Disapproval and Condemnation of Women in a Male

ChauvinistSociety in
Shashi Deshpande’s A Matter Of Time

A Dissertation Submitted to

SKSS Arts College Thiruppanandal

(Affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of

Master of Arts in English

Submitted by
P. VARUNBALA
Reg. No: P21050679

Under the Guidance of

Prof. D. ARULSELVAM, M.A.,

Department of English

S.K.S.S ARTS

COLLEGE

THIRUPPANANDAL

MARCH-2023
Prof. D. ARULSELVAM, M.A

Head of the Department of English

SKSS Arts College,

Thiruppanandal - 621 802.

Date:

Certificate

This is to certify that the project work was done under my guidance and the

dissertation entitled “Disapproval and Condemnation of Women in the a Male

Chauvinist Society in Shashi Deshpande’s A Matter of Time” submitted by

P. Varunbala (Reg No:P21050679) in partial fulfillment of the P.G Degree course in

English for the acdemic period 2021-2023 is the original work of the candidate

Signature of the the Signature of the

Candidate Research Advisor

Signature of the
Head Of the department
 Declaration

I hereby declare that the dissertation entitled “Disapproval and

Condemnation of Women in a Male chauvinist Society in Shashi Deshpande’s A

Matter of Time” submitted for the Degree of Master of Arts in English is my original

work and that the project has not previously formed the basis for the award of any

diploma or associateship or any other similar title. It has not been submitted to any

other university or institution for the award of any any degree or diploma.

Name of the Candidate : P. VARUNBALA

Register Number : P21050679

Academic Year : 2021 - 2023

Signature of the Candidate

(P. VARUNBALA)

Date:

Place:
 Acknowledgement

I thank God Almighty for having given me the right frame of mind while
pursuing the subject of study.

At the outset I express my sincere gratitude to the president of our college

"Kailaimaamunivar" Sri-La- Sri Kasivasi Muthukumaraswami Thambiran swamigal
and for allowing me to pursue my post graduate study in this institution.

My heart-felt gratitude to the vice-President of our college Srimath

Sundaramurthi Thambiran Swamigal for permitting me be a student of this
college.

I would like to thank the principal of the college, Dr.S. Mohan, for allowing
me the chance of being a PG student of this college

I feel immensely happy to register my profoud and whole- hearted thanks to

my project Advisor Prof.D. Arulselvam, head of the Department of English, for
allowing me to work on this title for my project. I'm indebted to him for his valuable
guidance and suggestions in bringing out this project work.

My special thanks to Dr. N. Kalaivani, Prof.S. Savitha, Prof. S. Vimala and

Prof. G. Chithiraiselvi for their untiring support in the compilation of my PG
Course and this project work. I also express my gratitude to all the members of the
staff of Department of English

I also thank the Librarian, Dr. S.A. Sampathkumar, SKSS Arts College
Thiruppanandal, for permitting me to access the library for my project work.
Finally I thank my parents and freinds who helped me a lot by offering
assistance at various stages

(P. VARUNBALA)
 Content

Chapter No. Title Page No

I Introduction 1

Disapproval and Condemnation of

Women in a Male Chauvinist Society in

II 13
Shashi Deshpande’s A Matter of Time

III Conclusion 37

Works Cited 43
 Introduction
Literature is a body of written or spoken material based on creative thoughts.

The name, literature was followed by the authors of poetry and prose used it in their

creative and imaginative works so far. According to a variety of systems, language,

national origin, historical period, genre, and subject matter literature may be classified.

Some kinds of literature are considered separately by language, by nation, or by

special subject. Definitions of the word literature tend to be circular. Merriam-

Webster‟s eleventh edition of Collegiate Dictionary considers literature as “writings

having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or

universal interest”.

Indian Writing in English was started during the British colonization in India.

Englishmen began to write about the tradition, culture, and environment of India and

publishedtheir writings in English. This is called Anglo-Indian literature. There were

many languages across India and traditions as well. So, Indian writers used their

regional language to express their feelings so far. After the arrival of British people,

Indian writers also used English as a medium for their writings. This is called Indo-

Anglian literature. The English language helped the Indian writers to bring their

creative expressions throughout the nation and it became the communication tool

among the people who used different languages. “While Indian poets, novelists,

essayists, dramatists have been making momentous and considerable contributions to

world literature since the pre-Independence era, the past few years have witnessed a

thriving of Indian English writing in the global market”.

1
 Early, Bookish theorists indicated that speaking and writing in a learned

language wouldbe difficult and no one can produce a first-class output from English

but, eventually, the contribution of Indian Writers in English was considerable. Indian

writing in English has achieved a new range and power, literacy in English has been

steadily growing, there are more schools, colleges, and universities approved English

as a study language. From 1857 to 1900, English education took a significant place in

India. Hicky‟s Bengal Gazette came out in 1780. It was the first newspaper in India.

The renaissance in modern Indian literature began with Raja Rammohan Roy

who wasdestined to act as a bridge between India and England. He expected that

people would learn English and India should be filled with more Englishmen. He was

considered the father of the Indian renaissance and he is one of the Indian masters of

English prose. He started Sambad kaumudi a weekly paper in 1821. Indian leaders

were started to write autobiographies such as Raja Rammohan Roy, Jawaharlal Nehru,

Surendranath Banerjea, Rajendra Prasad, Mahatma Gandhi, and M. R. Jayakar.

The first Indo-Anglian writers of verse and prose were Cavally Brothers,

Derozio, Kashiprosad Ghose, Hasan Ali, P. Rajagopaul, and Mohan Lal. The Fakir of

Jungheera was Derozio‟s most ambitious work which speaks about the Brahmin

widow Nuleeni. The Shair and other poems had a place in literary history which was

written by Kashiprosad Ghose in 1830. He was one of the first Indians to publish a

regular volume of English verse. Michael Madhusudan Dutt‟s Meghanad Badha is his

great Bengali epic which tells about the heroic figure of Indrajit, Ravana‟s son. A great

event in the history of Brahmo Samaj was the meeting of Debendranath and Keshub

Chunder Sen in 1857.

2
 Kashinath Telang translated the Bhagavad Gita. Mahadev Govind Ranade

wrote Rise of the Maratha Fower in English and hoped that varied people of India will

be unified. Toru Dutt was a Bengali poet, who can write in English and French as well.

Michael and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee had opened a new way to develop Bengali

literature. Bankim advised Romesh chunder Dutt to write in Bengali. Manmohan

Ghose was a Bengali poet and an elder brother ofSri Aurobindo. ‘Primavera’

contained poems of Manmohan, Binyon, Arthur Cripps, and Stephen Phillips came out

in 1890.

Rabindranath Tagore was the first Indian to win Nobel Prize for literature

in1913. His full-length novels are Naukhadubi in 1905 appeared in English as The

Wreck, Gora in 1910 and Ghare Bhaire in 1916 appeared as The Home and The World

in English. Gitanjali was a collection of 157 poems based on spiritualism, humanism

and naturalism came out in 1912. His first original dramatic piece was Valmiki

Pratiba. Tagore used more philosophical and allegorical themes in his dramas.

