Mohan wanted to develop good
relations with them. Lurking in the background is a
shadow that is haunting Mohan and Jaya. Why have they
shifted to Dadar? Why dose Jaya feel that it is good that
the children are not here? At the same time she also
realises Rahul had not gone readily for the vacation. The
reader comes to know that while Rati is a more lively and
intelligent person, Rahul her brother is more of a
dreamer, not too interested in studies and the target of
his fathers rebukes. Mohan is unhappy with his school
results and tries to tell him about his own difficult
childhood despite which he had always obtained a first
class.

The narrative reflects the stream of consciousness in

Jayas mind. Jayas focus the shifts to their present
condition as being like the women squatting behind

26
bushes in the early morning hours. They would hide their
faces so that no one recognised them. Mohan and Jaya
were also running away from something But it didnt
work because even maids like Nayana were curious to
know why they had returned to the Dadar flat without
their children. So they could not escape the unwanted
attention. Some of the comments Jaya makes about Jeeja
and other working women doing their venial jobs one
realises how difficult it is to be a women and survive.
Endurance and tolerance were the most important
lessons taught to them by life. Domestic violence,
alcoholism, the repercussions of being barren are all
seem by Jaya in the lives of these women who as she
says give her relief from the drudgery of her life. As she
says if she had Any little freedom I had depended on
them, the continuity of a womens sad plight is made with
reference to Jeeja whose son has taken the fathers place
in creating problems for her. His wife and three children
are Jeejas responsibility.

The contrast between her hometown Saptagiri and

Bombay is also brought out. The natural beauty and
quietude of Saptagiri, and the ugly greyness of Bombay
which still had some magic in its teeming life. The
27
demonstrations of workers and other mobs fascinated her
mind. How interesting it was to watch from the balconies
manner in which the police dispersed them. Mohan
disapproved of her watching such sight and felt that it
was safer to be shut up inside the home. It is in this part
that Jaya talks about her marital relationship. How little
they communicated with each other as she says they
stopped speaking, except for the essentials of daily
living. While talking about the strange sounds of life, that
surround her she also describes an incident of a woman
being bullied by a man and yet unable to break her
silence. The irony which is hinted at on and off through
the comments that Mohan passes about me who are
irresponsible and callous and being trouble to their
families is also spoken about is himself worried that he
may have behaved irresponsibly towards Jaya and the
family. The journey down memory lane takes Jaya back to
Lohanagar and steel plant where Mohan had taken up his
first job. Then life had seemed so fresh and fortified with
a sense of purpose. But the past was not totally bereft of
shadows. The memory of the strike in the factory and
Swaminathan , the frustration of not being able to fulfill
all their financial needs. Though simple living and high

28
thinking the motto of the Gandhian era should prevail
they had failed in actually achieving it. Jayas
recollections of her miscarriage, their shift to Bombay,
their improved financial status are interspersed with
incidents from the present such as Nilimas visit to them
flat to enquire whether they needed vegetables from
vender.

It is here that a reference is made to the bodily

processes of a women. How Nilima and Rati handle their
menstrual cycles, Jayas own feeling of triumph that after
marriage she had been able to control her body and its
discomforts. However her body had gone berserle. She
had been unable to tackle the situation and the
realisation that all the drugs had serious side effects
further disturbed her. The contrast between the
sophisticated Rati and the almost uncouth Nilima is also
emphasised and then there is a sudden reference to man
in Jayas past who lived upstairs. Jaya realises once
again that covering ones face does not keep reality
hidden from others. Kamat had lived upstairs and he had
been more understanding and supportive to Jaya than
even Mohan. Jaya recalls her fathers death it was
followed by blankness and nothingness. Now a girl called
29
Usha lived in that flat. Jayas elaborate discussion of the
rituals and practices of Indian women their facts and
pujas Ironically, at this juncture Jaya also recalls that she
is a wife and a mother and also that she has been writing
a column Seeta for a newspaper. She probes the diaries
she had been writing and sees a record of her whole life
which was spent in domesticity concentrating on meals to
be cooked for the family. The contrast between their own
childhood and that of their children is also discussed.
They never enjoyed comforts that Rati and Rahul had.
Jayas musing also reflects her compassion for the
poverty stricken workers of the lower class. Their terrible
condition despite government policies is highlighted and
hiatus between the statistics given in papers and in real
life are pointed out.

Jayas relationship with Mohan is described first

through some moments of discord that they experienced
due to her professional inclinations also because she had
once rudely referred to his mothers being a cook. The
attitude of woman who is born and brought up according
to patriarchal norms is reflected in a reference to her girl
cousin who refused to work because their grandmother
told them to. When they told her to make the boys in the
30
family do the work, they had laughed. During the early
days of her pregnancy Jaya had requested Mohan to cook
at the food and he had smiled. In her persistence to make
him do as she wanted she referred to his mother as a
cook and this had led to a bitter quarrel between them. In
her description of marital relationships Deshpande never
gives only the wifes perspective here too she talks about
Mohan being shattered by her anger. Jaya is not a person
who can quietly obey the commands of others, not even
her own mothers and does not like any interference in
her career or the part of her husband. But she had learnt
to adjust. She has also changed over the years. She also
analyses the character of the children and remarks that
Rati was somehow assumed against unhappiness which
Rahul was totally vulnerable. Perhaps Rati being a girl has
learnt to brace herself to all kinds of situations whereas
Rahul is weak. This may be due to mothers extraordinary
or subconscious concern for the son. Mohan somehow
does not get along with Rahul, he seems to prefer Revati
his niece over Rahul the so-called unforgettable
landmarks of their life and glossed over by Jaya. While
she is objectively analysing their relationship Jaya records
God, how terrible it was to know a man so well. Jayas

31
inner fears are reflected in the dreams she describes. She
also dwells upon the circumstances that led to her
marriage with Mohan. They had met at herRamukakas
house, her English education and speech reminded him
of some sophisticated women he had come across in one
of the houses his mother had worked in. His proposal had
been welcomed by her brother though her mother was
doubtful. A reference to Mohans fair complexion and her
own honey-gold color reflects the demand of almost
every man to have a fair wife. The initial years of their
marriage were based on purely physical desires and
needs. She had obeyed his every request, her world was
centered around him and she grew tense of he came
home late. With the passage of time her indifference
towards him had grown but in the present situation she
again begins to rethink about their relationship. They
were physically together with separate individuals
entities. As she thinks man and woman it was then that I
realised the deep chasm between the two. They are
separated for even, never more than at the moment of
total physical togetherness. Mohan who had never
wanted her to be too professional, now wants her to take
up a job in the changed circumstances. She had been

32
doing journalistic pieces but, feels she cannot do so
anymore. Now is the time to tell him Ive abjured
them, all those things ,Seeta my weekly column, my
stories. But I said nothing. It was so much simpler to say
nothing. So much less complicated.

