UNIT 21 TECHNIQUE

Structure

2 1.0 Objectives
2 1.1 Introduction
2 1.2 What is Technique?
21.3 Whatisstructure?
2 1.4 Technique in The Binding Vine
2 1.5 Point of View
21.6 The Structure of the Novel
21.7 The Binding Vine as a Steam of Consciousness Novel
21.8 Glossary
21.9 Let Us Sum Up
2 1.10 Answers to Exercises
21.1 1 Suggested Readings

21.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this unit carefully, you would be able to:

understand the structure of the novel
comment on the use of language
outline the author's style
discuss the use of point of view
discuss the novel as portraying women's vision of life.

21.1 INTRODUCTION

In Unit 20, we discussed Shashi Deshpande's art of characterization and also

commented on some important characters in the novel. So now, we know the
plot, the themes and the characters. To present hisher story, a novelist
requires technique. It does not mean that the novelist moulds and twists the
story deliberately according to some given technique. No. The writer is an
artist who works with the medium of words. We cannot bind h i d e r within
any norms. Art is spontaneous and technique emerges all by itself. When we
analyze a novel as readers1 scholars/critics, we try to find the technique.

In this unit, which is the final unit of this block, we shall explore Shashi
Deshpande's technique from various angles-how does she use the language?
What is her style? What is the structure of the novel? And how do we rate
The Binding Vine as a feminist novel?

21.2 WHAT IS TECHNIQUE?

Technique is the means by which the novelist chooses to tell hisher story. The
novel is a living thing. It grows, leaves its impact on us and inspires the
readers to ponder over it. When a novelist imagines a story and works out its
plot and characters, helshe starts the process of composing the subject matter. Technique
Experience, discovery, use of language all come together to bring forth the
work of art. The writer has to write the story in a convincing manner. How
should helshe begin? Who would be the narrator? How can language be used
effectively? These and many such questions crop up while the story is moving
in the author's mind. Sometimes after deliberation, and sometimes suddenly,
the writer finds hisher path. A pattern takes shape, it acquires a rhythm with
words and the story starts developing.

Shashi Deshpande, talking about various aspects of writing says that at the
moment of writing a writer "steps out of the room.. .. Stands at a distance, a
little away from her own humanity and sees the world from this vantage point
of view. This gives a unique perspective, the larger picture, which is closer to
the truth than anything else" (Naik, p. 34). This perspective allows a writer to
see hisher strengths and weakness and accordingly present the story.

In other words, technique is "craftsmanship". Shashi Deshpande agrees in her

interview with Lakshrni Holmstrom that craftsmanship is important in writing.
One learns it by doing it. There are several choices before a writer in the
matter of technique, in the way one wants to "tell" the story. Once a writer
chooses her style, she has to follow it faithfully. Deshpande is selective about
her technique. Her books, therefore, are finished works of art. They are free
from strain, the story runs smoothly and the form and content do not smother
each other.

Part of the4purpose of a novel or story is to communicate the underlying

dramatic structure or message of the writer. The other part is to make that
communication as interesting and effective as possible. In addition, the story
has to be readable and enjoyable. When the writer gets a plot, helshe has to
determine how that plot is to be presented, how the scenes will be played out
for the reader. The order in which the scenes have to come up determines
which information is a first impression and which is a modifier. The first
impressions usually carry more weight than anything that follows. So, a writer
has to decide on a technique that will hold the interest of the reader, for which
deciding the structure becomes important.

21.3 WHAT IS STRUCTURE?

In order to understand the meaning of the structure with regard to the novel,
let us take an everyday example. When you want to build a house, you need a
plot of land, a map, raw material and workmen td raise the structurf ~ i t the
h
raw material. The walls are raised, doors and windows are fittec- and then
inner decorations are done. The structure acquires a finished form and
becomes a house, and when you shift in, it becomes a home.

Likewise, the writer has raw material, helshe chooses hisher tools (the use of
language), raises the structure as an organized form, gives it decorations with
dialogue, characters and actions according to the subject matter.

The structure of the novel is the essential organizing principle. It is not simply
a fixed container into which you pour in your contents i.e. the "subject
matter", but it is a combination of component parts put together according to
the principle of decorum. That means, the characters, action, style of narration,
The Novel: The and dialogue are all used in a befitting manner according to the literary genre.
Binding Vine It is thus the arrangement of the constituent parts. It contributes to the
developing unity of a work. According to Miriam Allott, the structure of a
novel can be classified into three sub-headings: (i) Unity and coherence (ii)
Plot and story and (iii) Time-factor. Unity and coherence mean that the
actions, dialogue and incidents must be according to the requirement of the
plot and the role assigned to the character. Plot refers to the way the various
events that occur in the narrative (the story) are arranged in terms of causality.
Thirdly, structure also means a formal ordering of the content in time. Time
may be used as linear or as non-linear. In the linear time, events are recorded
as they happen but in fugal time they go back and forth. This technique is used
in the stream of consciousness novel.

According to Edwin Muir, structure can be understood in terms of Time,

Space and Causality. This definition may appear a little difficult at first but on
re-reading it, you will find that it is meaningful. Let us explain. We, human
beings, can understand the events of life in a limited sense; only God can see
the whole unity from beginning to end i.e. the unity of time, space and cause.
But, human imagination can create that unity in a work of art or literature by
arranging time, space, cause and effect.

This will be clear to you when we take up the novel for discussion from
different angles.

21.4 TECHNIQUE IN THE BINDING VINE

An analysis of The Binding Vine shows that the novel has many strands
running side by side. It has two rape cases, but rape is not the central event of
the story. Death may be termed as the central motif because the novel starts
with Urmi grieving over the death of her infant daughter Anusha. There are
several deaths reported at short intervals-Baiaji, Aju, Urmi's father, Mira,
Sulu and Kalpana's near-dead condition. Women desperate with grief occupy
the novel. But that again is' not the only theme. In fact, the novel is an
amalgam of death, violence, fear, insecurity, rape and memory. As the title
suggests, the dominating theme is love and human relationship, "this cord, this
binding vine of love" (p. 137).

The unifying strand is provided by Urmi, her memory, her interaction with
various characters and her comments. The novel is divided in four parts all
joined by a common strand. Part One opens with Urmi's grief at her loss, but
this major event leads to other revelations. Urmi appears aggressive, irritable
and given to hurting Vanaa. The first few sentences reveal an important streak
in her character.

It is also relevant to know that Urmi harbours a kind of grudge against her
mother. The author does not tell us directly that Urmi has strained relations
with her mother. She reveals it slowly to heighten the suspense. On page nine
of the novel, Urmi and Vanaa discuss how Urmi, as a girl, used to wear the
badly-stitched dresses made by Baiaji, quietly rejecting the beautiful,
expensive &sses brought by Inni. After a few pages Urmi asks her brother,
A m t , "When has she ever acted the doting mother with me.. ." (p. 25). This
is not a question. This is a complaint that her mother has never been a mother Technique
to her. Urmi remembers her Baiajji with deep affection but she is often rude to
her mother. This sets the tone for mother-daughter tension.

We wish to know the reason. But we have to wait. The novelist chooses to
solve the mysteq only towards the end of the novel. Inni tells the incident
when Urmi's father took the decision to send Urmi to Ranidurg. He did not
consult his wife (Urmi's mother) on the issue. This fact reveals two aspects:
one, in the patriarchal system a man's decision is final, and second, a woman
suffers in silence as she has no voice. At this point, Urmi understands her
mother's agony. She feels sorry for Inni. This revelation is important here
because it leads to Urmi's growth. The pattern is thus progressive, not static.

The narrational technique is first person. The events unfold slowly with
Urmi's memory playing a key role. The first person narrarational technique
is difficult to handle. Authors like Anthony Trollope, Henry James, Emile
Zola, Charles Dickens and many others have found it limiting. Anthony
Trollope once remarked, "It is always dangerous to write from the point of
L9
I . Henry James called it the "accursed autobiographic form." Shashi
97

Deshpande uses Urmi to tell her story and she does it dexterously. Events flow
back and forth without any gap, and the various strands are linked smoothly
through Urmi.

