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Volume 1 Issue 3 |
August 2014 |
| Verbal and Non-Verbal Protests of Women in Select Short Stories of Sashi Deshpande and Mahasweta Devi | |
| Dr. R. Krishnaveni, Vice Principal and Associate Professor, Department of English, San International College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, , |
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| Abstract | |
| An individual or a group protests to express his/their objection and the protest may enforce a change. The subject of the objection may be oppression, suppression, injustice or exploitation. The consciousness among the women regarding their position in the society/family and the need to liberate themselves make them to rebel and protest. They register their protest in their artistic works, which is ideal for the purpose in many respect. Shashi Deshpande, one of the Indian women writers in English, rationalizes the role of woman in the contemporary society and in the epics as well. The writer registers her subtle protest in retelling or reinterpreting the episodes of puranas and also in her short fictions. The patriarchal classical narratives, apparently, portray women as helpless, feeble, who invariably depend on men for everything. In Deshpande's attempt to retell the Ramayana, Sita excels Ram while arguing with Lakshman about how a perfect man should be. She lays bare her frustration. The protagonist’s protest in “An Antidote to Boredom”, a short story in the first volume, changes the course of her life. Mahasweta Devi, an Indian social activist and writer of her native language, Bengali, depicts the struggle and oppression of the tribal people in her works. In the short story collection, Draupadi translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Disrobing of Draupadi” (Draupadi in the short story represent her simple folks) challenges the dominant group, who is ever ready to suppress the lower caste group. This article focuses on an overview of protests in the select short stories of Shashi Deshpande and Mahasweta Devi. | |
| Keywords | |
| Protest; Shashi Deshpande; Mahasweta Devi; Suppression of Women. | |
| Article | |
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