Sri Aurobindo was the prophet of life. He completed poems like Songs to

Mytila in 1895, a narrative poem Urvasie in 1894, and another long poem Love and

Death. He wrote Perseus the Deliverer a notable play in blank verse. He wrote a

handbook for revolutionaries named Bavani Mandir. In 1906, he was the editor of

Bandemataram, a new English daily started by Bepin Chandra Pal.. Sarojini Naidu was

more than a poet. She had composed an English narrative poem when she was thirteen.

She published three collections of poems namely, The Golden Threshold in 1905, The

Bird of Time in 1912, and The Broken Wing in 1917. Her other poems are The Lotus,

Awake, and The Temple: A Pilgrimage of Love.

3
 Modern Indian dramatic writing in English was not rich and high quality. Most

of the Indian writers were attracted by the verse dramatic form so they started to write

dramas. For instance, Nala and Damayanti came out in 1928 with full of blank verse

had done by Vasudeva Rao. The Flute of Krishna also was an unusual verse play had

completed by P. A. Krishnaswamy in 1950. Harindranath Chattopadhyaya‟s Five Plays

came out in 1937 and it showed his socialconsciousness.

The „novel‟ as a literary phenomenon is new to India. Epics, lyrics,

dramas, shortstories and fables have their respectable ancestries, going

back by several centuries, but it is only during a period of little more

than a century that the novel—the long sustained piece of prose

fiction—has occurred and taken root in India. Indians were started to

write in English under the inspiration of western models.

Women novelists made a significant contribution to English fiction. Parsi

novels also hadan important place in the world of fiction in English. Their style of

writing was developed. They voiced out impartially for feministic concerns. “Novels

written by modern women writers focus on the issues related to women, for instance;

rape, and other societal issues as well, like corruption and injustice”.

The history of feminist criticism is expansive and it‟s from the nineteenth-

century women authors such as Margaret Fuller and George Eliot. The women‟s

movement of the 1960s was a renewal of an old tradition of thought. It was started to

discover and sort out the problem of women‟s inequality and discrimination in society.

These problems were reflected in the works like A Vindication of the rights of women,

Women and Labour, The Second Sex, The Origin of The Family, and the very famous
4
Virginia Woolf‟s A Room of One’s Own. Some of the great authors brilliantly depicted

the unequal treatment given to women in society.

In feminist criticism, there are three terms named feminist, female, and feminine.

Feminist is a political position, female is a matter of biology and feminine is a set

of culturally defined characteristics. Feminist criticism also figured out the detections

and approaches of othercriticism such as Marxism, structuralism, linguistics, and so on.

Female experiences and the lost records are reconstructed by feminist criticism. In the

late 1970s Elaine Showalter coined the term „gynocritics‟, in the sense the histories,

styles, themes, genres, and structures were started towrite by women authors. “The

representation of women in literature, then, was felt to be one of the most important

forms of „socialisation‟, since it provided the role models which indicated to women,

and men, what constituted acceptable versions of the „feminine‟ and legitimate feminine

goals and aspirations”.

The history of feminist criticism properly begins some forty or fifty years ago

with the emergence of what is commonly termed second-wave feminism. Feminist

criticism uses the principles and ideology of feminism to critique the language of the

literature. It portrays the maledomination in society by exploring economic, social,

political, and psychological forces. The French feminists were concerned with language

and psychology. There were some prominent feminist critics and writers include Jane

Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Mary Wollstonecraft, John

Stuart Mill, Fredrick Engels, and Simon De Beauvoir.

“Additionally, feminist criticism has been closely associated with the birth and

5
growth ofqueer studies”.. Feminist criticism both include the development and

discovery of the writing style of women authors and also rediscovering the old texts. It

analyses the women writers as well as their writing style from a female perspective.

Because of that, it increases the awareness of the sexual politics of language and style.

It was developed by Lisa Tuttle in the 1980s and also adapted by many feminist critics.

When feminist literary criticism began to emerge in the last sixties and

early seventies, bursting into prominence with the publication of such

provocative and influential texts as Kate Millett‟s Sexual Politics

(1971), Germaine Greer‟s TheFemale Eunuch (1970) and Eva Figes‟

Patriarchal Attitudes (1970), these pioneering polemics gave

surprisingly little attention to women‟s writing.

Virginia Woolf is considered as the founder of modern feminist literary

criticism. Her A Room of One’s Own appeared in 1929 is referred to as her feminist

manifesto of literary criticism. Among Woolf‟s contemporaries, there are many

modernist writers among Woolf‟s contemporaries are appreciated for their fine

contribution to the cultural and political debates on gender and also there are many

women writers among her contemporaries whom we may regardas feminists. Some

wrote manifestoes on politics or literary aesthetics but Woolf stands out for her

sustained attempts to combine both. Most of the feminist scholars influenced her by

their intellectual writings.

Feminism is both a political stance and a theory that focuses on gender

as a subject of analysis when reading cultural practices and as a

platform to demand equality, rights and justice. Feminism‟s key

6
 assumption is that gender roles are pre-deter-mined and the woman is

trained to fit into those roles. This means that roles like „daughter‟ or

„mother‟ are not natural but social because the woman has to be trained

to think, talk, act in particular ways that suit the role.

The inequalities between men and women are natural but social, not pre-

ordained but created by men so that they retain power. Religion, the family, education,

the arts, knowledge system are all social and cultural „structures‟ that enable the

perpetual reinforcement of this inequality. These structures are effective means of

reinforcing male domination because they donot appear oppressive.

Shashi Deshpande is one of the prominent and an award-winning Indian

Novelist. She was born in 1938 in Karnataka and pursued in Bombay and Bangalore.

She published her first collection, of short stories in 1978, and her first novel, The

Dark Holds No Terrors in 1980. Shewon the Sahitya Akademi Award, for her novel

That Long Silence. She has done some other books for children. Shashi Deshpande‟s

exposes of complex relationships in thisworld. In her novels many men and women

living together, and journeying across life in their different age groups, classes, and

gendered roles. The old tradition-bound world consists of the modern, creating

unforeseen gaps and disruptions within the family fold. Women‟s understanding

becomes questionable as the old patterns of behavior no longer seem to be acceptable.

These struggles become intense quests for self-definition because it would not be

possible to relate to others with any degree of conviction unless one is guided by

clarity about one‟s image and role.

Shashi Deshpande an eminent novelist has emerged as a writer possessing deep

7
insight into the female psyche. “Focussing on the marital relation she seeks to expose

the tradition by which a woman is trained to play her subservient role in the family.

Her novels reveal the man- made patriarchal traditions and uneasiness of the modern

Indian woman in being a part of them”.Shashi Deshpande uses this point of view of

present social reality as it is experienced by women. To present the world of mothers,

daughters and wives are also to present indirectly the fathers, sons, and husbands the

relation between men and women, and between women themselves. Her young

heroines‟ rebel against the traditional way of life and patriarchal values. The words

whichwe always associate with what we consider to be the concept of an ideal woman

are self-denial, sacrifice, patience, devotion, and silent suffering.

Indian women novelists have powerfully focused light on the psyche of women

of different strata in modern times of never-ending existential struggle in their life.

Like other novelists, Shashi Deshpande, an eminent feminist novelist has explored and

exposed, in her novels, the long smothered wail of the incarcerated psyche of her

female protagonists imprisoned within the four walls of domesticity and sandwiched

between tradition and modernity, between illusion and reality and between the mask

and the face. “Deshpande usually has the heroine as the narrator, and employs a kind

of stream-of-consciousness technique”.