The narration begins with Urmi's shattered state of mind: the death of Anu
reminds her of several deaths in the family, as well as the fear of death and the
human ability to get over it. This mourning period provides her with an
opportunity to know Mira through her poems. Till then she did not know
much about her deceased mother-in-law. Now that the trunk containing
Mira's writings comes into her possession, she is able to see a woman's life
from yet another angle. Every time Urmi sees the reality of woman's
existence, she is led to count her blessings. Let us see, how Urmi broods over
Mira's life:

Mira was only 22 when she wrote this. She had been married at the age
of 18. Since then, she had lived a life which, even if normal to most
women of that time, must have seemed terrible to her. It seems
appalling to me when I think of the choices of my own life, of its
freedom. Cloistered in a home, living with a man she could not love,
surrounded by people she had nothing in common with-how did she
go on? (p. 127).

Here Shashi Deshpande shows not only Mira's suffocating life but through
her, she also points out that there are more choices open to women today.

While Mira rises from the dead, Urmi encounters another woman ready to
march into the realm of the dead. She is Kalpana, the rape victim. Kalpana is
in a coma, unable to tell her story. It is through her mother Shakutai that
Kalpana comes alive. Shashi Deshpande gives another dimension to her story
here. Besides "showing" the problem of rape, she provides us material to
think deeply over the need to expose such cases, the vulnerability of women
and the fear that is their constant companion. She blames the system through
these two cases. The author does not openly blame patriarchy, she only
generates an atmosphere.
The Novel: The There are not many descriptive passages in the novel. The only elaborate
Binding Vine descriptions are provided by Mira and Urmi7scomments on them. The rest of
the situations are evoked through comments, conversations and memory. The
novel is technically a successful one.

Check Your Progress 1

1. What do you understand by technique?

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2. Write a note on the technique used in The Binding Vine.

3. How does Shashi Deshpande sustain our interest in the story?

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21.5 POINT OF VIEW

Point of view signifies the way a story gets told. A novelist may use '1' to
narrate his story, which is called first person point of view, or helshe may u'se
third person point of view, as if someone else is telling the story of another
person. In other words, it is the perspective through which the novelist
presents his characters, events, episodes, actions and setting. This is the
narrative mode or narrative voice adopted by the writer. To some critics this is
the fundamental device to convey his story. According to Percy Lubbock,
"The whole intricate question of method, in the craft of fiction, I take to be
governed by the question of the point of view-the question of the relation in
which the narrator stands to the story and his book." The novelist can either
describe the characters from outside, as an impartial or partial onlooker, or he
can assume omniscience and describe them from within or he can place
himself in the position of one of them. The question of point of view is
directly related to the power of the writer-the creator.

The Binding Vine is told from the autobiographical point of view of Urmi. She
is in a pivotal position. Everything happens around her or within her purview.
She is the judge, the commentator, and the prime mover. The reader knows the
episodes through her. The characters too come to life, as Urmi wants them.
But Shashi Deshpande does not make her all powerful. Urmi's comments are
countered and balanced through situational facts.

The author "shows" Urmi through her words and actions, through her motives
and interactions with people around her. The other characters gain personality
through her. At the beginning of the novel Urmi gives a generalized statement Technique
about how we live as our image. She determines to fight that image and be her
"self '. This is a big resolve and we have to see if Unni succeeds in it or not.
The path is not so easy. There are psychological problems too. Urmi is grief-
stricken and she has to fight it out to get over it. Urmi unfolds her life through
her memory, through flashbacks and through the present.

The first person point of view has limitations because one person can tell only
what helshe sees, experiences and thinks. But, to get over this, Shashi
Deshpande uses the diary technique. Mira is given a voice because she has
written down her thoughts. These are Mira's thoughts as interpreted by Urmi.
Mira is equally a narrator, we can say. The author shows us her importance by
two methods: first, the four-line stanzas from Mira's poems become important
because each stanza is an epigraph to the four parts. As we have seen in our
preceding unit, an epigraph is a kind of motto. That means when Mira's stanza
becomes an epigraph, she govern the narrative. For example, the epigraph to
Part One is:

The fragrance of the night-queen

crosses the hedge of thorns
touches the pinnacle of the shrine
and is no longer mine

This part shows the fleeting natke of joy and beauty. Happiness and the
fragrance elude Mira and even Urmi. Mira's thoughts influence Urmi and she
gives space to Mira to tell us her side of the story. Her presence is felt
throughout the novel as it ends again with Mira's lines. Another point that
establishes Mira's importance is Shashi Deshpande's comment in an interview
when she tells Lakshmi Holstrom that her sympathies are not with Urmi but
with Mira.

Kalpana's story comes to us primarily through Shakutai. Shakutai is not the

narrator. She is given this duty by circumstances. Urmi does not know
Kalpana at all. Then how would she narrate her story? The point of view is
Urmi's but the narration is Shakutai's. As a mother, she tells Urmi, how her
daughter behaved, how she looked and how smart she was. Urmi reacts to her
description and generates discussion, which further reveals some more facts.
Shakutai does not narrate Kalpana's story at a stretch. This would have
become boring. She gives out her thoughts in bits and pieces as and when
required to advance the story

Urmi is the bridge that links the stories and gives them meaning. Her
comments are revealing. As Shashi Deshpande observes, "Urmi is more than a
filter, a medium through whom the other stories come through.. ." (Pathak, p.
250).

21.6 THE STRUCTURE OF THE NOVEL

As we studied in section 21.3 of this unit, structure is an all-encompassing

term. If includes unity and coherence,.time and space and the plot, the story
and the characters. All these put together give us the structure. Thus, when we
think of the structure, we think of the work in its totality. Shashi Deshpande is
a serious novelist. She is very careful about her craftsmanship. She is aware
The Novel: The that there are many choices to build up a story but she takes long to decide on
Binding Vine the technique so that the structure holds fast and does not crumble.

The structure of The Binding Vine is based on the stories of three women but
the responsibility to reveal the stories is given to one woman-Urmi. She is
the medium who not only tells her own story of grief but also in the process
discovers the lives of two other women. Together, these stories expose the
entire patriarchal system and the novel comes nearer the feminist novel. The
plot revolves round the themes of death, marriage, fear and violence. The
importance of communication, of establishing bonds, is repeatedly
emphasized. It is the death of Anu, Urmi's infant daughter that makes Urmi
hysterical. In the course of the narrative, Urmi realizes that she is not the only
sufferer, there are other women who are worse sufferers. The stories of
Kalpana and Mira assume significance and the two sub-plots get attached to
the main plot.

The themes of death, violence, fear, women's marginalization, their power,

their strength despite their vulnerability give many strands to the plot.
Kalpana is nearly dead. This generates fear born out of the uncertainty of the
situation. Kalpana's mother thinks, that she got into trouble because she was
not afraid and a woman should know fear. Urmi feels that all women
instinctively know fear. The novel also takes up the theme of marriage and
love. All marriages in the novel are not unsuccessful, but for making them
successful, women have to sacrifice much. Inni and Papa were a happy
couple, because Inni was submissive, Vanaa-Harish are happy but again it is
because of Vanaa's submission. In Baiajji and Aju's case, Baiajji wielded
power secretly. As for Urmi and Kishore, it is really based on understanding
though Urmi feels unfulfilled due to Kishore's reticence. Akka and Mira
suffer, the former as a neglected wife and the latter as a misunderstood wife.
The worst marriage is of Shakutai, who is a forsaken wife, and of Sulu as a
childless woman; she remains frightened and insecure, -and is driven to
suicide.

The overall effect of the novel is of sadness and helplessness. Particularly

grim are the portions dealing with Kalpana. There are patches of humour or
light conversation between Amrut and Urmi and Dr. Bhaskar and Urmi. But
this is infrequent. The rest of the conversation/dialogue is angry, flippant or
sad.

Angry and flippant exchanges often take place between Vanaa-Urmi, Vanaa
and her daughter Mandira, and Urmi-Inni. Urmi and Vanaa are childhood
friends, now they are related-Vanaa is Urmi's sister-in-law. Their exchanges
are heated in which Vanaa as the meeker one is silenced. Urmi is discourteous
to her w t h e r and her mother withdraws when Urmi becomes angry. Mandira,
though just a kid, is often angry with Vanaa for going out to work. She wants
her mother at home.

