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Volume 16 Issue 2
2025
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Silence as Strategy: Rethinking Female Identity in Shashi Deshpande’s Narrative
| Author(s) | Mohita Prasad |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Abstract | Shashi Deshpande, a prominent figure in contemporary Indian English fiction, consistently explores the constraints imposed upon middle-class Indian women. While traditional readings often interpret the silence of her female protagonists as a symptom of oppression or resignation, this paper argues for a re-evaluation of silence as a deliberate strategy of resistance and self-definition. Focusing primarily on That Long Silence and A Matter of Time, this analysis utilizes feminist and post-structuralist frameworks to demonstrate how the protagonists—Jaya and Sumi—leverage silence as a subversive tactic. By retreating from patriarchal discourse and the expected performance of domesticity, silence becomes a critical tool for introspection, enabling the negotiation of conflicting identities, the reclaiming of subjective truth, and the eventual articulation of a non-compliant self. Keywords: Shashi Deshpande, That Long Silence, Female Identity, Strategic Silence, Resistance, Patriarchal Discourse, Subjectivity, Feminist Narrative, Inner Voice I. Introduction A. Context and Thematic Landscape Shashi Deshpande's body of work is characterized by its meticulous charting of the domestic sphere and its impact on the female psyche. Her novels shift the focus from grand historical narratives to the intimate, often stifling, reality of everyday life for women navigating modern Indian society. The central dilemma in her fiction is the struggle of the educated, modern woman to reconcile her internal ambition and desire for self-expression with the traditional, prescribed roles of daughter, wife, and mother. This conflict manifests profoundly in the recurring motif of silence. The issue is not merely the lack of speech, but the complex, loaded meaning behind the refusal to engage in the dominant, patriarchal dialogue. B. The Problem of Silence In patriarchal societies, women are often associated with silence—a symbol of powerlessness, marginalization, or the inability to access public discourse. Deshpande's heroines frequently find themselves submerged in an overwhelming, suffocating quietness that seems to be imposed upon them by social convention and male dominance. However, to interpret this silence solely as passive victimization is to overlook the complexity of Deshpande’s narrative strategy. The silence these women experience is a dual entity: it is simultaneously the consequence of their societal marginalization and the laboratory for their self-discovery. The narrative structure, often relying on internal monologue, transforms this social silence into literary voice. C. Thesis Statement This paper asserts that in Shashi Deshpande’s narratives, particularly That Long Silence and A Matter of Time, silence transcends passivity; it evolves into a strategic narrative space utilized by female protagonists for introspection, resistance against patriarchal definition, and the eventual articulation of a fragmented, but authentic, self. The deliberate act of silence becomes a performative counter-discourse against the stifling demands of the "perfect wife" archetype. D. Roadmap The paper will first review key literary criticism regarding silence, gender, and power in Deshpande’s fiction, establishing a theoretical foundation rooted in feminist post-structuralism. The subsequent analysis section will explore how protagonists use silence to deconstruct the mythological "ideal woman" persona (That Long Silence), and how silence serves as a multi-generational mode of survival and refusal in the face of familial breakdown (A Matter of Time). The conclusion will summarize how this strategic silence facilitates a radical rethinking of female identity within the constraints of Indian domesticity. II. Review of Literature Early critical engagements with Deshpande often placed her within the social realist tradition, highlighting themes of marital discord, the entrapment of the home, and the search for equality. Critics like R.S. Sharma and C.V. Venugopal praised her sensitive portrayal of female emotional life, yet often read the female characters' quietness as defeat, overlooking the agency within their introspection. However, a shift occurred with the application of feminist and post-colonial frameworks. Feminists like Susie Tharu and K. Lalita (editors of Women Writing in India) emphasized the subversive potential of women’s literature to critique established norms, leading to a reinterpretation of the domestic space as a site of potential resistance rather than mere confinement. The most relevant critical dialogue concerns the nature of silence and language. Critics exploring women's writing frequently draw on French feminist theory, referring to the concepts of "écriture féminine" (Cixous) or the "semiotic" language (Kristeva)—modes of expression outside the dominant, masculine "symbolic order." Deshpande's protagonists rarely resort to overt, loud protest; instead, they operate in this semiotic space of the unsaid. For instance, some scholars argue that the silence is an act of self-censorship, a survival mechanism against an aggressive public sphere. This approach, while valid, risks limiting the scope of agency. A more robust perspective integrates post-structuralist theories of power and discourse. As Michel Foucault demonstrated, power is not only exerted through discourse and what is said, but also through the regulation of what is silenced. Deshpande’s narrative exploits this dynamic. Critics like Gayatri Spivak's query, "Can the subaltern speak?" finds a localized answer in Deshpande’s fiction: if the subaltern (the repressed domestic woman) cannot speak in the accepted symbolic order, she can refuse to speak, thereby reclaiming the authority of her internal narrative. This paper aligns with the post-structuralist feminist viewpoint that views the refusal to speak within the dominant discourse as an active, strategic choice. Thus, the protagonists' silence is not empty; it is dense with unarticulated critique, unperformed duty, and the painful labour of self-recollection, marking the beginning of the strategic identity quest. III. Analysis: Silence as Strategy in Deshpande’s Narratives A. The Deconstruction of the "Perfect Wife" in That Long Silence That Long Silence (1988) is perhaps the most explicit exploration of the theme, as the protagonist, Jaya, a writer married to Mohan, finds her identity dissolving into the public persona of the dutiful wife, "Jaya." Her silence is the space between her internal reality (the writer) and her performed self (the wife). 