Indian women have always been socially and psychologically oppressed,

sexually colonized, and biologically subjugated against a male-dominant social set-up.

Any attempt by a woman to rise above the oppressive forces rooted in the middle-class

margins has either been curbed mercilessly or ignored in the name of social dignity.

Shashi Deshpande gave space to her all characters. Most of Shashi Deshpande‟s novels

8
are in the form of the first-person narrative. She has created an extremely authentic

picture of Indian reality. The novelist‟s characters are contemporary figures moving in

a concrete world. Many Indian customs are mentioned in the novels. Deshpande‟s

reputation rests on her mature novels. Earlier her short stories were published in

bestselling Indian Magazines such as Femina, Eve’s Weekly, The Illustrated Weekly of

India, Deccan Herald, and J.S. Mirror.

Kamala Markandaya was born in Madras in 1924, she studied in Madras.

Kamala is a profile writer. She deals with a variety of themes like a tragic waste,

despair, ruined love, and thequest for self-realization. Anita Desai is a living author.

Her novel, In Custody, depicts the decayof another language. The novels of Anita

Desai can be examined as the manifesto of female predicament.. She is the leading

member of a generation of writers who have carved out a niche for Indian fiction in

English. “Through sensitive psychological probing and sharp social critique, her novels

chart the emotional lives of people struggling to find meaning and stability within the

framework of a society in transition”. Nayantara Sahgal concerns human value and

complex human relationships. Novels bring out Nayantara Sahgal as a writer with

feminist concerns seeking the independent existence of women. She sees women as

victims of conventional Indiansociety engaged in their quest for identity. “The Library

of Congress has twenty-four works by her”.

Shashi Deshpande‟s five volumes of short stories are The Legacy and Other

Stories in 1978, It Was Dark and Other Stories in 1986, It Was the Nightingale and

Other Stories in 1986, The Miracle and Other Stories in1986 and The Intrusion and

Other Stories in 1993. Her novels are The Dark Holds No Terror in 1980, If I Die

9
Today in1982, Come Up and Be Dead in1983, Roots and Shadows in 1983, That Long

Silence in 1988, The Binding Vine in 1992, A Matter of Time in 1996, Small Remedies

in 2000, Moving on in 2004, In the Country of the Deceit in 2008, Ships that Pass in

2012 and Shadow Play in 2013.

Shashi Deshpande mostly used female characters as a central role in her novels.

She emphasized their frustrations and longing for identity. Her The Dark Holds No

Terror speaks about the life of Saru, who had received no love from her parents.

Because she was a girl child ignored by her mother but her parents took care of her

brother. When her brother was drowned inwater, everyone blamed her for his death.

She left her family to attain her love life and stayed away from her parents. Afterward,

she was harassed by her husband and, then she planned to become a very good doctor.

She gained a respectful place in society but the death of her brother haunted her. She

returned to her native when her mother died. She started to blame herself that she was

the reason for her brother‟s and mother‟s death and her husband‟s activities.

A Matter of Time depicts the predicament of women in the male chauvinist

society. Sumi and Gopal were married and had three daughters namely Aru, Charu, and

Seema. Gopal had planned to walk out of his family when he was insulted by the

students. After his departure, they led a challenging life. Sumi didn‟t even worry about

his desertion over his family. She had gone to her parent‟s house. Her mother Kalyani

worried a lot about her daughter‟s abandonment from her husband because Kalyani

knew the pain of maintaining distance from a husband. She dropped her schooling to

marry Shripati by her parents when she was in love with someone. Shehad two

daughters and a mentally challenged son. When she had gone to the railway station to

10
meet her parents she lost her son. From that moment Shripati stopped to converse with

her. It was killing her so she thought that her daughter‟s life wouldn‟t be good after

Gopal‟s departure. Her daughters were talking with him but he never asked anything

from Kalyani.

Aru often thought about her father and started to hate him. Sumi gave enough

education to her daughters. Charu used to go to school and to spend time with Rishi

who was the son of Devaki since her childhood. Everyone in the house said that both of

them were good companions to each of them. Gopal stayed with his of the student‟s

house for rent. Sumi met him there but she had no feelings for him and looked very

normal.

Manorama was the mother of Kalyani who couldn‟t give birth to a male child.

She was not even liked by her husband. Gopal‟s father married his brother‟s wife after

his death. Gopal was always alone and studied in Shivpur. He came home rarely but

had a touch with Ramesh who was the son of his sister. Sumi was helped by Ramesh

and her sister Premi. Sumi didn‟t want to be a burden to her parents so she was looking

forward to a rented house in the area. Nagraj, who helped her to search for a fine house

and advised her to stay in her parent‟s house which was very large and attractive. Aru

met an advocate to give divorce to her father from her mother.

Surekha advised her not to do such things in front of Sumi. Rohit who came often to

the big house fell in love with Aru but she never responded to him. Aru was

remembering her childhood with her father and saddened that those things would never

be returned.

11
 Once Aru and Sumi met an accident when was traveling by their two-wheeler and

they were helped by the surroundings admitted to the hospital. After this accident Sumi

started her carrier as a writer and moved to Devagiri she mentioned that this was the

turning point in her life. Sumi and her father Shripati men an accident and they died.

Gopal had come to the big house to do the funeral and blamed himself for the death of

Sumi. He couldn‟t even converse with his daughter easily. The death of Sumi affected

Aru a lot and led her to think that life will be nothing without Sumi. In this novel,

Shashi talks about the three generations of women and their struggles to lead a happy

life. They are disapproved by the surroundings and got no justice for them.

12
 Chapter II

Disapproval and Condemnation of Women in a Male Chauvinist

Society in A Matter Of Time

Surviving without the help of men is really a challenging one. In this male

chauvinist society living a woman alone is quite uneasy. Society dominates women and

not allowing them to achieve their dreams. When a man abandons his family it

becomes helpless and struggles a lot to sustain in the society. Gopal didn‟t think about

his wife and three daughters and was very stubborn to leave his family. He thought that

the problem what he was facing made him think of leaving. When he discussed about

his departure, Sumi didn‟t think that he meant it. But, he abruptly walked out of them.

Sumi was not worried about his desertion and perfectly took care ofher three daughters.

As a father, he might have thought about the future of his daughters and the society.

But he didn‟t care about all those things at all. After his departure, they had to face the

society alone and grew themselves.

A family without a father definitely struggles to fulfill their requirements and

their children take the responsibilities of their father. When they come out from home

they face problems in numerous ways. Being raised by a mother is not an easy thing,

as a mother she has to overcome the curses and discouragements of society to get a

permanent place and to grow her children. In this society abandoned women are

addressed as characterless and unlucky, they suppress them to not come out and to be

mingled with the society. Even the mistakes come from women or men but always the

accusation lay on women.

13
 Sumi must be angry on a Gopal for his unacceptable reason to walk out. The

whole family started to hate him and predicted that he might have died. But Sumi

hoped that he will be alive somewhere and doing his work. It shows that his desertion

did not make her angry with him in any way. When a husband walks out from a

family, the society attacks the woman as if she is the reason for his departure

meanwhile if a woman walks out the society blame woman only. It shows the love

and faith she had in him. The innocence of women gives advantages to men to do

whatever they think but do not think about the consequences.

