Silence isn’t Empty, It is Full of Answers in Context of Shashi Deshpande’s That Long Silence

Page: 25-26
Anuradha (Independent Scholar English, Sirsa, Haryana)

In this novel, Shashi Deshpande talks about the prolonged silence not only of the protagonist Jaya but also of every middle-class educated woman in India. Shashi Deshpande’s success lies in her representation of real-life experience. She focuses on modern educated and career-oriented middle-class women who are sensitive to the changing times and situations. Her women characters suffer in silence for the sake of social and moral security. Moreover, here in the novel the writer wants to convey that it is not only the patriarchal system wholly which is solely responsible for the worsening condition of women but even women share the responsibility. Women suffer everything in silence, without protesting, which has caused their subjugation. Shashi Deshpande has vigorously tried to paint the humiliating and suffocating environment where women feel fettered. She has protested against several types of exploitation of women. In the present novel, silence has been used as a metaphor. Silence is a patriarchal symbol. A girl is socialized to be silent, as being eloquent and loud are not the traits that society deems fit for them. Consequently, they keep on being silent and bear everything with this weapon but gradually this very silence eats away the very vitals of their existence.