Anguish Arising from Claims of Existence: A Study of Shashi Deshpande’s The Dark Holds No Terrors

Abstract

The journey of Feminism which set out with the depiction of torments and tortures
faced by a woman has transformed its course at many echelons as some of the contemporary
Indian women writers have shifted their focus from feminine sensibility to existential
predicament of an individual. Shashi Deshpande is also one of such writers who tries to explore
‘journey within an individual’ besides ‘journey within a woman’. The present paper tries to
demonstrate how Deshpande takes a comprehensive view of life by projecting the existential
predicament of her characters irrespective of their gender. It also probes to examine the
different stages of absurdity and anxiety where an individual finds himself a victim of his own
conflict and claims for his existence. It attempts to identify the deeper recesses of human psyche
as explored by Deshpande to bring out the more challenging aspects of her characters than the
feministic ones. It also tries to show how Deshpande presents the image of a suffering human
being both male and female who seems to be preoccupied with his inner world, sulking on
frustration and a storm within.