A single mother has to work hard to give enough education to her children

whether she isfit for doing some works or not she indulges herself to do. The entire

thing must be done by her such as her children‟s education, clothes, and their

fundamental essential needs. Sumi was trapped in a financial crisis and got depressed

about how to overcome from those troubles. Like others, she wanted to give her

daughters what they wanted but less income made her anxious.

She got help from Ramesh which made her uncomfortable. Fatherless children expect

help from others to grow up and fulfill their necessities and they always long for the

love of a father.

After getting married women do not have the same place in their home she will

be considered as the wife of another man. If they go back to their home they won‟t be

treated as the same she was before. Rarely, they go to their own home to visit their

parents. After the departureof Gopal, Sumi went to her parents‟ house because she

could not manage financial problems. Butshe was hesitating to live in her own house so

initially she had been like a guest and planned to go to a rented house as early as

14
possible. Women are not allowed to make decisions in their husband‟s home and

cannot go back to their parents‟ home whenever they want.

Women are not only fighting against society but also with their illness. A

cancer patient definitely knows her death day and survives like she has nothing to

worry about. Sudha who hadcancer behaved like that. She was a very confident and

brave girl and never worried about her illness. Most of the people not died of their

physical illness but by the fear they have in their mind kill them early. Sudha was

mentally strong while the surroundings worried about her a lot.The worst thing is

being separated from family and this will make them fear. Across the world, most of

the people stand against their illness, especially Cancer. Some of the people recover

from it and some died of it after fighting enough.

Fatherless children need others to help to go to school if the educational

institution is faraway from their home. While other students picked up by their father

after school hurts them a lot for not having a father. At the same time girl child

struggles more to go and return from school with safety. Chraru, who was carried by

Hrishi every day, which made his mother get angry on him sometimes and became

very close to him. No mother will allow her son to get attached to a girl likewise she

thinks but sometimes she also felt pity for her. Most of the people while helping

imagine like they give life to others and pretend like sacrificing for them. They take

advantage of their life such as interfering in their family matters and giving

unnecessary advice. Girl child suffers a lot to grow alone without the protection of a

father.

15
 Seema, who expected a letter from her father on her birthday but received

nothing from Gopal. As a daughter,r she longed for his presence in her life but it

would not happen even wishes on her birthday. She was too young, who did not

understand the gap between her father and mother. In most of the families, the young

one always suffers than the rest of them because they do not get what is happening in

the family. A girl child, expecting her father to be with her always but she could not

get the love from him which made Charu got angry on him. Charu was waiting for his

wishes even through the phone.

Sudha‟s mother married her husband‟s brother after his death. She had a

daughter namedSudha who got a new father. A daughter always needs the pampering

of her father but never expects that her father is replaced. It will hurt them than being

without a father. They cannot imagine that their father‟s place is going to be occupied

by a stranger and will not accept that.

But Sudha had grown enough to tolerate her mother‟s decision at the same time she

was marriedto her uncle, not a stranger. Sudha was the only child to her mother and

accepted the son of her from her new father. Most of the girls cannot welcome the new

relationship of their mother theyfail to accept the new one as their father. They will

face some difficulties to ask the necessary things and what they want to afford.

Marriage is just getting into a relationship but in India, it is the biggest cultural ritual.

People urge to marry as early as possible but for women, it‟s a very important event.

Ramesh advised Sumi to arrange a marriage for her daughters because as a single

mother she couldn‟t manage them and she might need more money for their education.

16
He asked her to deposit some amount of money from his side as security. But she was

not agreed with their opinion because she already had decided that she would not urge

her daughters to get married soon when she was with her husband. She did not want to

be an ordinary Indian mother to pull her daughters into a relationship early which will

spoil their future. As a responsible mother, she wished to give enough education to her

daughters. She gave much importance to studies than marriage.

Sumi participated in a naming ceremony of Nikhil. Everyone was enjoying the

function bysinging and making fun. But Sumi was not indulged in the function

wholeheartedly. She was an abandoned woman and having a financial crisis. So she

could not connect herself to the party and stayed alone. She had mentioned herself as a

parasite. Here we come to understand the state of a widow in rituals how the people

ignore them from everything. All of the people were praising the boy child and

addressing him as Krishna. Sumi gave birth to three daughters for whom she was never

worried. But the relatives glorified the by his gender which made her uncomfortable.

Giving birth to a girl baby is not a curse instead it is a boon which is only for the

luckiest people.Sumi always treated her daughters like that.

A woman who is not able to earn money and receives money from known

people kills her a lot than being foodless. Whatever space a woman gets from the person

who helps financially she will worry inside of her unwillingness. Sumi was getting

enough money from her relatives and illustrating that she absorbs their money like a

sponge. She could get money from all of them whenever she wanted. Even they told her

openly to receive money at any time which made to feel a lot. But, they notified her

because they were concerned about her and tried to minimize the gap between them.

17
 If a woman has many friends, especially male friends everyone will suspect

her. Most ofthe parents allow their daughter to have female friends but hesitating to

allow them to have malefriends. Sumi had no freedom to make friendship with both

the genders and even her father didn‟t permit to bring them home. Whenever he saw

her with those friends he used to her about the dignity of his family. He was concerned

much about pride than the dependence of his daughter. A woman feels comfortable

whenever she is surrounded by her friends but often they are advised by their parents

and relatives not to spend more time with them. But parents do not give such warnings

to their son which is entirely unfair. They are afraid of society and about their dignity.

When parents are searching for a groom for their daughter they never consult it

with her and stress her to marry the person whom they select. This is conventional so

for in society the thing which is not changed yet. Asking permission before searching

groom parents should ask their permission whether want to marry and continue her

studies. Even now in rural areas, parents marry their daughters too early which spoils

their future and making her ignorant. Sumi‟s relative asked her to marry Aru to the man

who had come from the states and was going to returnearly after getting married. She

didn‟t ask the opinion of Aru and not even brought the matter to her. When Aru comes

to know about the plan of them she refused to commit herself into the topic. She did

not want to get married early and want to become an honorable lawyer.

A woman who lives without her husband is ill-treated by the surroundings

sometimes they take advantage of them by the name of helping and accompanying.

They misjudge her character and making gossips of her even on her tiny movements

she takes in her life. Society always spies those who stay without the company of

18
males. Sumi was already married to a man who walked out of her. She was advised by

Nagaraj who was a broker for rented houses. He lectured her that she should not inform

anybody her husband was not with her. “Don‟t tell people your husband is not living

with you,‟ he suggests when she has explained her household to a prospective landlord.

„People think wrongly, sometimes they take advantage of you”. It shows that there are

some people to take advantage on single mothers. Society must change the perspective

on abandoned women.

After long days, Sumi met Gopal but she did not expose her feeling for him

instead she was strong inside seemed that she never required the company of him to

grow her daughters andnever tried to hide from society. The willingness of her

astonished him and did not pity her.

Gopal has not changed his decision at all and thought that he was right. There was no

conversation about her situation and on her daughters. Sumi only let him knew that she

was searching for a fine rented house. He should have worried about them but there

was no regret for his taken determination. Men think that without their contribution to

the family rest of the people cannot survive. But here Sumi strongly showed that she

can carry her daughters and never need him anyway as a single mother.