Despite these strains and stresses, pains and agonies, the novel ends on an
optimistic note. Urmi stands up as a strong character. In the beginning we find
her almost broken but she gets over it. She tells her brother, "I will not break"
and true to this, she does not. She understands the priorities of life, the urge to
survive and the necessity to survive with hope. The heavy atmospheje clears
as Urmi decides to get busy with her usual routine.
Shashi Deshpande sets the novel in Bombay, gives Urmi the required Technique
freedom, and portrays her as free, frank and uninhibited. She is the middle
class, educated urban woman of the 1980's. India of the 1980's is certainly
different from the small-town India of the 1940's and 50's when Mira was
growing up, and living after her marriage. By allowing the characters to move
according to the existing social norms, Deshpande maintains the unity of time
and space. The novel has coherence. Though different stories are joined, the
forging link is strong. The language is refined and the expressions are
accurate. Deshpande keeps the local flavour by using words like Aju
(grandfather), Ajji (grandmother) Tai and Mavshi (aunt). While describing
Mira's life she refers to traditions like the change of maiden name after
marriage. The rest of the ambience is neutral. The novel is recounted through
the consciousness of Urmi and is a stream of consciousness novel.

21.7 THE BINDING VINE AS A STREAM OF

CONSCIOUSNESS NOVEL

In the preceding units we have often referred to the term stream of conscious
technique. We also read about clock time and psychological time. Now, let us
apply these terms to The Binding Vine and discuss its salient points.

We know that in literature ''strew of consciousness" denotes a narrative

technique by *whicha writer chooses to tell hislher story. This phrase was first
used by William James to characterize the unbroken flow of thought and
awareness in the waking mind. But James was talking with reference to
psychology. In literature, when a story runs in the mind of the main character,
hisker senses seem to work in the past. The character remembers hisker past
and the flow of thought takes us back and forth. The thoughts, memories,
feelings and past associations create the world of the novel. We see and feel
everything in relation to the character. For example, in our novel, Urmi
comments on the rainy season in Bombay when she remembers her mother's
remarks. Shashi Deshpande does not describe rains, nor does she tell us the
locale of the novel. From such a flow of thoughts we know that: the novel is
set in Bombay, rains in coastal areas are long and intense, and the time has
passed (when the novel opened it was summer).

To convey the scenes the novelists use interior monologue, long introspective
passages and flashbacks. In interior monologue, the characters express their
thoughts and feelings by talking to themselves. The time is not clock time; it is
psychological time. In literature many writers have used the stream of
consciousness technique but we cannot say that they have all followed the
same pattern. They have perfected it from time to time by making minor
changes, keeping the main pattern intact.

Let us now start our discussion. The Binding Vine is a stream of consciousness
novel because it is told from the consciousness of the main character, Urmi.
What happened to Urmi? Her daughter has died and she is grief-stricken.
Nobody tells us this fact. It is through Urrni's laments that we get to know it.
Her consciousness works through association. Anu's death reminds Urmi of
Baiajji's death, and Baiajji reminds her of her girlhood days in Ranidurg. We
are not told that Urrni stayed with her grandparents. Urmi's thoughts going
The Novel: The back and forth reveal this fact. Was Urmi happy in Ranidurg? From her
Binding Vine conversation, interior monologue and her thoughts we know her feelings. Her
childhood was a happy one, but she missed her parents and held Inni
responsible for sending her away. This shows a great psychological fact that .
children may be happy and comfortable with their grandparents but they do
not like to be away from their parents. Urmi's thoughts also reveal to us
another fact that her relations with her mother (Inni) were strained. Towards
the end of the novel, Inni recounts how Urmi's Papa took the decision to send
her to Ranidurg. Here we realize a significant social fact that women have no
"voice".

