WOMAN AGAINST WOMAN IN THE SELECT NOVELS OF SHASHI DESHPANDE

Abstract

Almost all the novels of Shashi Deshpande narrate the story of the women who are the
victims of exploitation, separation, negligence and even rape by their own family members.
Gayatri Chakraborthy’s Spivak has pointed out, even some of the female members join hands
with males to exploit the other members of their own sex. This is true of Deshpande’s novels too,
where women also exploit each other. There are hierarchies among women and women like
Vanita Mami, Jeeja, Nayana and Tara indirectly reinforce patriarchy as they behave like a silent
spectator and do not oppose the wrongs done on the other members of their sex. Salu in
“Binding Vine” and Akka, Padmini and Sunanda in “Roots and Shadows” also feed and
strengthen the patriarchy. In the novels, we cannot deny the glimpses of self imposed dominance
of patriarchy. To a considerable extent women are the victims of self imposed patriarchy in the
name of family honor and respectability.