After the departure of a husband, a woman cannot survive like him because she

has to face society and the questions of the people. It will take much time to come out

from the disappointment and also to construct her confidence. But men are not like

that they do not worryabout the matter because it will never affect them in any way. It

stays as a wound in their mind forever from which they try to come out. Sumi was

thinking about the way he conversed along with her. He expressed no concern about

19
them and behaved like he was happy with what he had around the place he was living.

It was making her to not think of him and to forget him. After moving on he made a

new atmosphere to his comfort and just being on his way. Sumi after seeing his state

she concentrated on her daughters alone.

A female child who lost her mother while giving birth to her and then her father

was married to another lady very soon. He did not care about her daughter and let her

as an orphan child after the death of his wife. Every girl child expects while growing

that her father should be with her to nurture properly and also to get his infinitive love.

But her father after putting her under the control of Manorama he forgot the existence

of his daughter. Goda was unfortunate to gain such prosperity. She may be born as an

unlucky girl but brought up by Kalyani‟s mother, Manorama who never discriminated

against Goda by mentioning that she was not her child by birth. Sometimes, other

people mistakenly thought that Goda was their daughter and even Goda never longed

for her parents‟ love. This openly shows the innocence of women that they pity all of

the people and concerns them as one of their family members. “Losing her mother at

birth, shebecame in effect an orphan when her father married soon after and

relinquished his baby daughter to the care of his wife‟s brother and his wife. Soon, he

seemed to forget the very existence of this motherless child”.

Dark people experience more discrimination than the other. While getting a job,

minglingwith surrounding even in their family they are dominated by their color. Some

people do not want to talk about them even talk to them. Whenever others start to

describe the person who has dusky skin they initially say about their color and then

jump to talk of their character. Devaki who was a dark-skinned girl always looked like

20
she was some others relative and not from their family. It made her inferior of her color

and she was introduced to unknown people by starting tosay that she was the only one

in this family who was born with a dark complexion. Dark people do not react in

public to the way they are addressed by others but in their hearts, they worry a lot about

their complexion. If a woman is in a dark color most people neglect to marry her.

Likewise, Devaki was criticized by surrounding not only for her color but also for

her way of talking and her native place.

When Gopal met Sumi at a party he realized that she was too pretty and

imagined that after him again she can marry any other man by the way she presented

herself in front of others. Gopal has misunderstood her physical appearance because

she buried her feelings she had for him and just pretending like she was fine after

Gopal deserted from them. She had no time and even not having like these silly plans

to be getting married. She was concerned about her daughters only and not even she

thought that she can marry once again to get financial support and also for her

daughters. She was willing to stand alone and to fight society without the help ofmen.

She was not happy as he thought that she was supposed to marry again but he was not

aware of the wounds in her heart which was made by him had no remedy. Men think

that after the absence of them, women will need shelter and require support from others

and also need another man to live happily. But Sumi had more pressure and often

drown into depression thinking of the future of her daughters.

Typically, Women show that they are very strong even in their critical situation

but they hide their problems. Sumi concealed her pains but soon trapped by one of her

daughters. Even her daughter couldn‟t believe that her mother was crying. We know

21
the character Sumi seemed very strong towards society but she had a dark side that was

not seen by others. Everyone has their own story which is filled with frustrations and

disappointments but they conceal it and pretend like they have nothing to worry about.

Sumi‟s daughters believed that she was the strongest mother in the world who did not

offend by the departure of their father. But eventually, Sumi cried out and exposed that

she too weakened to manage alone.

Worshiping God is the biggest mind warming typical activity in India. Most of

the women in India often go to the temple and worship God. They pour out their

problems and depressions to God and believe that this will make some changes in their

lives. The connection between God and women is inseparable which has a strong

foundation. When Shripati bought anidol of Ganesha he put it at the top of the entrance

so Manorara could not worship by standing below of the idol wholeheartedly. She

asked her husband to bring it down but he neglected sternly instead he asked her to let

the idol alone but he knew the virtue she had on God. He did not give respect to her

words and put the idol in the far distance. But Manorama was not stopped requesting

and finally she used to make her servant climb on the ladder, cleaned it, and put

flowers on the idol. Manorama was stern on her decision and made it happened.

Making comments on women‟s dressing sense is not a new controversy it has

taken a permanent place so far in history especially in India. There are a lot of rules

and restrictions in India that women can wear this sort of dress only. Even now a day,

people are ignoring to accept the way of dressing. If a woman‟s dress code is not under

the usual way they will decide that the woman is not good by character or she is not

from a good family. In fact, this is not fair to say

22
like that instead they have to come out from the boundary of narrow mind. The

character of a woman is not lying in her dress code. Criticizing women by her

appearance is not ended. The dresses which were worn by Aru disappointed Kalyani

and she informed that her father didn‟t even allow them to wear the dresses which

were dazzled. Even women have to allow other women to wear what they like and to

stop putting comments on their outfits. Insulting a womanin a public place is not fair

and also commenting on her appearance and height. Manorama was mocked for her

height and about her marriage which made her furious.

Once upon a time most of the parents were not allowed their daughters to go to

school. They said that sending a female child to school will destroy the reputation of

the family. This was the stereotype that bluntly followed by Indian people. Manorama

was married to Vithalrao when she was going to school. In those times it was very

rare to see that female children were going to school. But men were getting proper

education and compelled by their parents to attend school. The discrimination between

males and females was very high women only have to learn cooking and they don‟t

need to get an education by going to school. Amidst, very few parents only sent their

daughters to study and some girls were stopped to get married. Likewise, Manorama

was married to Vithalrao but she wanted to continue her studies. After marriage

women cannot go to school so she buried her wish.

The burden of the family mostly fell on the firstborn baby if she is a girl child

she will bethe burden of the entire family. Parents will always think about her

marriage and the dowry. Thebiggest fear of parents is earning more money for their

daughter‟s marriage. A man will not marry a girl without receiving a dowry from her
23
parents. This was the most painful practice which is still playing its role in society.

Whether they are well-settled or rich they will get into anxiety that how will they

fulfill the requirements of the bridegroom. Manorama was the eldest daughter of the

family and she had four sisters those who were born after her so her parents urged her

to marry early. She was married to the man Vithalrao who studied well. After her

marriage, she concentrated only on family and dropped from school.

Manorama was very tranquil and maintained a distance from her natal family.

After her marriage, she became a very quiet personality who did not react to any

comment which was thrown at her. Manorama neglected to visit even her parents. She

might be anxious about her parents for marrying her too early. She ignored the support

and love from her natal family she only came to her mother‟s death just to do the

practices at the funeral. Before her mother‟s death, she visited them rarely but after the

demise of her mother, she sternly cut her relationship with her family and did not

contact them. Her mother was her mentor and well-wisher even though Manorama was

angry with her for dropping her from school. She has detached herself from her family.

“It seems strange, it would seem strange to any woman, that she deprived herself of

that emotional sustenance that only a girl‟s own family can give her”.

Compassion and kindness are the two inevitable traits of women and they will

easily fall for others. Women concern much about others rather than they have about

themselves.