Just as Mohan has been telling her that the trouble at

his office has been the outcome of his concern for her
and the children, Jaya holds Mohan responsible for her
lack of confidence as a writer. He had once rebuked her
for writing a very personal experience in her story. He
described it as an exaggeration and took it as a personal
affront. Once again the significance of the title of the
novel is highlighted through Jayas reference to the
comfort of maintaining silence and avoiding controversy
to keep the peace between them. Giving voice to her
apprehensions would only lead to further complications
as they had done in the past whenever she had broken
the silence. This is the plight of almost every woman who
chooses to remain quiet and not elaborate upon her
feelings because she is rarely understood or accepted by
the family and society. It is with this that the second part
of the novel ends. Mohans fears about the future and his
thoughts about how to deal with it are also brought out
33
he is as vulnerable as Rahul though he poses to be
invincible in all situations. The silence and habit of
restrain which Jaya imbibed as a child continue to remain
with her seventeen years after her marriage. Jayas
relationship with her brother is also reflected upon. She
gets along well with her elder brother Dinkar but her
relationship with her younger brother is not good because
she thinks he is a non-serious kind of a person who
cannot really shoulder his responsibilities like a man. She
also highlights how women of different types dominating
like her mother and grandmothers submissive like
Vanitamami andKusum survive in this society.

Jaya remarks that normally sex should follow after

love but it can also be the other way around. Duringthe
early years of their marriage Jaya had felt very deeply for
her husband. She cared for his love. She had obeyed all
his wishes and was expected to be grateful to her
husband even by her own family. Except for Ai who felt
doubtful about Mohan, her uncle and Dada had felt he
was finer than her, a well-qualified person and so he
deserved to marry her. The emphasis on a girls fair
complexion is other discussed by women writers who try
to expose the false hypocritical notions of society.
34
Lesson no. 2 Question Answers

Q.1 what is the significance of the epigraph that refers to

that long silence of one half of the world?

Ans. The epigraph is taken from a speech of Elizabeth

Robins, actress, playwright, novelist and suffragette that
refers to the long silence that has prevailed in the world
as women have not been allowed to express themselves
freely. The thrust of the novel deals with women and their
silence which makes them become suppressed in the
patriarchal set-up. Robins also feels that even if men
would be sensitive enough they would realise that they
were responsible for nurturing this habit of silence in
women and feel uneasy about it. That long silence in the
context of Deshpandes novel is not the silence of women
only. It is the silence that exists between Mohan and Jaya
who symbolise all married couples. It is necessary to
break that long silence and clarify misunderstanding that
have been bred because of it.

Q.2What kind of family life does Jaya have?

Ans. Jaya is a sensitive housewife who also has a talent

for writing but as the novel progresses we find that she is
troubled by the situation she is presently going through.
35
All is not well because her husband has been suspended
from his job and some investigations are being carried
out against him. Their children have gone for a holiday
with friends and they have had to shift to another house
to escape the attention of people and references to the
hardships faced by people in distress hunt at the fact that
Jaya and Mohans family life is not as good as it should
be. There seems to be a sense of insecurity prevailing in
their lives, though they are trying to maintain a normal
stance.

Q.3. Is Jaya a conventional woman?

Ans. Jaya is trying to maintain a conventional and

traditional way of life. She is trying very hard to be a good
wife, and mother. But a spirit of rebellion has always
existed in her psyche and she has to keep it under
control. Various instances of her being an unconventional
women given Ajji is not happy with the way she talks to
her husband. She is quiet independent minded and does
not like being controlled by anybody not even her own
mother. She is trying to maintain the norms prescribed for
women in the Indian society, but her silence is also a

36
kind of self-assertion because as she herself
acknowledges it disturbs others.

Qus.how is the man-woman relationship drawn in the

novel?

Ans. The man-woman relationship particularly as depicted

in marriage is supposed to be the most intimate. Ideally it
is the meeting of souls as well as bodies. Although, Jaya
has always looked at her relationship with Mohan as an
indispensable bond she has now begun to feel that man
and women will always remain separate entities. Physical
union does not signify spiritual unity as well and they are
two separate entities yoked together like bullocks who
have to work in union because it would be difficult to
move in two separate directions.

Q.5. What is Jayas attitude towards her children?

Ans. Jaya is a good housewife and mother but, she seem

to think that her daughter is strong and self-sufficient and
it is her son Rahul who is vulnerable and needs to be
protected. Rahul is shown to be very different from the
normal expectations one has of boys. He is not interested

37
in studies, does not like going out much. He is self-
conscious much and does not like aggressive behavior.
Rati is an extrovert and her mother is more confident
about her than she is about Rahul.

Lesson no.3

Part 3 begins with a meeting between Jaya and her

younger brother Ravi who is not a very straight forward
person. As a result of this Jaya can also lie to him about
certain things without any feeling of guilt. As this section
progresses the reader comes to know that Ravi being the
youngest in the family had been pampered by her
mother. However Jaya deals with him as objectively as
she would discuss anybody who is not related to her. She
describes him as being shy, secretive and there never
had been any rapport between them as there had been in
her relationship with her elder brother Dinkar. Small
incidents of her childhood are narrated to show how Ravi
managed to get his way from a window seat in a train to
bigger things because his mother supported him. He had
got away with everything and was a basically selfish

38
person. He is also very clever as is revealed by how he
gradually veers the conversation to a point where despite
Jayas not wanting to do so she has to tell him about their
present circumstances. They discuss Chandumama and
his complaint about Jayas rare visit to Ambegaon.