To reveal this theme, Shashi Deshpande takes the help of Mira's diaries.
Urmi's flow of thought now merges with Mira's consciousness through her
writings. Mira's life is revealed to us through Urmi's interpretation. Urmi
often makes use of interior monologue when she comments on life situations
and Mira's philosophy of life. For example, we do not know that Mira was
raped in marriage, we only know that she dreaded her husband's advances.
Urmi comments, "what has happened to Kalpana happened to Mira too" (p.
63). This comment is not spoken out, it is nonverbal and yet, it is revealing. A
powerful example of interior monologue is Urmi's summing up at the end of
the novel. It gives us solid proof of Unni's optimism, her philosophy of life,
her strength and her success in getting over her grief. In the beginning of the
novel she resolves, "I will not break" and by the end she shows that she is not
broken.

The time used is psychological time but it is intermingled with clock-time in

the Kalpana episode. Kalpana's rape takes place in the present; she is revealed
to us through Shakutai. Now, it is Shakutai's memory that is at work. The
present is revealed with the day-to-day happenings in Shakutai's life-her
husband's visit, her son Prakash's wayward behaviour, and her sister Sulu's
suicide. Shakutai reminiscences only when she is recounting some past
experience, otherwise it is her present that is more saddening and the future
that is frightening. During this period, Urmi also lives in the present and
records her movements in clock-time, like her visit to Dr. Bhaskar, and the
second visit of Amrut. Past and present mingle here.

Urmi emerges as a dynamic personality. She is engrossed in the present, lives

in the past through memory and association and her consciousness becomes
the consciousness of the entire story. By repetition, dreams, recurrence in the
structure, Shashi Deshpande has depicted inner time and created a world that
is as real as life. The repeated use of Mira's poems also serves to give unity to
the structure of the novel.

21.8 GLOSSARY

interior monologue: when a character recreates a conversation in

hisher consciousness and follows the question-
answer pattern and talks to himselfherself,
revealing other characters or situations. This is
nonverbal.
 -

psychological time: as opposed to clock time which is chronological Technique

and linear, and measured in minutes, hours, days
etc., psychological time runs in the mind of the
character and can go back and forth.

stream of Consciousness: literary technique that depicts the inner thoughts

and feelings that flow through the mind of a
character in a work of fiction. Sense
perceptions like thoughts, memories, feelings
and random associations are presented in a
mingled manner. James Joyce's Ulysses is the
best example of this technique.

Check Your Progress 2

1. What elements does the term structure encompass?

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2. On whose storylstories is the structure of this novel based?
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3. Comment on The Binding Vine as a Stream of Consciousness novel.

4. After reading the novel, would you agree that it projects a woman's .
view of life?
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.'

5. Give a brief note on Shashi Deshpande's use of English language for

creativity.

21.9 LET US SUM UP

In this final unit we discussed the novel in its finished form. You now know
the rise of the novel, its aspects, the place of Shashi Deshpande in Indian
English Literature and her works. We also studied The Binding Vine
thoroughly with regard to theme, plot, and characters. In this last unit, we
looked at:

. the structure of the novel

The Novel: The the significance of technique and the technique followed by Shashi
Binding Vine Deshpande
The Binding Vine as a stream of consciousness novel

We are sure you now have an in-depth knowledge of this novel.

21.10 ANSWERS TO EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1

1. Refer to section 21.2. It is discussed elaborately.

2 Refer to section 21.4.
3. Shashi Deshpande uses the technique of fragmented narration, memory
and association to generate suspense and thus sustains the readers'
interest. While recounting an episode or incident, she stops when it
reaches the climax and takes up another related incident. At a later
stage she picks up the threads and starts again to narrate the previous
episode. The story moves backwards and forwards in psychological
time and we have to wait to know the result.

Check Your Progress 2

1. Structure is an all-encompassing term. It includes unity and coherence,

time and space, and the plot, the story and the characters.
2. The structure of the novel is based on the stories.of three women-
Urmila (Urmi), Mira and Kalpana.
3. Refer to section 21.7. This is discussed elaborately.
4. Yes, the novel gives women's vision of life. It portrays a middle-class
female protagonist's predicament in a male-dominated society. The
Binding Vine is the story of Urmi, Mira and Kalpana, who are the main
movers; and Shakutai, Inni, Vanaa, Akka and Baiajji who are the
minor characters.