Manorama felt sympathy for the child who was born after her marriage and her mother

was diedafter giving birth to him so he possessed a special place in her heart. She

didn‟t want to be separated from him because she was adored his intelligence and

24
composed manner. Manorama arranged marriage for her daughter with him though

she had some other bunch of alliances for her only one daughter. It showed that she

loved her brother very much because he had no one to look after him. This made her

pity on him who induced her memories of the past to remember her mother. Sumi was

searching for a rented house and planned to go out of her parent‟s house this made Aru

worry. She was not connected with the rest of the family members with whom she was

staying after came out from her previous house. Even she was not talking much with

Kalyani but her mother‟s decision to vacate her grandfather‟s house made her longing

for relatives. After thatAru went out without informing Sumi and became detached

from her. Then she started to gel with her grandmother and not liked to go away from

them so Sumi took back her idea of looking for a rented house. In this difficult

situation, they needed some pillars to build them strong enough. Women children need

the shelter of their grandparents while growing. Sumi and her daughters were

abandoned by her father so living with her parents would be a correct decision to shape

her three daughters with discipline. Then she left the thought of moving to a rented

house.

Marriage is just getting into a relationship but in India, it is the biggest cultural

ritual. People urge to marry as early as possible but for women, it‟s a very important

event. Ramesh advised Sumi to arrange a marriage for her daughters because as a

single mother she couldn‟t manage them and she might need more money for their

education. He asked her to deposit some amount of money from his side as security.

But she was not agreed with their opinion because she already had decided that she

would not urge her daughters to get married soon when she was with her husband. She

25
did not want to be an ordinary Indian mother to pull her daughters into a relationship

early which will spoil their future. As a responsible mother, she wished to give enough

education to her daughters. She gave much importance to studies than marriage.

Having a friendship with men is considered as a crime. If a girl has a very deep

friendshipwith boys, she will be indicated as a bad woman in society. Charu was very

close to Hrishi who was her relative but the surrounding people assumed that both of

them were in love so that they used to go out together. Charu was a fatherless child so

she just wanted him to carry and protect her while going out to school and some other

places. But the people unknowingly assumed their relationship without knowing the

reason behind it. Charu felt comfortable when Hrishi had given his company and there

was nothing in between them to gossip. “Charu and Hrishi have grown up together,

they‟re easy and comfortable with each other, but there is nothing of the male-female in

their relationship, they‟re like two friends of the same sex, they don‟t think of each

other that way”.

When a woman gives birth to a female baby she will be named as an unlucky

woman because society believes that a male child only can carry the pride and dignity

of a family. If a woman cannot give birth to a male child, the family members of her

husband will arrange another marriage for getting a male child. Most of the women

were defeated by this practice which is followed in India so far. Manorama gave birth

to a female child so the uncle of her husband asked him to marry another woman. She

was sunk into the depression of his advice. Shehated herself for the inability to give

birth to a male child and she was terrified by their plan to marry another woman to her

husband. His uncle asked him to adopt one of his male children to save their progeny.

26
“…when it was clear that Manorama, who had finally given birth to a daughter after a

series of miscarriages, would have no more children. Falling in this, he tried to induce

Vithalrao to adopt a son, preferably one of his own grandsons”.

Women must be allowed to select their life partners and what to study. They

are only going to lead their life with the person whom she is going to get married.

Premi was sent to Bombay to study medicine not by her personal interest but by her

father‟s decision. He did not even ask his daughter‟s ambition or any preference what

to study he just ordered her to study medicine. After returning from college, her father

tended to arrange the marriage without askingpermission or desire from her. She was

just like an interloper toy to say yes to her father for all his preference for her future.

Firstly she was separated from her mother and then by the name of marriage. Her

husband was strange to her because both of them not indulged themselves in their

relationship. Her husband brought her to all the places to spend time but there was no

love between them. If she was permitted to choose the life partner for her she might

have led a happy life which she had dreamt of but she was not allowed because she is a

woman who cannot decidefor herself. Women want to marry the person who

understands them and adjusts himself to comfort them.

The life of Mother and grandmother induced Aru to think that marriage is

somewhat like a cage which will suppress women‟s feelings and emotions. Her

grandmother was ignored by her family because she had lost her child and her mother

was abandoned by her father for silly unacceptable reasons. Women inherit the

thoughts and way of living from their parents and remaining family members. If their

life was a tragedy children will think that marriage life is hell which consisted of

27
desperation, anxiety, and emptiness. Parents must lead a wonderful life which will be a

strong example for their children even though they have some trouble in their life.

Children learn from old people.

Aru was scared of marriage and could not tolerate the desertion of her father.

“I‟ve been thinking about marriage a great deal, Premi-mavshi. What‟s there in it? I

mean, look at Amma and now Sumi…”.. The separation of Premi and Sumi‟s parents

made them worry even they frightened to bring their friends to home because if they

asked about the silence between them they would be broken so both of them neglected

to call their friends to home. Premi advised Gopal to come back with his family

because she knew the pain. She advised him that his childrenmight be faced with the

same crisis among their friends. A gap between a married pair will not be good for their

children. Whatever the reason it is must be solved. Shripati maintained silence with his

wife Kalyani because she had lost her baby who was a special child because of this

reason he did not talk with her. Keeping silent with a wife is not will be the solution to

the mistake she had done. Women are already suppressed by their husbands for more

reasons. Most of the time, he simply neglected her when they were surrounded by their

relatives. It might be the biggest fault but he should be talked to her. The negligence of

a husband kills a woman more than anything because he is her companion throughout

her life. If he ignores her for some reason will lead her into desperation entirely. The

life of Kalyani is filled with anxiety and longing for her husband‟s love for her.

Kalyani lived like a widow though she had a husband who was alive and ignored to

accept her.

28
 Kalyani was married to her mother‟s brother who was grown by her. She showed

her gratitude towards him by making her daughter be his wife. Kalyani accepted to

marry him because she was afraid of him and she had no other choices to escape from

the marriage. The main purpose of the marriage is that the property of their family

should not be inherited by a third person so she made her brother marry her daughter.

Just to keep the family heritage, peoplearrange marriage within their extended family

without getting the opinion from the bride. This is unfair that ordering a woman to get

married to a person she does not like. Even she was not happy with him and lived for

nothing.

As a granddaughter, Aru was dissatisfied with her grandfather for what he

had done to her grandmother. She took it seriously and wanted to sort out the

problem which was staked sofar between them. Whatever men do to women they

have to pay for that. Even their grandchildren will ask about it, nothing can be

hidden for a long time. The cruelty happened to her grandmother and it continued

even after the birth of his grandchildren. Kalyani‟s life was spoiled by him though

she was innocent. She intended to break the silence between her grandparents. She

prepared to ask those questions to him but she failed to ask. The fear which is

common to all of the women made her stop. “And then Aru‟s thoughts go on to her

grandfather,of what he did to Kalyani, what he is still doing to her. She tries to stoke

her anger against him, but it is impossible”.

Aru took her mother‟s life as an example of a cruel life and she started to see

her mother as a victim in her story. As the same, she considered every woman as a

victim and had got anger on men. A child learns each and everything from their parents

29
as an inheritance. But if their life was bitter to the core the child will hate life and

become very hard to accept the reality of life even a common matter. Aru was

disturbed by the life her mother was living and got angry at her father. Sumi was

frustrated by the behavior of Aru and worries about her future. The bright future of

children lies in their parents‟ life and how they grow them but Aru was unlucky to gain

such traits from her parents. When Premi compared her patient‟s critical life with her

mother shecould not tolerate it. It showed that she was very conscious of her mother

and did not want any comments about her mother.