Jayas memories reveal that their mother who had

been very dominating even when she was living in her
brothers home was an unwanted responsibility to all her
three children. Both Dada and Ravi had shunned this
responsibility so automatically she had borne the brunt of
it- As she observes Ravi of course was fluid and
irresponsible but even Dada who had now settled abroad
would never return. He feared sudden death of like that
their fathers but also felt that his case would be worse
because he was so far away from everyone. The typical
forgiving attitude of mothers for their sons is reflected in
Ajjis defense of Dinu (Dada) and calling him a simple
boy. Jaya reflects that a person who could so
successfully evade any kind of involvement of people
could not be all that simple. She recalls his behavior of
keeping distance with his mother and sister after Appas
death.Even his wife has to take tranquillisers regularly

39
makes Jaya comment that such a man could not be
simple.

Jayas analysis of the characters of her near and dear

ones does not reflect any kind of gender bias. She is
equally critical of her male and female relatives including
her mother. All her life her mother has shown a
preference for her sons over Jaya and now when they
have abandoned her every time Ai parts with Jaya she
shows outburst of grief. Ravi also gives Jaya the news that
Vanitamami is not keeping well. She was some female
complaints. Jaya remarks even in my distress, the irony
of it occurred to me: Vanitamamis uterus, having failed in
its life bearing purpose, was finally carrying death. Her
sympathy for women resurges when Ravi jokingly states
that she is not getting her uterus removed despite the
doctors advise because she is hoping to have a kid even
now at this late age. Jaya reacts harshly and tells him not
to be rude. As the narrative states suddenly I was furious.
What did he know? What did he understand of women?
Was it the Greeks who had said that a woman is her
womb? I had laughed when I had read that. But can any
women deny that link? Those painful spasms in the
middle of each cycle, those massive diving-on-to-
40
madness contracting pains of childbirth- could any
woman endure them if not for the fact that they were
reminders of that link? Her anger and disgust for her
brother is evident from her sympathetic attitude towards
her sister-in-law Asha. When Ravi accuses her of being
childish and pretends not to have done anything to anger
his father-in-law, Jaya knows that Asha is a good girl
without any meanness on malice. Ravi in fact was not all
that honest wavering between success and failure
belonging nowhere. Ravi wants her to talk to his wife
and tell her to return home though this time her father is
adamant not to send her. The secret reason of her shift to
Dadar is also brought out and finally Jaya records how Ai
and Vanitamami had doted on Asha. She was not jealous
till she saw Asha wearing her mothers pearls. Jaya had
expected that she would get some of her other-
Ajjisjewellery if she was nice to her because she was the
only granddaughter. But other- Ajji had nothing but this
string of pearls to give Ai and Jaya had been indifferent
about them till she saw Asha wearing them. She had
wanted the pearls not for herself but for her daughter.
Jayas self-analysis is brutal and she finally avers why
was I trying to fool myself? The justification not for me,

41
for my children could not change the meaning of the
words avarice and greed. Peel off the excuses and
avarice remained. She does not even spare herself and
reflects upon her own greed which surfaced when she
saw Asha with the pearls.

When she returns home Mohan questions her about

her outing. She tells him of her meeting with Ravi and all
the information he has given her about Vanitamami and
Ai. She also tells him of Ravis quarrel with his wife. She
knows that her brother expects her to tell Asha to return
to him as any good girl would but she refuses to do so.
Her remark about husbands never doing anything wrong
is ironical and it shows that she is well-versed with the
norms of the patriarchal society that never finds faults
with husbands and wives are told to obey them silently.
Jaya has to tell him about Ravis hint that he knew
something was wrong and why they had come to the
Dadar flat. Mohan is immediately on the defensive and
an adversary more hostile than I had imagined, He
accuses her of indifference when she says she has been
by his side through the crisis. He tells her that she could
have helped him, avoid it by sucking up to the CEs wife.
Jaya talks about each relationship having its own
42
vocabulary- The vocabulary of love had passed them by,
the vocabulary of anger almost ripped their marriage
apart, how Mohan seemed to overtaken her by starting
that he was going through hell and she was unconcerned.
He recalls that she had even made fuss about the first
house they had lived in. An ugly quarrel ensures and
while Mohans anger reflects his feelings that he thinks
his wife Suhasini no longer existed and is dying she had
passed on the burden of wifehood on the shoulders of
Jaya. A blame game played by the couple, Jaya says she
gave up writing for his sake. The gap between her
character as a writer and as a suppressed housewife is
described.

Mohans accusations make her want to retaliate but

she is struck with aphonic-the inability to speak. She is
bewildered by his charges of being a bad wife, bad
mother and disrespectful daughter. Ultimately she breaks
into hysterical laughter which annoys him so much that
he leaves her and goes away. She thinks she would be
able to explain her behavior to him but is not given a
chance to do so.

43
 When she is left alone Jaya goes over Mohans
remark Youve cared for me. And asks Jaya what have I
been living with him all these years? Her mind goes
haywire, she thinks of going upstairs to share here
distress with Kamat but, he is no more alive. She thinks
she is going crazy like Kusum. She feels as affinity with
her, as it is the family have clubbed them togethers as
Jaya and Kusum and now she states And so here we
were, both of us rejected by our husbands, our families,
failures at everthing. Earlier it was Kusums insanity
which made her feel same but now she is not sure any
longer. Without Kusum my sanity seemed suspect.
(page-126) but she envies Kusum because in her
madness she had probably been herself. Her suicide
showed that she had been able to take the critical
decision of choosing death over life. She cannot imagine
that Mohan had actually left her marriages never end,
they cannot- they are a state of being she imagines his
return and his apologies but she acknowledges we had
come to the end of this road. Even she had attempted to
prevent his departure she is not sure what would have
happened.

44
 In his absence Jaya begins to recalls his positive
traits Mohan beliefs, when I listed them, were like pole
that pulled me out of a quagmire of doubts. She
reiteratesthat faith that he would return. She also feels
that they have gently, graciously affectionately old
together She accepts his departure as retribution for
the wrongs she had done to Kusum who begged her not
to leave her alone. She also recalls her great act of
treachery against Mohan: the child I had destroyed
without his knowledge. Only her brother knew about it
and he wanted her to tell Mohan but she had kept this
secret to herself. Now she is aware that Mohan had not
returned despite her belief that he would.

Nilima her neighboursdaughter break her chain of

thoughts by coming to tell her that Jeeja the maid is on
leave for the day. After she departs Jaya once again
ponders over her situation and feels that Deceptions,
lies, evasions- was this all that we had been able to offer
each other in our years together? She recalls Karl Marxs
description of the relationships between man and women
as being most natural of all the wonders Natural? When
we are forever hurting,forever wronging each other?
Natural?When we are forever resenting own need of each
45
other? In Mohans absence she does not want to do
things he did not like e.g. hanging clothes in the balcony.
She also recalls Appas treatment of her as someone
special and different from the others. Fathers generally
encourage their daughters as Appa had supported her
but he died when she was very young. She tries to revive
her spirit and do something to break her stupor but she is
overcome by a paralysis of will.

Jaya recalls Vanitamamis remark that a husband is

like a sheltering tree but she does not agree with it. Her
whole family had advised her to be good to her husband
she also thinks about the meaninglessness of the life of a
women who does not have a husband. Time heals all
wounds and this is emphasised by the manner in which
Jaya recounts the gradual fading away of memory and
grief with the passage of the time. She also recalls the
stay of the sparrow who behaved stay in and youre
safe. But what happened when everyone went out and
you were left alone inside? She realises that the hazards
of marriage lie inside and not outside the home. The only
person she could turn to for comfort at such a time was
Leena. But there is a mystery regarding Leenawhich is left
unexplored and unexplained when Jaya came to know of
46
her affair with a married man she had left her though
they had enjoyed a very good relationship. Many years
later she had come across Leena but the latter had never
forgiven her so she refused to recognise her and Jaya
thinks Mohan would do the same. A womans fate is that
she remains invisible all her life in the patriarchal set up.
Jaya thinks of this when she remembers being excluded
from Ramukakas family tree. Mohan had just smiled
when she told him about it. Jaya had felt not just in
consequential but wholly blotted out. None of the women
who were married into the family feigned in the tree
though they had knit the family together e.g. Ajji had
done so single-handedly. However she did not question
Ramukaka or Mohan I had learnt it at last- no question,
no resorts. Only silence

Mohan had been hurt by a story she had written and

won a prize for. He felt that she had revealed their
personal lives to the world and won as exhibitionist.
Though she did not agree with him she could not explain
herself or oppose him. She simply felt that perhaps she
had taken the hobby of writing too seriously and needed
to curtail her talent because she was scared of
jeopardizing the only career I had, my marriage. Jaya
47
feels deserted by her near and dear ones. Even now she
feels There was no room or my anger in the room. The
silence, the stillness frightened me. She tries to busy
herself with housework and then she faces the truth that
her talent had not been curtailed because of Mohan, he
was not the scapegoat for her failure but her stories had
been rejected and she had failed as a writer. She
retrieves the file full or rejected stories from the cupboard
and realises that when Kamat seemed to support her he
was actually not being kind he seemed to have hinted
Use my knife to kill yourself if you want to it makes no
difference to me. Edited criticism of her story of the child
widow as irrelevant, middle-class, bourgeois had dwindled
her. When she had told Kamat angrily about it, he had
asked why she had not used all the anger on her
narrative. Her reply had been Because no woman can be
angry. To hear of angry young man as hero is
acceptable but angry you women are not acceptable to a
society that wants them to remain subdued, submissive
and obedient, Kamat however, states that women are
angry, he has seen them and heard them barging pots
and pans in their frustrations because they cannot voice
their anger. But a woman who speaks out is neurotic

48
hysterical and frustrated, she cannot experience anger
and despair . Theres only order and routine the daily
domestic chore chart to follow. Kamat had told her that
she was actually scared of writing and scared of failing
and the excuse that she did not have time was not valid.
She realises that like a women she had crawled into the
safety of her hole- family and home when he had told her
not to exaggerated the woman as victim bias. That was
when Seeta the light-hearted humorous column
describing the travails of a middle-class housewife was
begun and everyday including Mohan loved her for it.

Though she would have loved to uphold the cause of

women she shut the door firmly, on all those other
women who had invaded my being, receiving for
attention: women I had known I could not write about,
because they might- it was just possible- resemble
Mohans mother, or aunt, or my mother or aunt. Seeta
was safer. (page 149) She could write about her and
remain comfortable. Laxamankaka had compared her
writing with that of her fathers. He too had been a failure
and she is haunted by Kamats words you are scared of
failing. Jaya is also haunted by the memory of having
turned away fromKamat when he had died. I knew you
49
were dead and yet I instantly walked out on you, leaving
you with only your voice for company now why dont you
leave me alone? Why dont you stay dead and leave me
alone?(page 150)The predicament of a married woman
is described through Jayas condition. She had ignored
Kamat and come away from his house because she would
never have been able to explain to the world why she had
gone to meet him. Her relationship with Kamat had been
frighteningly fluid and she realises it is not he but she
who wont let go his memories. She cannot analyse or
formulate any method of naming this relationship. Various
moments spent with him are revived in her mind,
werealise that he is not a conventional type of man. It is
in front of him that she confesses her anger for her
parents, her mother for rendering her homeless by selling
Ambegaon house and her father for having died and
dooming them this state. She feels that he had brought
her up with special notions about herself and then passed
away before helping her to fulfill them. She felt betrayed,
the memories of the day he died return to her mind along
with the memories of her discovering of Kamats death.
Despite her grief and sense of desolation she had coerced
Mohan into making love to her that night but she doesnt

50
think that this is natural. Natural? Theres only treachery
only deceit, only betrayal.(page 158) Jaya realises that
marriage and other human relationships are not trouble-
free, comforting and fulfilling and that she herself has not
stuck to the rules of fidelity in marriage.

Part 4 is the concluding part of the novel. It begins

with Jeejas description of her son Rajaram encounter
with some goondas who injured him. She requests Jaya to
go and speak to the doctor in the hospital to take proper
care ofRajaram. Her remark about Tara having Kumkum
on her forehead is very telling. It shows that even if the
husband is a worthless man he is the sheltering tree and
nobody can cast an evil eye on women as long as their
husbands are alive. Jaya is rebuffed whenJeeja refuses to
accept money instead of the help she is asking for. When
Jeeja refers to her husband as a big officer Jaya recalls
how the waves had washed away her name from the
beach, with Mohans departure she felt that she is not a
wife any longer. The doctor S.K. Vyas is her brothers
friend and he revives his memories of Dinkar and his
family when he meets her. His reference to her husband
makes her wonder what his reaction would be if she told
him that Mohan had left her. She reassumes herselfthat
51
he had not done so and had probably gone back to their
Church gate home so decides to go and check.