*We see the modem Indian society through the eyes of Urmi, Vanaa
and Priti. In this society, women are educated and have relatively
more freedom than their mothers had. But, they have a double burden
on them, while men are free. Urmi thinks, "it is women who take
parenthood seriously; men don't, not to the same extent anyway." (p.
76). Vanaa finds it difficult to deal with Mandira, her elder daughter,
who resents her going out to work. She asks, "Urmi, why is it nobody
thinks of blaming Harish? He's never around, but it's never his fault"
(p. 75). In fact, even children are more demanding about their
mother's attention. Mandira does not want her mother Vanaa to go out
but it is an accepted fact that the father has to work. He is not
supposed to shoulder household responsibilities.

The novel also shows how women search for love, meaning and
happiness in life. Urmi is happy with Kishore but she feels that he is
too remote. She remains unfulfilled. Mira wants love but has to settle
for lust. Kalpana searches for a good life but is raped. A woman, thus,
cannot cross the limits imposed by society.
 The novel comments on the vulnerability of women, their servile Technique
attitude, their desires and their inability to speak out. We do not know
what men think of life except through a few comments that Amrut and
Dr. Bhaskar provide. Urrni remembers Amrut asking her, " Do women
want to be dominated?" And she comments, " No human being wants
to be dominated. The most important need is to love .... But love
makes you vulnerable" (p.137). Dr. Bhaskar thinks women are
strange creatures and it is difficult to understand them. This he says
with regard to Shakutai who wants her daughters to be married though
marriage for her has been a bitter experience. To this Urrni's answer is
that for a woman like Shakutai marriage means, "you are safe from
other men".

The total picture that emerges tells us that all men are not bad and all
women are not good. We are made what we are by our society, our
experiences of life and our innate personality.

(Note: The examples given above can be elaborated).

Shashi Deshpande is an Indian writer who writes in English. Her

mother-tongues are Kannada and Marathi, but she has had her
education in English. She uses English with ease and there are no
jarring notes in her language. Instead, her expressions flow smoothly
and words are used appropriately. She keeps intact some of the words
from Marathi. For example, she prefers to use Aai for mother, Mavshi
for maternal-aunt, Ajji for grandmother. She finds it unnatural to use
these in their English translation. When she narrates the story, she
thinks in English but when she writes dialogues, she thinks in her
mother-tongue. Deshpande has admitted in many of her interviews that
she 'likes to write in English as it comes easily to her, but she also
agrees that it is difficult sometimes to find exact expressions for
cultural nuances. She affirms that English is no longer a foreign
language, as it is much used in India.

21.11 SUGGESTED READINGS

Atrey, Mukta and Viney Kirpal. Shashi Deshpande: A Feminist Study of Her
Fiction. New Delhi: B.R. Publishing House, 1998.

Bala, Suman, ed. Women in the Novels of Shashi Deshpande. New Delhi:
Khosla Publishing House, 2001.

Bande, Usha, "Female Bonding in Shashi Deshpande's The Binding Vine".

Literary Voice (31dseries) 1997.

--- "Many Faces of Tolerance - A view From Four Short Stories," in

R.K.Singh, ed. The Psychic Knot: Search for Tolerance in Indian
English Fiction. New Delhi: Bahri, 1998

Chandra, Sudhir, Continuing Dilemma: Understanding Social Consciousness,

Delhi: Tulika, 2002.
 The Novel: The Jain, Jasbir, Gendered Realities, Human Spaces: The Writing of 'Shashi
Binding Vine Deshpande, Jaipur: Rawat, 2004.

I Naik, Chanchala K., ed. Writing Difference, New Delhi: Pencraft, 2005.

Palka., Sarla, "Of Mothers and Daughters: of the Great Divide: Shashi '

Deshpande's The Binding Vine" in The Postmodern Indian English Novel ed.
Viney Kirpal, New Delhi : Allied Publishers, 1996.

Pathak, R.S., ed. The Fiction of Shashi Deshpande. New Delhi: Prestige,
1998.

Sebastian, Mrinalini, The Novels of Shashi Deshpande in Postcolonial

Argument, New Delhi: Prestige, 2000.