Women’s quest for identity in the selected works of Anita Desai & Shashi Deshpande

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to explore, examine and analyze women‟s quest for a self-asserted independent/liberated identity; oppositional to the ones that are imposed upon them by the society. For that purpose the selected pieces of literary works are- Fire on the mountain, Cry the Peacock, Voices in the City by Anita Desai, & That Long Silence, Dark Holds NO Terror and Roots and Shadows by Shashi Deshpande. In all the texts mentioned above the age old notion of woman‟s position as innately inferior to man has been put into question. The authors have exposed the social and familial traditions through which women are trained to play a subservient sacrificial role in the family. The society portrayed the image of woman as a custodian of extra-ordinary moral virtues incorporated with devotion and sacrifice. At the same time they are seen as lustful characters, naturally instinct driven and incapable of rational thoughts. Thus the society justifies its constant domineering gaze over a girl child. The women are asked to put up all sorts of repressions and suppressions in the name of family honor and modesty. From their very childhood they are given a false notion of themselves as unworthy of having autonomous individuality. There comes a time when women themselves start to believe in the man-made sexual hierarchy. They grow a tendency to live only for others which eventually lead up to self-denial. They try their best to become the “ideal woman” as if it is the only supposed goal of their lives. And with complete honesty they pass onto this socially acquired false “identity” to their daughters even if it needs a good amount of pressurizing. Thus the society imposed identity has been a major tool for suppressing women, depriving them of their true individual selves. So, the journey through which the female protagonists of the given texts go in their identity quest to eventually arrive at the assertion of a correct self-definition and emancipation as a sovereign human being will be thoroughly explored, examined and analyzed in this dissertation.