Aru seems to have lost her earlier single-mindedness and in a way, Sumi

is relieved by this. She has been disturbed by the thought that Aru has

begun to see her mother as a victim, that, in fact, she has begun to see a

victim in every woman, a betrayer in every man. I don‟t want her to

live, to start her life, with that kind of generalization.

A lot of distracting things happens to school and college going girls. Men use to

watch them and try to impress them with their efforts and activities. They follow

women without tellingthem the purpose they have come for and some men just tell

their intention. Men easily spoil their studies as well as their future by the name of

love. If they do not accept it they become a villain of their life. When Kalyani was

studying a boy followed her and sent his letter through alittle boy which was something

new and made her feel nourished. She did not predict the consequences of the

relationship. Before meeting him she was dropped from school by her mother because

Manorama was afraid of men and even she did not want someone to grab their

properties and assets.

30
 Kalyani worried that she should not have been revealed about the letter to her

father. She might have advised her and informed about society and how to react to

unnecessary events. But Manorama stopped her from school which remained like a

scar in her heart after getting married. After getting married she was not sent out of the

house. Education is the only wealth that cannot be faded and robbed by anyone in any

situation. The disappointment in her mother made Kalyani regret throughout her life

because she was not even asked about the perspective she had in her mind for her

marriage. The entire negligence made her silent in her life.

Manorama considered Kalyani as a symbol of bad luck because she wanted to

give birth to a male child. In fact, she was forced to but she was not able to have a male

baby. Apart from all those curses, she wanted to make her child as an intelligent and an

epitome of dignity. But herdaughter was that much-talented one and was very lazy. As

a poor man‟s daughter, she thought that even her daughter must be well educated but

she failed to shape her as she thought. People will criticize the mother for whatever her

daughter does and this is conventional in society. Lots of mothers aspire to grow their

daughters with discipline and manners. When they failed to do they mistake themselves

for what has happened to their children and even the society does the same. Manorama

mourned for the pathetic life of her daughter.

Her daughter, she had thought, would be beautiful, accomplished, she would

make a brilliant marriage that would be Manorama‟s triumph, that would show

them, the family, all those women who had treated Manorama, the daughter of poor

manfrom a village, with such contempt. Instead there was Kalyani, who could

do nothingthat pleased her mother.

31
 No one believed in the family that Kalyani‟s life was a miracle. She struggled

to find her place in the family as well as in society. Everyone made fun out of her but

she simply ignored every mockery because she crossed that sort of mentality to raise

questions. Shripati stopped to converse with her when she had lost her son in the

railway station. This gap between them always killed her silently in dark. She also

carried the curses of the society on her for her carelessness on her son. She did not do it

deliberately but happened by mistake. In fact, she lovedher son more than anything.

Kalyani was not liked by her mother and she was appreciated by her mother when she

gave birth to her son but soon she had lost him. This was the only reason which made

her mother sink in desperation and she too hated her daughter. Kalyani tried to sustain

in society even she was surrounded by hatred and turmoil. “They don‟t seem to realize

that the real miracle is Kalyani herself, Kalyani who has survived intact, in spite of

what Shripati did to her, Kalyani who has survived Manorama‟s myriad acts of

cruelty”.

Kalyani was sent to her parents‟ house with her two daughters by her husband

for the carelessness of her son and lost him. She was carried by her parents for some

years. Her father worried a lot about his daughter‟s broken life. He searched for a fine

astrologer to get details of his daughter‟s life whether she will join her husband or not.

This shows us that a daughter‟s life affects the happiness of parents. Women are not

only responsible for what happened in a family, men too must give their contribution to

all. Mistaking anyone is easy but sorting out the problem

32
is not easy at all. Shripati became ill so Manorama tried to punish her by keeping her

away fromher father. Kalyani‟s life almost a tragedy, she cannot do anything to prove

her side and not even given a chance. The people must have supported her and join her

with her husband if they have done like that the problem would have been solved.

Kalyani was very strong when society did everything against her women must

learn the meaning of patience from her. When her father was shedding tears for her

she was not embarrassed instead she became very strong and decided not to cry. After

some days, he died which made Manorama get angry with Kalyani and misunderstood

that reason for his death wasKalyani. Manorama used to spell that her daughter is evil

and had come to destroy her life.

Kalyani tolerated every word that came out from her mother. Her mother addressed

her as unfortunate and used to say that she was the killer of her husband in her last

days. Kalyani‟s lifewas filled with grief and desperation.

Manorama was very brave to take over a school and stood in the position

which was herhusband‟s place. A bad thing which was happened in her life was her

daughter who was not grown as she expected. Kalyani returned home after her

marriage it became a burden to her.

Kalyani was waiting for her husband to bring her back home with a lot of dreams and

excitement. On a contrary, she received nothing but silence from him. Every night she

imaginedthat the space between her husband and her would come to an end but it had

gone just like a dream. Innocent women never tend to hurt others.

33
 Life ends with tragedy in these three-generation women‟s life. When Sumi‟s

student asked what would happen if the story continues. This made Sumi think about

her life deeply and she came to understand that there is no tragic life with a sad ending

because happy or sad it belongs to our perspective in life. If we bring our life on a

happy path its output will be convivial and as before if we feel sad for everything our

life will not be happy at all. A little child even does not like a sad story so grown-up

people must come out from those thoughts and should make our life happier and

should never worry about some bad things which happen throughout our life. Sumi

wanted to make some changes in her ordinary life instead she just planned to wipeaway

the sad chapters of her life. The desperation and grief must be pushed out from us to

lead an ever happy life. “If we are to construct a world, why not shape one with the

hopelessness left out, why not end with the hope of happiness, the promise of

realization?”.

When Seema was grown up as a woman Sumi felt for the first time that her

daughters became a burden to her. She had some responsibilities as a mother and

required the company of her husband at the same time she knew that it was not

possible. As a single mother she had to all the comforts to her daughters without the

help of others except her parents those who stood behind to save even at her bad times

and she believed her parents only in the fake world. She relied on her parents and her

daughters too felt convenient to stay with grandparents. Sumi was frightened about

how she was going to manage them stranded. Single mother should not get fear to

tackle the society with her daughter and she should make her daughters brave towards

others. Seema asked her that she wanted to meet her father. Sumi cried silently for her

34
daughters in dark. She advised them how to face the world and to behave genuinely in

front of unknown people because she was a single parent who possessed all the

response to growing them with manners.

Sumi was separated from her husband thoroughly but her surrounding people

advised herto go back to her husband as if she did not want to live with him. They told

that if she had done anything wrong he would forgive her if the mistake was on her

side she should accept him. This advice is wrong because she did not want to be

separated from him instead he walked from her and three daughters. The mistake was

on his side so the people should give this advice to Gopal, not to Sumi. They said that

staying in a parents‟ house is not good for the future of her daughtersand she must go

back to her husband. Even they did not allow their daughters to stay a long time in their

house and it would create a crack between them. Society thinks that without men a

family will lose its dignity among the surroundings but truly not. The pride of the

family lays in the traits and quality of women not in the quantity of men.

Men should not share with others about his life and the relationship status to

them. Theywill degrade the dignity of the woman and will make gossip over them.

Miscommunication also takes place in most of the conversations. Sumi was

questioned by a third person about her detachment from her husband. She believed

that Gopal might have told them what happened between both husband and wife. The

unpleasant conversation made Sumi get angry with him.