Jaya does not find him there. The neighbors servant

comes to inform her that the telephone bell has been
ringing incessantly. It rings again this is trunk call in which
Rati informs her that Rahul has disappeared. But Rati is
more concerned about getting her brown shoes to be sent
with Mohan who is expected to go in search of Rahul. Her
sons disappearance is a terrible blow to Jayas mind. She
is shattered by the second betrayal in her life and the
glossy colored picture of a happy family simply vanishes.
Jaya ruminates over the childhood memories of Rahul.
She is now faced with another major failure in her life.
Her failure as a mother is added to her failure as wife and
as a writer. The dignity of motherhood is lost to her now.
She comes to know that he has gone to his fathers
brother Vasants house. She decides to return to Dadar.

On the way back she comes across a young girl

being molested by two men but they only laughed at her
when she tried to stop them. She gets drenched in the
rain and wakes up to find herself being looked after by
Mukta and Manda. She knows now that the only desire

52
left in her mind is that her family should come together
under one roof safe enclosed in a secure world.(page
181)She feels that Darkness has invaded her. If her family
returned to her they could start afresh. Nilima visits her
and disturbs her by talking about suicide but Mukta is not
upset when she is told this by Jaya. Mukta is genuinely
worried about Jaya and she is curious to know if all is well
between her and Mohan. Then Mukta asks her whether
their differences are because of kamat. Jaya is taken
aback when she learns that Mukta had always known
about her visits to Kamats flat and her leaving him alone
after his death. Mukta is angry because Kamat, her
husbands friend had supported her after Ais death and
he had confided in her before he had died. Jaya had
abandoned him when he was dying but her marriage had
prevented her from staying with him. She explains it as
circumspection required to be maintained by marriage.
She describes her narrative as a patriarchal quilt and is
nursing about it when Manda announces Rahul arrival.
She does not rebuke him, tells him that his father is in
Delhi and would return the next day after which they
would go back to Churchgate . Jaya records her departure
from home on a day she had felt she could cope no more

53
and her finding a gender in the midst of the suburban
ugliness. The unwanted attention of a man had forced her
to return home determined to express her frustration an
inabilities. However, the demands made by her children
and family made her remain quiet and complacent. She
thinks people are unhappy because they are bound by
fear.

Jaya tries to analyse why she has written this text

and states Well Ive achieved this I am not afraid any
more, the panic has gone. She accepted the reality of
being Mohans wife and she refers to Defoes definition of
fiction as a sort of lying that makes a great hole in the
heart at which by degrees a habit of lying enters in. She
wonders whether one can continue living with a hole in
heart? She now revises her opinion by saying that by
calling Mohan and herself two bullocks yoked together
she had only promoted disbelief in themselves. Her
perception that there is only one life and no reprieve was
possible is also wrong because life offers many
crossroads and many choices. She also recalls the
message of the Bhagawadgita Do as you desire the
advice of Lord Krishna after he had given Knowledge to

54
Arjuna. She knows that if she is to be angry with anyone
it is herself.

The novel has an open ending. Jaya thinks of what

would happen when Mohan returns as per telegram she
referred to. She knows that by being a complacent wife
she can revive his authority over her. She intends to
erase the silence between them now, she has been
marginalized enough like the women characters in
Sanskrit drama who could only speak Prakrit and she will
not allow this to happen any longer. The message in the
telegram all well could mean returning to their positions
before the mishap. She realises the truth of
Muktasassertran that people dont change but, we can
always hope and sustain ourselves. She has learnt albeit
in a very different way that life has always to be made
possible. One cannot get a readymade comforts
existence one has to work for it achieve it.

The novel thus ends with the message that

introspection and understanding of self enables human
being to come to terms with life. The obstacles and
hurdles in life are stepping stones on the path that teach
us lessons and prepare us better for the future. Both the

55
negative and the positive aspects of family life are
highlighted by Deshpande and as usual she does not
think that escape can be the best remedy. She always
reterates the necessity to face life as it comes and find
solutions to the problems by delving deep into them. Jaya
becomes the messenger who conveys the most relevant
truth of the art of living- we have to made it possible and
not give up the fight.

Lesson no 4

There is a characterisation of silence in That Long

Silence which hints at the deafness of patriarchal
society to the voice of women. The burden of breaking
that silence also rests on the shoulders of women in the
novel. The silence can be broken only through the
language of men e.g. Jayas stories are not acceptable to
the male world but, her column Seeta is popular
because she writers what men want her to write. The
novel propounds the story of Jaya who is threatened with
negation and is forced to act to save herself from it.
Generally, freedom to act at will can lead to chaos in
human life. Jaya the protagonist is torn between love and
hate for her life. She has played the role of a traditional

56
woman and embodies all the qualities of a good woman
suffering with tolerance and courage and yet maintaining
silence. At moments when the urge is uncontrollable she
becomes a self -assertive, rebellious woman showing
signs of feminism. But her true awakening is made only
when she realises that even revolt is not the solution to
calm down her troubled psyche. As John Stuart Mill has
pointed out marriage makes women a slave Deshpande
also describes Jayas situation as being one in which she
has to wipe out her identity. She metes out a
psychological treatment to her protagonist and allows her
a temporary outlet to air her grievances as a woman she
is allowed to retrospect and suspend her duties as a wife
and mother to analyse her situation.

The irony of her situation is that in spite of

maintaining the equipoise and silence she is accused of
indifference by her disturbed and frustrated husband
whose insecurities take from in the outbursts against her.
In spite of being a non-conformist since her childhood
Jaya has learnt to control her emotions and even hopes
her Ajji is happy with her for this. This tendency to
combine modernity and tradition is the mark of Jayas
nature. She has a complex identity, she is capable of
57
being a typical housewife, yet she feels the attraction
towards Kamat. She also has altruistic concerns and
would like to help women in distress. She is expected to
be a perfect housewife and to help Mohan out
professionally as well by befriending the chief engineers
wife to protect his interests. But Jaya fails to do so and
when she is accused of indifference she simply rebels
against his life-long oppression.