1. Silence as Retreat and Introspection: Jaya’s long silence begins when Mohan faces professional scandal, forcing them into a small, temporary flat. This physical retreat from their affluent life corresponds to an emotional retreat from the public eye. Her silence is initially an avoidance of the messy reality, but quickly becomes a necessity for self-examination. She reflects on her marriage: "The trouble is that we have become used to the comfortable, easy fiction of our life" (Deshpande, TLS, 32). Her internal monologue, which fills the novel, demonstrates that while Jaya is socially silent, she is narratively verbose. The novel itself, written in the first person, is the comprehensive articulation of the silence, proving that the cessation of social speech is the precondition for the beginning of personal writing. 2. The Rejection of the Sita Archetype: Jaya recognizes that her attempt to write under the pseudonym 'Sita' failed because she always tried to fit her voice into the acceptable, domesticated, and ultimately mythological narrative demanded by patriarchal discourse. Sita, the ideal mythological woman, is the blueprint for the silently suffering and subservient wife. Jaya’s strategic silence allows her to stop performing the mythological 'Jaya' persona—the cheerful, compliant wife. This silence is a profound refusal to cooperate with the mythological and social narrative imposed upon her by Mohan and society. By refusing to speak as Sita, she paves the way for the emergence of the true, imperfect, angry self. B. Survival and Refusal in A Matter of Time A Matter of Time (1999) presents a slightly different, more enduring form of strategic silence, focused on endurance and withdrawal within a multi-generational context. When Gopal abruptly leaves his wife, Sumi, and their three daughters, the emotional fallout is absorbed primarily by Sumi, who chooses non-response. 1. Silence as Endurance and Control: Sumi is initially shocked, leading to an inability to express her anger or pain through conventional speech. Her silence is initially shock-induced, but it hardens into a protective shell—an affective barrier against the outside world. It is a calculated move to preserve her dignity and mental coherence against the immediate chaos of her shattered marriage. Crucially, Sumi uses the time—the duration of the silence—to recalibrate her relationship with her mother and to rebuild her self-worth outside the marital framework. This pause prevents her from reacting emotionally, thus maintaining an element of control over her own narrative destiny. 2. The Intergenerational Silence as Pattern and Break: Deshpande masterfully shows how silence operates across generations, moving from passive endurance to active strategy. Sumi's mother, Manorama, also maintained a long silence concerning her own troubled marriage, a silence that became an accepted, but destructive, family pattern. Sumi's eventual, quiet decision to take up work and manage her household without engaging in public lament or accusations (a conventional female response) signifies a subtle but profound rejection of the victim role as defined by the previous generation. Her silence, therefore, functions as a strategic barrier, preventing the external world from further defining her misfortune while she actively redefines her life. It is in this quiet refusal that she finds the space to start defining her own time and identity, creating a new, spoken future for her daughters. IV. Conclusion Shashi Deshpande’s strategic deployment of silence is one of her most significant contributions to Indian feminist literature and a powerful tool in exploring female subjectivity. Through protagonists like Jaya and Sumi, she demonstrates that silence is not merely an absence of sound or agency, but a pregnant, powerful form of existence—a site of intellectual and emotional labour. It is the necessary pause in the patriarchal script, the space where the female narrator can finally hear her own interior voice, unpolluted by external demands. The journey undertaken by Deshpande’s women moves fundamentally from imposed silence (the condition of oppression) to strategic silence (the deliberate act of resistance), culminating in a new, albeit fragmented, identity. By refusing to speak when expected, and by filling that silence with rigorous introspection and writing, these women successfully dismantle the traditional, unified "ideal wife" persona, initiate a truer, if more painful, path to self-realization, and rewrite the myth of the silent, suffering woman. Deshpande thus affirms that for the Indian woman trapped in domesticity, the quiet rebellion of withdrawal and internal voice can be more revolutionary than an open declaration of war. Further research could explore the intersections of strategic silence with physical space in Deshpande’s work, examining how the literal confines of the home (e.g., the ancestral house in A Matter of Time) become linked to the psychic space carved out by silence, or compare Deshpande's narrative use of internal monologue with other contemporary female writers. V. References 1. Deshpande, Shashi. That Long Silence. Virago Press, 1988. 2. Deshpande, Shashi. A Matter of Time. Penguin Books India, 1999. 3. Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction. Translated by Robert Hurley, Vintage Books, 1990. 4. Kristeva, Julia. Revolution in Poetic Language. Translated by Margaret Waller, Columbia University Press, 1984. 5. Sharma, R.S. "Shashi Deshpande's That Long Silence: A Narrative of Self-Discovery." The Fiction of Shashi Deshpande, edited by R.S. Sharma, Prestige Books, 1998, pp. 110-120. 6. Tharu, Susie, and K. Lalita, editors. Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the Early Twentieth Century. Vol. 1, The Feminist Press at CUNY, 1991. 7. Venugopal, C.V. The Indian Short Story in English: A Survey. Writers Workshop, 1976. |
| Keywords | . |
| Field | Arts |
| Published In | Volume 16, Issue 2, July-December 2025 |
| Published On | 2025-12-05 |
| Cite This | Silence as Strategy: Rethinking Female Identity in Shashi Deshpande’s Narrative - Mohita Prasad - IJAIDR Volume 16, Issue 2, July-December 2025. |
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