A Study of Shashi Deshpande’s That Long Silence Through the Lens of Spivak’s "feminism and Critical Theory"
Feminism is a movement and a set of ideologies set by the society for the social, economic, and political equality of all the sexes, aiming to dismantle sexism / racism and oppression to achieve full gender equality. It addresses issues like bodily autonomy, equal pay of gender, property ownership and equal and fair rights in every sector, and fair treatment for all genders, and is characterized by distinct historical "waves" of activity that is different waves of feminism, each with its own focus and goals. If we talk about Feminism in Third World Country then we found that it mainly emphasizes how women's experiences are shaped by colonialism, racial, ethnic, and class struggles, rather than just gender. It critiques Western feminism for failing to recognize these intersecting oppressions and for imposing universal ideas of womanhood and also homogenizing the sufferings of third world women with the western feminism (CT Mohanty, “Anthropology and the Third World Women as a Native”.). Instead, it centers on local cultures, historical contexts, and the agency of women to define their own paths to equality, promoting principles like antiimperialism, self-reliance, and communal interdependence. The Long Silence, announces the intention of this talented contemporary Indian writer to break the long silence that has surrounded women, their experiences and their world. For a long time, woman has existed as a gap, as an absence in literature, whether Western or Indian. The Long Silence is also a societal critique of our social institutions like marriage and family, the way they stifle individual growth and free expression. These institutions place individuals into slots such as wife, husband, brother, sister, daughter, son, etc., and prevent free communication between human beings. This is what happens in the novel with the protagonist Jaya's relationship with Mohan. In the Indian context: “Once a girl is married to a man, be it a love marriage or an arranged marriage, 2 the husband takes complete control over her. Whether the husband follows the right or wrong path, she must follow blindly in his footsteps”. When Mohan is caught misbehaving and is supposed to be unavailable for a period of time, he assumes that Jaya will accompany him. Although she does not want to follow the example of Sita and Savitri, paradoxically she is forced by situations and circumstances to follow the principle that "both are bound together, so it is better to go in the same direction than to go in different directions. We can relate the whole incident with the theory of Spivak’s Feminism and Critical Theory where she criticizes that dominant Western feminist and Marxist frameworks fail to represent the voices and experiences of the "subaltern"— particularly women in the Third World. She highlights the risk of Western feminists imposing their own perspectives, thereby silencing the subaltern even further.