That Long Silence - Shashi Deshpande
Shashi Deshpande
Shashi Deshpande (born 19 August 1938) is a famous Indian English novelist. She was born in Dharwad, Karnataka, and is the daughter of the well-known Kannada writer and dramatist Adya Rangacharya. She studied in Mumbai and Bangalore and earned degrees in Economics, Law, and Journalism. She also worked for a short time as a journalist.She published her first short story collection in 1978 and her first novel The Dark Holds No Terrors in 1980. She won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1990 for That Long Silence and the Padma Shri Award in 2009. Her novel Shadow Play was shortlisted for The Hindu Literary Prize in 2014. She has written novels, short stories, children’s books, and essays. In 2015, she returned her Sahitya Akademi Award as a protest against violence and injustice. In 2018, she spoke about peace, harmony, and the dangers of religious division in India.
Main Themes:
Her writing mainly focuses on women’s inner emotions, identity, silence, marriage, family life, patriarchy, and middle-class problems. She shows how women suffer silently, struggle within society, and slowly try to find their own voice, self-respect, and independence.
Writing Style:
Her writing style is simple, realistic, and psychological. She gives more importance to characters than to events. She uses inner thoughts, memories, and silence to express deep emotions. Her writing is feminist but gentle, realistic, and sensitive, showing women’s struggles in a natural and humane way.
Significance of the Title – That Long Silence
The title That Long Silence is very meaningful. The word “silence” is the most important idea in the novel. It stands for the silent suffering of women in a male-dominated society.
In the novel, silence appears at different levels:
1. Silence of Older Women (First Generation):
Women like Mohan’s mother remain silent all their lives. They tolerate pain, anger, and unhappiness without complaint. Their silence does not mean happiness or acceptance, but helplessness, fear, and forced patience. They believe that a woman must stay quiet and adjust. This silence hides their suffering and denies them identity and respect.
2. Silence of Younger Women (Second Generation – Jaya):
Women like Jaya are educated and capable of expressing themselves. But even they are forced into silence after marriage. Jaya hides her feelings, thoughts, and pain to keep peace in her family. This long silence makes her unhappy and emotionally lonely.
3. Breaking the Silence:
Slowly, Jaya realizes that silence has ruined her life and relationships. She begins to write, which helps her express her pain and emotions. Writing becomes her way to break the long silence. She also tries to speak honestly with her husband. By the end, Jaya becomes a changed woman who decides not to remain silent anymore.
4. Symbolic Meaning:
The title shows that Indian women suffer silently for generations. Many women hide their illness, pain, and sadness. Some even die without care or attention. The novel urges women to speak, express, and fight for their identity and rights.
Characters
Jaya (Suhasini)
Jaya is the main character of Shashi Deshpande’s novel That Long Silence. She is a typical middle-class Indian woman who plays the traditional roles of a wife and mother. Though she has a comfortable life with her husband Mohan and two children, Rati and Rahul, she feels unhappy and dissatisfied. Her life seems dull, repetitive, and empty. She slowly realizes that she has lost her true identity.
Before marriage, Jaya was independent, thoughtful, and curious. But after marriage, she changes herself completely to match her husband’s wishes. Mohan gives her the name “Suhasini,” which means a soft, smiling, obedient woman. In doing so, she loses her individuality. Like mythical women such as Sita, Savitri, and Draupadi, Jaya silently follows her husband and accepts suffering without protest.Mohan gets involved in a corruption case in his office. To avoid public shame, he moves his family to a small flat in Dadar. During this difficult period, Jaya starts thinking deeply about her life. She realizes that her marriage is not truly happy and that her silence has hidden her pain and anger. Mohan believes that a woman’s silence is her strength, but Jaya feels that silence only increases her suffering.
Jaya is also a writer. At first, she writes honestly and boldly, but later she changes her style to please her husband and society. Because of this, her writing loses its originality, and her stories get rejected. Finally, she stops writing, which further adds to her frustration. Her friend Kamat encourages her to express anger and truth in her writing, but she is afraid of damaging her marriage.Jaya slowly understands that her long silence has made her life empty. She accepts that she is partly responsible for losing her identity because she always tried to be an ideal wife and mother. After years of emotional pain, she decides to break her silence, speak openly, and rebuild her relationship with Mohan. She wants to live as an independent individual and not just as someone’s wife or mother.