Jayas consciousness of her condition is reflected in

her comments regarding the situation of women who are
always made to curb their desire for self-expression. The
distinctive feature of Deshpande is that she deals with
the issue of women across the boundaries of class and
the condition of women seems to be the same across
these. The way women are treated irrespective of class
and economic status does not differ much. Jeeja has to
bear with her husbands second wife because she is
barren but, her whole life is spent in looking after the
family of her stepson. Rajeshwari Sunder Rajan has aptly
remarked, the force of Deshapandes indictment of
womens lines lies in the way she is able to universalise
their silence, chiefly by drawing similarities among Jaya
and a variety of other female figures, including characters
58
from Indian history and myth; and among three
generations of women in her family (Jaya, her mother and
her grandmother) ; among different classes of women
(Jaya, her maid Jeeja); among different kinds of women of
the same class and generation (Jaya, her cousin Kusum,
her widowed neighbourMukta).

At the end of the novel it becomes clear that Jaya is

no longer willing to remain passive. She must erase the
silence. Deshpande seems to think like the post-feminists
that the power to reform lies within women, they need to
tap the right resources to reform and change their world.
As Jaya states at the end life can be made possible. As
PragatiSobti states about the novel, finally
ShashiDeshapandesThat Long Silence is an expression of
the silence of the moderan Indian wife which has turned
her into a non-entity.

Theme of Marriage

That Long Silencehas the potential of being discussed

from various angles: as a feminist text in which the quest
for identity is connected with the man-woman
relationship not just from the perspective of marriage.

59
 RajeshwariMittapalli analyses the trauma of a
housewife whose journey of self-discovery leads to a new
perception of life. B.K. Das studies it as revolt against
patriarchy and G. Lakshmi Narasaiah highlights the
existential element of the text: As he aptly remarks
Jaya redefines her existential situation in her own terms,
having it out on her own premises. Other critics point
out Jayas exploration of her self which is lost within the
framework of marriage. References have also been made
very often to Jayas search for release from the bondage
of marriage and victim consciousness. Marriages even
when they are love marriages are not trouble free and
completely successful. The institution of marriage is also
threatened by the conflict between traditional limitations
and modern aspirations. Through Jayas story many
issues related to marriage are explored and the concepts
of marriage are interrogated afresh at various levels.

Deshpande explores women belonging to different

levels and society and exposes the harsh reality that
marriage is oppressive for women of all classes. While the
lower class women are suffering and struggling to meet
the needs of life, the women belonging to the middle
class who are not financially independent are remaining
60
silent to maintain at least the faade of an ideal marriage
life. Marriage which sounds like a magic key to everything
a girl desires in life it turns out to be a difficult experience
particularly for girls belonging to lower classes. Marriage
dooms women to eternal drudgery and Nayana does not
want to have a daughter not because she is crazy to have
a son but because she does not want a girl child to suffer
as she herself had done. Howsoever, a man may treat his
family and his wife the Kumkum on a womens forehead
is the thing that gives a women respectability in society

Middle class women go outside the home to work out

of choice. They are not treated as badly as the lower class
women but marriage remains their only career and
destiny. They are torn between the old and the new
because they are well-educated. Their fathers encourage
their growth as individuals but other male members of
the family represent patriarchal constraints. Jaya, like all
other girls is taught to regard her husband as a sheltering
tree and to accept everything without question or retort.
As a sheltering tree the husband has to be nourished and
matured. As Virginia Woolf and other feminists assert it is
in the eyes of the wife that the husband finds an inflated
image of himself and gains confidence to face the world.
61
A women's anger can undermine his authority and
confidence so she remains silent and learns to do only
that which is expected of her and she is allowed to do
without censure. By renaming Jaya (victory), Suhasini
which means "a soft, smiling, placid, mother motherly
woman, Mohan in a way assigns her the role he wants her
to play. She is like clay which moulds itself according to
the way in which the sculptor shapes it. But seventeen
years after their marriage she knows they are still
separate A man. A woman.

Jaya tries her best to suppress her independent spirit,

she feels suffocated because her whole life is spent in
playing the role of daughter, sister, wife and mother and
she can never be her 'self'. Waiting is the only thing that
is permanent in her life. While living the life of a
traditional wife she is tempted to befriend Kamat a
middle aged intellectual. He enables her to express
herself however their relationship in spite of being
platonic is suspect in the eyes of neighbours like Mukta.
Jaya's fear of social disgrace makes her leave Kamat
alone lying dead in his flat. Her creative urge is described
as exhibitionism by Mohan so she has to curb her desire
to write. Marriage hinders Jaya's intellectual growth and
62
undermines her confidence that a woman is a non-entity
without her husband is reiterated again and again
through various incidents. Even the educated Dr. S. K.
Vyas tells her to come with her husband of course when
he invites her over. She is granted no individuality outside
marriage. Despite the ups and downs she experience, she
cannot imagine her life without Mohan. His departure
deals blow to her and she begins to introspect and
examine their relationship afresh. She also begins to their
confidently about their future as she realises that co-
existence is possible with compassion and understanding,
not through domination, subjugation or rejection. As
Saree Parker opines:" the important insight that
ShashiDeshpande imperils through Jaya is that women
should accept their own responsibility for what they are,
see how much they have contributed to their
victimisation instead of putting the blame on everybody
except themselves. Like post-feminist theorists Jaya too
shows the inherent strength in women. They are capable
of coming of the victim states and bracing themselves up
for their lives. Most women suffer silently without
protesting or asserting themselves.

63
 The existential dilemma of women is represented.
They inhabit a hostile world with very little freedom of
choice. Jaya too initially blames her marriage for her
failures but finally acknowledges that our own
inadequacies are to blame for it. Generally a husband is
considered to be mentor and guide, to serve him is as
good as serving God. Mohan idealises his mother who
never lost her patience. Whatever his father did she
patiently endured. Looked fresh food for him and suffered
in silence. To him this was strength to Jaya it is despair. A
wife sacrifices her needs for the sake of family gets
exploited, suffers, and die in silence like Mohans mother
and sister Vimila. Vanitamami and Kusum are also passive
and submissive. Mukta is independent and is working
after her husbands death, but she represents how
women who do not have a male child are treated in the
society.

Changes have come about in the system and in the

attitude towards marriage but the influence of patriarchal
strictness have not been eliminated. Women accept the
given constraints as the natural way of life. To follow
tradition is the greatest virtue. The newer-generated
which are more enlightened and educated and cannot
64
conform to the views of elderly women. Thus the
rumblings of revolt can be seen in Jaya. She cannot
tolerate insults like Mohans mother had done. He
measures her on the yardstick of his mothers behavior
and this is what results in disharmony.

