Root of Hatred for Patriarchal Dominion in That Long Silence
IUP Journal of English Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 25-29, September 2010
Posted: 25 Oct 2010
Abstract
The home has long been considered as the only area of activity for a woman. That is the place where she is supposed to find satisfaction in the performance of her duties in different roles of daughter, sister, daughter-in-law and mother. Even today, female child has been brought up with the conventional ideas of a woman’s destiny swirling around in the air of her house. Although parents encourage the education of their daughters, the overall expectation is that it is a daughter’s duty to marry and raise a family. They are always instructed to build up the status of the families they belong to. In the novel That Long Silence by Shashi Deshpande, like Kasturi in Difficult Daughters, it can be seen that throughout her stint of formal education, Jaya is never allowed to forget that ‘marriage is her destiny’. It is to get well-settled educated husband, she has to be educated through English medium. They have been taking care of Jaya with a plan to marry her off into a rich family. Otherwise they had nothing to do with Jaya’s feelings, desires or longings. She had been longing for the true and deep love of her parents but they did not care for it. Her parents’ behavior has deeply sown the seed of hatred in Jaya for the male dominated society and was dominant in her very strongly during her married life.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation