Rejection of Archetypesin Deshpande's That Long Silence

Abstract

hat Long Silence by Shashi Deshpande is a novel which deals with a woman's attempt to assert her selfhood and realize her freedom. The novel is the revelation of the inner sensibility rather than the outer world of action. In her psychological journey, the protagonist, Jaya, searches release from the constraints of the tradition-oriented situation. She wants to break her role model and her own self. The present dissertationfocuseson the haunting presence of tradition over individuality. Despite her education andthe career as awriter,Jaya, the protagonist remains silent. In this situation, she finds no option except breaking the silence, which is created by the conventional patterns of society. By recalling her relationships with her family and friends. She is trying to write about herself, she is determined to break a "Long Silence." The whole novel revolves around the conflict between tradition and individuality,persona and self rights and duties. The novel is the struggle for the liberation of the self from the shacklesof tradition and exercise for the manifestation of individual capabilities. Dealing with the protagonist Jaya's frustration, her awareness of the problems, her recognition of the crisis and her efforts at resolution, Deshpande portrays the average middle class woman's deeply felt but never so well- expressed experiences.