Sisterhood in Shashi Deshpande's The Binding Vine

Abstract

The Binding Vinetells the story of a suppressed female character named Mira, mother-in-law of the narrator, Urmi, Kalpana, a young raped girl, Shakutai, and unfortunate mother of Kalpana, Sulu Kalpana’sunfortunate aunt and unlucky sisters of Kalpana who were suffering too, due to the rape case of their elder sister. It focuses on the Indian Society where females are dominated and regarded as an inferior group. Shashi Despande is a realistic novel is therefore,she focuses on the real picture of the society. She gives perfect picture of daily activities of the female characters. Because of Patriarchal society structure women are suffering from so many problems. Because of social structure they cannot cross the boundary. So whoever tries to cross that boundary became victimized.Being an educated lady, the narrator wants to revolt against patriarchal norms and society. So she creates a vine of sisterhood where she binds many women. Shashi Despande explores that by presenting a female character as a representative of all educated women we can change the society.