Moving Beyond the Constraints: The Bindig Vine of Shashi Deshpande

Name of Author : Dr. R Prabhakar

Abstract: Deshpande is a well known and prolific writer who explores the pains and pangs and predicaments of women and loss of their identity in the male dominated society. She has portrayed women questing for their identity and selfhood. Whereas her couple of earlier novels portrayed women protagonists with a cloistered self, who are unable to overcome, break and resist the so called socio patriarchal shackles of domination. But in her next couple of fictional works, The Binding Vine (1993) and A Matter of Time (1996), female protagonists are portrayed with a new rejuvenated spirit who resist and break the mute suffering. This paper aims at liberation of Deshpande’s women characters from silence suffering to resistance. However, the protagonists in this novel, akin to her previous novels, are bold women who speak out boldly against the false attitude of the patriarchal society. The major character in The Binding Vine is completely different from Shashi Deshpande’s earlier protagonists. Being educated women, she realizes the constraints imposed by the tradition, the meaninglessness life of modern women in the male chauvinistic society. Urmila, the protagonist of the novel, liberates herself from the shackles of tradition and gives her voice to the voiceless.

Keywords : Identity, Patriarchal Society, Cloistered Self, Traditional Women, Suffering

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