Major Themes Marital Conflict Expectations and reality Nuclear Family and Joint family Father-daughter and mother-son

relationships The inability to locate one self Family Vs Career Lack of communication

Lack of warmth in love life Tradition Vs modernity Patriarchy Safety of ancestral homes and loss Indian Middle class values Writer’s Dilemma

Feminism The quest for identity and freedom a criticism of the prevailing social conditions Exclusion of women from the dominant male

culture, social, sexual, political and intellectual pursuits

"Relational" and "Individualist” Feminisms Two classes :the lower strata of women, engaged indomestic chores to earn their living and

educated middle class women

Two authorities within the family no radical feminist stance Man’s dilemma with women’s dilemmaWomen are victims of their own perceptions and

self imposed restrictions"With whom shall I be angry? With myself, of

course." (TLS: 192) "I don't like to call myself a feminist writer. I say

I'm a feminist, but I don't write to propagate an ism" . Shashi Deshpande

Style and Language Language and culture Standard English and Indianized Englishnon-nativeness in grammar, vocabulary and

the use of rhetorical devices in various functional styles

“We cannot write like the English. We should not. We can write only as Indians”

Raja Rao Englishes, not English Language and the Character

Typical Examples of Indian Idioms Chest beating , Straw mat, Oiled heads , That upstairs

uncle 'Yes, yes, of course, two daughters.(165) Yes, yes...yes, I'm holding on.'(170) 'Yes, yes, go ahead, that's right, don't change your

plans, the fourteenth is fine, yes, yes, yes...’(174) 'Don't, don't,' I cried out again, but it was no use; they

could neither see me nor hear me. .(175) 'You don't understand, you don't understand

anything,' Rahul cried out.(131) No, no, this was nonsense - my 'writer's imagination'

running away with me.(167) No, no, no.... come home, I said.Rahul, listen, I'm in the

Dadar flat, in Dadar, Makarandmama's place, Dadar... Rahul come home...’(172)

Hindi-chini bhai bhai , Dhoti ,Kaajal ,Goondas ,Paisa ,Chal ,

Relationships Ai ,Avva Ma (Mother) Mai ,Ajji (Grandmother ) Atya (Father’s Sister)

Hindu mythological figures

Relious words Sacred cow ,Tulsi puja , Kumkum

Food Items- Chapatties Dal ,Chutney,Puri bhaji

Ladoos ,Samosas

Characters Jaya A daughter A woman torn between traditional role of

wifehood and motherhood A writer A lover An Individual wishes to transgress values but

caught up within the value system

Jaya and Mythological CharactersIrony and rejection

1. Maitreyee – (Knows her aim in life) Jaya does not know her aim in life

2. Yajnavalkya – (Allows woman free choice) Mohan does not allow free choice

3. Gandhari – (Bandaged her eyes because her husband was blind) Jaya closes her eyes to whatever Mohan does

4. Dasarath – (symbol of retribution) 5. Sita – (faithful wife) Jaya faithfully

following her husband into hiding due to her husband‟s wrongdoing

6. Savitri – (faithful wife) 7. Draupadi – (faithful wife)

Mohan An educated man A man born in a poor family but got reputation

through studies A salaried man ,ambitious, fond of prestige and

fame in society A man with a narrow outlook wanted a wife

who is educated and fluent in English. A man fails to understand the feelings of a

woman A product of modern materialism

A man lives in a delusion of happy family A sentimental man who pretends to be stoic A man who believes in the traditional values of

husband-wife relationship A child spoilt by his father and mother not

through love but through cruelty and suffering An average personality whose conceptions are

shaped by the society A man concerned about his wife and children A loving man unaware of the techniques of

loving and to be loved

Other characters

Mohan's sister Vimala Mr. Kamat Rahul Rathi Jaya's father Mohan's father Mohan’s brother Member’s in Jaya’s ancestral home Jaya’s brother Jeeja and Tara

,

“Deshpande is concerned with people, the women and their relationship

with others, like husbands, parents, children, and sons and daughters.

She has faithfully tried to construct womanhood in the contemporary context,

society and the world.” (2008: 114) P.D.Nimsarkar"My (De) Voice: Thus Shashi Deshpande

Speaks." Indian Women's Writings in English.

"You've got to read women's writing differently. If you're going to say this is only a story about a kitchen, and belittle it for that, that's stupid. It's the world of a human being trying to place herself within relationships, people, and ideas."

Further Reading

Roots and Shadows (1983) The Dark Holds No Terrors (1980)The Binding Vine (1993) Matter of Time (1996) Small Remedies (2000)  If I Die Today (1982) Come Up and Be Dead (1983)