That long silence jaya's feminine sensibility - A study

Shashi deshpande occupies a significant place among the contemporary women novelists. She is receipt of many prestigious accolades for her literary works. She won Sahitya Academic award for That Long Silence. She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories. She is feminist. She voices for the ‘women’. Her attempt to given an honest portrayal of their sufferings, disappointment and frustrations. Her realistic vision of women's life in the family and the society based on personal observation are theme of her novels. Feminism has come to mean a movement in support of the principle that women should have the same rights and opportunities, in legal, political, social and economic matters as men.

A close study of Deshpande's short stories and novels reveals an author who is intelligent, frank in articulation and relatively free from prejudices regarding gender, but at the same time highly sensitive to the issues involving women. That Long Silence, the protagonist Jaya caught in dilemma whether to be a fit wife to her husband or struggling to express the kind of emotions that women experience. The relentless probing of man-woman relationships by the author intrigues the reader enough to question her stand on Feminism.