Critical appreciation of Shashi Despande's That Long Silence.

"That Long Silence" by Shashi Despande is the story of Jaya, the female protagonist of the novel who is seen always engaged in searching her own identity. Set typically against the Indian backdrop "That Long Silence" raises that eternal question whether women lives for them or for someone- their husband or children.

                       In this story, the author reveals an intriguing picture of the urban middle class woman who is educated and had attained exposure to the liberal western ideas but is still chained to the conventional and ethnic Indian background. The protagonist is Jaya who lives with her husband Mohan and two children Rahul and Rati. The story entirely revolves around Jaya, her married life and her role as a dutiful wife. She is brought up in a family where women give respect and preference to the others rather than to oneself. She plays the role of an affectionate mother, dutiful to her in-laws and her relatives. In their conjugal life Jaya fails to create a position for herself in the eyes of Mohan. It is the gender discrimination that makes women in Indian society susceptible and silent and Jaya bears every trauma without any protest.

                  Jaya is deeply hurt when she finds no place in the family tree because of her gender and she realizes marriage for a girl is nothing more than a shift of enclosure where she is forced to confine  herself. According to author husband don't give attention to wives emotions, likes and dislikes. The author expresses the emotion with vivid details like that of love making, relationship with children, etc. In this story Jaya symbolizes the urban middle class woman who is learned and also has had the exposure to broadminded western thoughts.

               unable to liberate herself from the conventional code of conduct, her internal  voice remains incohrent even in her writings and her unexpressed emotions make her phobic. She has to refrain her emotions and thoughts because her husband warns her- "my mother never raised her voice against my father however badly he behaved to her".

          Through out the story she is engaged in searching her identity as an individuals. In this story one situation arises when wife's relation was given an offbeat. Two individuals though very intimate but could not relate each other in terms of feelings or understanding. Author has done a good job in expressing intimacy. Sexual feelings are expressed in its natural tone. Shashi Despande gives the readers an extremely talented portrayal of a woman trying to obliterate a 'long silence' begun in childhood and rooted in herself and in the constrictions of her life.