So, the institution of marriage has been thoroughly

analysed by taking examples from the different classes of
society. The lower class women are more miserable as
marriage is a slavery for them, it a painful burden which
is a necessary evil as it gives them a dignity without
which they would remain playthings in the eyes of all
men. Marriage is a tool used to control the minds and
bodies of women. However, Dehapande holds woman
responsible to some extent for her own subjugation. Her
mind is not free from fear so self-assertion is not possible.
It is only when Jaya acknowledges that she is free to
choose that she breaks the self- imposed barriers and has
the courage to remain within the family and still emerge
from the cocoon to erase the silence between herself
and Mohan.

As long as a woman can think independently without

male opinions to bias her she can fulfil the aspirations of

65
her mind. So Deshpande suggests that by accepting the
responsibility for ones victimisation is necessary to
enable women to undertake self-analysis and self-
understanding through vigilance and courage. Change is
slow in coming but as Jaya says : life has always to be
made possible. All the women characters in
Deshpandes novels have the notion their success is
determined by a successful marriage and her characters
like Jaya are attempting to make it succeed.

Deshpandes Technique

With the onset of feminism Indian Womens Writing

has also engaged itself in devising verbal strategy for
rejecting the literacy conventions of the male tradition
and the historically accepted standards. Deshapnde is
one of the prominent writers who have created ripples in
the society dominated by men. She uses the stream of
consciousness techniques takes us into the consciousness
of her women characters to present them plight, desires,
fears and ambitious. She projects a realistic picture of the
middle class educated women who is struggling between
tradition and modernity. In That Long Silence she explores
the reasons for the silence of women. The first person

66
narrative technique is used to resister womens protest
against the world and the doubts and fears that plague
Jayas mind are highlighted through her psyche Jaya
undergoes great mental trauma and finally comes to
terms with all the irregularities of their marriage and their
situation. Initially she is a typical role-model of the
traditional wife but as the process of introspection goes
forward Jaya relates that she has to gather strength and
courage to face the truth and resolve the differences
between herself and Mohan by breaking the silence. The
narration is not straight forward and the chronological
order is not linear. Flashbacks are commonly used and
the reader is taken back and forth in time. The story
begins in the present and the final chapter ends in the
present but in between chapters are anachronic in nature.
There is a slow unravelling of past memories and
exposition of souls like in the interior monologue.

Deshpande often uses Marathi words in her narrative.

She also states in the opening pages of her narrative that
to be a writer one has to be ruthless. Ruthless because
objectivity is also an essential attribute of writing and
emotional involvement will not allow her to be so.
Interspersed with the narrative is a record of the dreams
67
has had on and off in her life. Sometimes they are
symbolic of wish-fulfilment and sometimes of her
frustration. Deshpande is describes as a mature and
technically accomplished story-teller and this is evident in
That Long Silence. Generally a book writer in the first
person of other characters but Deshpande gives us an
insight into Mohans mind as much as she exposes the
nature of Jaya in the novel. In fact Jaya becomes the
spokesman of the author and objectively describes all the
characters in the novel. The reader is introduced to the
strength and weakness of every significant character in
the novel. Deshpande is an experienced writer who has
rounded her texts according to the need of the story

Lesson No. 5
The Interplay between Femininity and Masculinity
Although Deshpande upholds the rights of women
and expresses the sympathy for them she does not a
radical feminist stand. In her novel it is the silence which
symbolises the failure of communication between man
and woman rather than just social structures that affect
human relationships. She does not think that men alone
are responsible for the silence of women. Before the
1970s India was still very traditional in its outlook but,

68
with the advent of globalisationmen became more career-
oriented and women more conscious of their rights as
individuals. The traditional Sati, Savitri, Seeta images
deeply ingrained in the psyche of women began to be
disturbed with the image of the emerging new women in
the West. Social conformity was more necessary in the
case of women but with the exposure to Western
feminism and gender studies no givens of gender
constructs and role-play remained acceptable such as
men were the sheltering tree the protectors,
breadwinners in the family and home and all expectations
had to be fulfilled by them. Deshpande reveals an
attitude that is not anti-men as many of the women
writers who wrote earlier have depicted. Her stance is
humanistic and she knows that adjustments have to be
made by both men and women in marriage and other
relationships.
Though she is very sensitive to the pathetic we plight
of women belonging to all classes. She never
dehumanises or vilifies the male characters in That
Long Silence. She questions patriarchal but is never
completely feminist in her stance. Her heroines have a
spirit of rebellion in them but they cannot reject the
Indian tradition completely. Jaya tries to establish her own
identity in the midst of her existence as a wife. Educated
women like Jaya are torn between tradition and
modernity. Mohan her husband is a materialist who is
initially against. Jayas working but when he is faced with
adverse circumstance he tells her to look for a job. Jaya

69
by then has realised that she has been taken for granted
and that happiness is an illusion so she has become
indifferent to his demands and needs. Mohans reason for
marrying her was her intelligence and fluency in English
but, he never gives her the freedom to use her
intelligence as she wants. He expects her to assist him in
rising professionally by befriending the Chief Engineers
wife. She quietly obeys his wishes but, he still finds her
wanting and accuses her of being indifferent to his
anxiety doubts and unhappiness. He is ambitious and his
unfair illegal activities get him suspended from his job
after which he becomes very touchy and irritable and
wakes out of the house because he feels Jaya is ignoring
his tensions.
The motives behind his materialistic attitude can be
traced to his childhood which was poverty-stricken and
dependent on the favors of a rich old man who supported
his education. His fathers dictatorial attitude towards his
mother and his image of wife was based on the image of
tolerance that she personified. His image of a wife has
been created by submissive woman that he has seen in
his family in his growing years. (That Long Silence p-83)
Mohan sees his mothers silence as strength whereas Jaya
looks at is as being the representation of suffering and
despair and a protest against tradition. Jaya spends her
whole life in trying to follow the advice of the Ajji and
Vanitamami and be an ideal wife but Mohans allegation
that she has abandoned him in his failure comes as a last
straw. She breaks out the hysterical laughter and Mohan