After his conversation with Seema, she seemed tranquil and tried to hide something

from her which disturbed her a lot. She wanted to know the secret between father and

daughter. Women never reveal her family secrets to anyone just to keep the pride of

35
the family but men do not careabout anything and share all those events with

everybody. Whoever exposes the confidential secrets of a family, the victim will be

women. Society will corner women even if the mistake is not on their side.

People will take advantage on women who live without the company of

women. They come closer to them and some may abuse them. Everyone thinks that

women cannot protect themselves. Rohit used to visit Sumi‟s daughters by the name

of a relative. He was not intentionally going there but after some visits, he wanted to

see Aru. He started to love her and his gesture showed them that he came there with a

purpose. If Aru‟s father was in there he couldn‟t wander there as he liked. Father is the

protector and well-wisher of his daughters but Aru was unfortunate to get his

protection. The people in society take advantage on them because there is no one to

raise questions over them. Other people should protect them instead of misusing the

situation. Even Rohit came to know about the gap between Gopal and Sumi which

made Kalyani get angry at Sumi to make him know about it.

36
 Chapter III

Conclusion

The novel Shadow Play is the sequel of A Matter of Time. The researcher

stresses that the individuality of women has been hidden in the male chauvinist society.

Some of the women get suppressed by their family to come out from their cage and

some of them break the cage and fly so high in the sky. It is up to their inner

confidence just to smash the enclosure which is engendered by society over the

decades. At the same time, those who bravely stand alone tend to generate their own

province face a lot of problems. The reason is this society is not much developed to

tolerate that women can be in the commanding position. Even now they silently envy

about the progress of women and pretending like they are not.

After the death of Sumi, her daughters being courageous towards the world and

do not depend on anyone for any purpose. The demise of a mother definitely will

affect the foundation of the family and so these three are no exception and here their

father also walked out from them.These all things make them survive alone and not

expecting favor from their surroundings. When a woman gets to be married, she needs

her mother by her side to do all practices which will makeher feel blessed if not they

will not be satisfied. As the same three of them expressed their grief about the absence

of their mother.

When the women want to achieve she feels that the enemies are around the

society but later on she has come to know that their family too. When they try to attain

their goals their family itself trying to vanquish them and destroys their dreams.
37
 However, if she has gotten a seal of approval half-heartedness from the family

the society stops her from where she has started. Even women are the enemy for

themselves. For years the perspective of society has been ignorant. Most of the women

came forward and started their journey by working in all the jobs. But, at the same

time, women face gender bias in working places. The major challenges they have are

being on time, not taking leave, and work sprightly. Women finish their house chores

and look after their children and even ministering to their husband whatever he needs.

After all that she has to follow the rules and regulations of the company. They are

mocked even by their colleagues by the name of their gender. In some companies, they

get a minimum salary than menthough they work sincerely. Everything should have

come to an end.

Some of the women have come from villages and not are finely treated by the

city people. They are mocked by them for their accent and behavior. They will take

time to adapt to anew atmosphere so the city people must give them space. Women do

not even have the right to decide what to study. Their parents only decides the courses

what will be suitable for their daughters. Women have entered all of the professions

and they are showing their cleverness. At the same time, some of the women are not

allowed by their parents to work in some sort of job because they worry about society

more than their daughters. Parents only can be the pillar of their daughter‟s future so it

is up to their decisiveness whether their daughter would be a remarkable person or not.

Even now dowry possesses an important place in our society. Most of the

women are still dying by the dissatisfaction with the amount of dowry. Society must
38
come out from inappropriate activities that lead women to commit suicide and harassed

by their natal family.

People give huge importance to movable properties and assets more than the attributes

of women. In India, receiving dowry is considered as a pride of the person who is

going to marry the woman and his family. The mentality of society and the

surroundings must be changed and modernized. After the marriage of the woman, the

whole family treats her as a slave and regard insensitive. Society must give respect to

their feelings and should come out from considering them as an interloper toy. Most of

the women have come to work to earn money for their marriage they got frightened by

the society which made them think that money is important just to pay dowry than their

education. Education is the only weapon for women to create their own kingdom.

Society disgraces women who cannot give birth to a child. They named them

unlucky and consider them as a bad omen which makes women degrade themselves. If

those women forget about their inability the society will remind them wherever they

go by asking about their children. This sort of thought should be changed because not

giving birth to a child is not a big issue. Women can adopt a baby from an orphanage

so the surrounding people must leave them and stop talking about their infertility.

Most of the women are not worrying about their inabilitybut they get fear on society

and their comments over them which lead them into depression. Thedejection of a

mother for a baby is the hardest thing to come out from that anxiety and to behave

normally. The words of society will remain in their mind and kill them throughout

their life.

39
Everything is up to the perspective of the surrounding people and how they treat

them, theirconcern for them.

When a woman has more friends obviously society suspects them and degrades

their character. Having more male friends never can tell the traits of a particular

woman. The judgmental society is not allowing a woman to be socialized, if she has

numerous friends it will automatically throw its perspective on them and makes

gossips on them even they are good and genuine with others. People must elevate their

thought and never try to impose their opinions andassumptions on others. Even most

of the women make rumors on another woman and make a way to spoil their character.

Talking with men and having a friendship with them is not a bigissue but the

perspective of society must be changed.

After the marriage men treat their wives as a slave and do not give respect to

their feelings even they are educated. Once upon women had no education and know

nothing about society and blindly believed whatever the people said. But now they are

educated enough and can understand all things which are happening in the society. So

they should be given the freedom to express their talents towards society. Women are

not a toy to make them do what men want. Women have proved their talent and

registered their names in their profession. When a woman lost her husband society

neglects her in rituals and other activities because the surrounding people consider

them as an epitome of bad luck. They keep a distance from them and avoid them

which make those women feel alone.

In some families, Women have to ask for money whenever they need for their

requirements and even for their own expenses. This tyrannical activity makes them
40
worry about the cruel life they live in. In India, most of the women are not allowed to

go for a job after their marriage even they are educated and more brilliant. If they earn

money there is no way to beg formoney which will make the husband get angry

because they expect that their wives should rely on them for everything when it fails

they cannot be dominant. So they do not allow them to go for a job. Men should give

equal respect to their wives and never be get jealous of them and their income.

One of the most cruelties is when a husband divorces his wife for another

woman and abandons her. Men think that they can throw their wives what they do not

need them. Women also have a heart and possess respect towards their husbands so

men should not leave their wivesand give respect to them. When a husband plans to

walk out of his family he must concern about his wife and daughters. Without him,

they will face society alone and they will be ruined by thesurroundings for his

desertion. Some women who do not have any sort of support from men in their family

struggle a lot because society takes advantage of them. Nevertheless, they come

forward and face those obstacles alone and make their identity. Women would never

need the company of men to prove them to the world. The main thing is they should

not be disturbed bythe surroundings and should be prevented from the

discouragements of society. Women should never believe any other people to achieve

their goals instead they should stand on their own for everything. They have to protect

themselves and also to defend.

Now a day, women have no protection in society they have to protect

themselves. Parents get fear of sending their daughters to go out for education and job.

Women are harassed physically and mentally by men. They face problems everywhere

41
they go. The parents who have sons must teach their sons how to behave and give

respect to women. They should give them such advice when he grows and comes out

from home because this is their responsibility to give protection to women. The

superstitious thought of the society should have changed otherwise the safety of women

will be verified.

42
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