70
abruptly leaves the home before Jaya can explain
anything to him. Mohans attitude towards Jaya his erratic
behaviour is never condemned by Deshpande. In fact it is
justified on the ground that his life is not exactly easy and
problem-free. It is due to his frustration that he loses his
calm. Although initially the impression that is given is that
Mohan is responsible for Jayas stunted career as a writer,
the reader learns that it is her own weakness and not his
fault that she has failed as a writer. There also seems to
be a hidden fear in his mind of her ability to outside and
overpower him. It must be noted that unlike most
womens writing in which the male is considered to be the
enemy of woman, Jayas tendency to blame Mohan is
proportionate to the tendency to explain and defend him.
There is also a reference to Rahul the son of Jaya and
Mohan as being a less intelligent, more introvert, and
unambitious kind of child. The traits of masculinity
particularly related to the boys of his age are an extrovert
nature, a desire to impress and thus act accordingly is
one boisterous showing-off manner. However, all the
references made to Rahul bespeak of his timidity his lack
of interest in leaving the comfort of his home. He has
gone for the holiday with his sister and family friends
because had he stayed back his father would keep
taunting him about it. Jaya often indulges in an analysis of
the contrast between Rati who is a self-confident
extrovert, adventures child whereas Rahul is a Quiet less-
spirited person. So the notion of masculinity is
questioned. Rahuls relationship with Mohan, his running

71
away from the place of his holiday to his uncles home,
his fear of facing his family after that is contrasted with
Ratis carefree fun loving attitude.
Various other male characters are depicted Appa
Jayas father is encouraging and supportive towards her.
He would like his daughter to get the best and do her
best in life. Jaya misses his encouragement. Her brothers
Dinkar and Ravi also present contrasting images of men.
Dinkar is more stable while Ravi is a philanderer; both are
busy with their own families. Makarandmama is an
unconventional male figure, physically he has no
attributes of an actor but he defies family and tradition,
leaves his home and becomes an actor in Bombay. His
preoccupation with himself is reflected in the
innumerablephotographs hanging in his home, but his
generously is revealed in his gifting his flat to dada.
Laxmankaka is a typical representative of the patriarchal
system. He is proud of having drawn a family tree from
which all women are excluded. This not only highlights
the significance of men but also reflects the plight of
women who are not considered a part of either the
parental home or the home they go into after marriage.
They remain outsiders in both families. The men of the
lower classes are all drawn as vicious and parasitic
dependent on their women for their luxuries. They cause
a lot of distress to their women and families. They are
irresponsible and yet they are essential because their
presence ensures the security of the women in this world.
This is the irony of their positions in the world.

72
 Extra marital relationships are an expression of
feministic inclination and are commonly found in
Deshpandes novels. That Long Silence is no
exception and in the relationship Jaya has with Mr. Kamat
we find another face of masculinity. Kamat is a
domesticated man fond of cooking and housework and
not ashamed to acknowledge this. His attitude is more
sympathetic than others towards women and that is why
he befriends Mukta and Jaya and helps them in different
ways. He has no reservations regarding the chores
generally to be performed by women and he treats
women as equals. He presents an utter contrast to
Mohan, while the latter is discouraging Kamat supports
and guides her. He enables her to locate her lost self and
Jaya sheds her inhibition in his presence. What is to be
noticed in this novel is that unlike the others extra marital
relationships Jayas relationship with Kamat is platonic.
His reassurance and advise is given in a paternal manner.
It is he who tells Jaya to be honest and to be herself. He
tells her beware of this women are the victims theory
of yours Take yourself seriously woman. Dont sulk
behind a false name. And work-work if you want others to
take you seriously.(p- 148) It is Kamat who awakens Jaya
to her emotional and physical needs invite her to break
her silence and show her anger if she has the courage to
do so. When she comes with the child-window story and
is upset by the editors response to it. Jaya can never
come to terms with how she had ignored Kamats death
because she was afraid of public censure. Her guilt
haunts her and she reflects the plight of all women of her

73
kind who cannot resolve the conflict between tradition
and modernity.
Jaya recognises that all the limitations are within her
and is strengthened by the return of Rahul and Mohan at
the end of the novel. She knows that if she has to give
vent to her anger on someone it has to be herself. Having
had the privilege of having a father who reposed
confidence in her and named her Jaya (victory) and this
inculcates in her a positive belief in herself. Jaya is wise
enough to understand that liberty does not mean total
freedom. Discipline and an eye on duties and
responsibilities towards family and society are also
important. Thus all the male characters in the novel
represent some aspect of Indian masculinity and Jaya
assesses each character realistically. Therefore she is
able to conclude that no one else but she herself is
responsible for her failure. Deshpande also reflects upon
the limitations that every individual has to face and learn
to survive in this world. She also knows that both have to
co-exist in society. She also exposes the truth that the
earlier perceptions of unified homogeneous in their
performance. Deshpade challenges conventional
masculinity and patriarchy by presenting different images
of men she observers men as sons , husbands, brothers
and fathers who reflect that masculinity means much
more than just some personality traits and gender
boundaries need to be redefined. She also does not
accuse men of oppressing women all the time. Deshpade

74
has portrayed masculinity as fluid and varying from
person to person.
Deshpades husband character exhorts hegemonic
masculinity which implies all-inclusive dominance, which
enables man to control women. However, they are also
affected by anxiety, resistance, and a loss of sense of
order when they are face to face with the change in
contemporary life and resultant change in gender
equations. The sons in the novel are caught in a web of
obligations which they want to avoid. They do not want to
shoulder responsibilities like Ravi, Jayas brother.
KamlaBhasin has remarked Patriarchy does not only
harm women, it harms men too, by reducing their
choices, putting then into straitjackets and dehumanizing
them. Men have to deal the pressure of personal and
professional lives.
The lives of the men depicted in the novel reflect a
departed from the gender roles assigned to them. Ravi
and Dinkar (Dada) do not want to look after their Ai.
Chandumanas desire to be an actior alienates him from
the family. Kamat is a good cook. Rahul is more timid
than his sister Rati. Deshpade seems to point out that
even though men may be better off than women, there is
a danger of their losing their core selves under pressure
to live up to their gender roles. No generalisation of either
gender is possible according to Deshpande. Only the
father figures exhibit a masculinity that is not traditional
because they support their daughters and do not prefer
their sons over daughters. Thus, Deshpande suggests

75
that masculinity is not a fixed entity it is evident in
different patterns of behaviour in different contexts.
Deshpandes writing is thus a departure from other
womens writing as she is sensitive to the need of
maintaining harmonious human relationship. My
search has led me to the discovery that above all we are
human, that we share as human is far than what divides
us as being men and women. (Writing from the Margin
and other Essays) She advocates a change of attitude in
adjudging and practising the gender norms.

76