Jaya’s journey shows the condition of women in a male-dominated society. Her story highlights how social pressure and patriarchal values force women to suppress their feelings. In the end, Jaya moves from despair to hope and from silence to self-expression. Her story becomes a journey toward self-awareness and personal freedom.
Kusum
Kusum is Jaya’s cousin and is mentally ill. She represents the tragic fate of women who are completely rejected by society. Jaya often compares herself with Kusum and defines herself as “not Kusum.” The only difference between them is that Kusum is unable to understand and express her pain, while Jaya is conscious of her suffering.Kusum waits patiently for her husband to take her back home. Her entire hope and existence depend on him. Tragically, she commits suicide just one day before her husband was supposed to bring her home. Her mother’s reaction to her death is shocking and painful. She writes that Kusum’s death was “a good thing” because she was useless after becoming mad. This statement exposes the cruel reality of patriarchal society, where a woman’s value lies only in her usefulness to her husband and family.Kusum’s brother Dilip, who fails in his matriculation examination, is still praised and admired. His failure is treated as an achievement, while Kusum is treated as a burden. This sharp contrast highlights the deep-rooted gender discrimination in society. Kusum’s character exposes the injustice and emotional cruelty faced by women.
Ajji
Ajji is Jaya’s grandmother and a widow. She represents the harsh and humiliating condition of widows in traditional Hindu society. After her husband’s death, Ajji’s head is shaved, which symbolizes the stripping away of her identity, dignity, and femininity.She lives a life of complete deprivation. She owns almost nothing, wears only two saris, sleeps on a straw mat, and sits on the floor. Her life is marked by renunciation, loneliness, and silence. Her hair shaving and simple living symbolize how widowhood deprives a woman of happiness, beauty, and individuality.
Through Ajji, Deshpande raises serious questions about the unjust treatment of widows. While widows are forced into a life of suffering, men easily remarry and continue enjoying life. Ajji’s character strongly criticizes the gender-based inequalities embedded in tradition.
Mukta
Mukta is Jaya’s neighbour in the Dadar flat and is also a widow. Her husband Arun dies suddenly after falling from a train. After his death, Mukta’s life becomes empty, silent, and full of sorrow.
Jaya compares Mukta to a dancer standing still, filled with unexpressed emotions. Mukta lives in deep grief and loneliness. She strictly follows rituals, fasts, and religious practices, hoping to give meaning to her empty life. However, Jaya finds these rituals meaningless because they cannot change her reality.Though Mukta is educated, she cannot free herself from social customs due to fear of society. Her daughter Nilima, however, rebels against meaningless traditions and openly criticizes her mother’s blind faith. Nilima represents the modern, bold, and independent generation that questions patriarchal values.
Mukta’s character highlights how widowhood becomes a lifelong burden and emotional imprisonment for women.
Jeeja
Jeeja is Jaya’s maid. She is childless, and because of this, her husband remarries. Jeeja accepts this silently, believing it is her fault. She does not blame her husband or his second wife. Instead, she blames herself for not producing children.
Her attitude shows how deeply patriarchal values are ingrained in women’s minds. Jeeja believes that a woman’s worth lies in her ability to give birth, especially to sons.
Nayana
Nayana has given birth to daughters, but her husband threatens to leave her because she has no surviving sons. Though she protests, she is helpless. Her fear reflects the reality that a woman abandoned by her husband becomes socially and economically insecure.
Both Jeeja and Nayana show the helplessness of poor women, whose lives revolve around their husbands for survival, shelter, and identity.
Vimala
Vimala is Mohan’s sister. She suffers silently due to her inability to conceive. Society considers a barren woman as cursed and shameful. Vimala never shares her pain with anyone. Her emotional suffering slowly destroys her, leading to her illness and death.Her death symbolizes how silence becomes fatal for women. Her tragedy highlights how women internalize pain and suppress their emotions until it leads to their physical and emotional collapse.
Asha
Asha is Jaya’s sister-in-law and is very different from other women characters. She is bold, outspoken, and self-respecting. Her husband Ravi is irresponsible and dishonest. Unlike traditional wives, Asha does not tolerate injustice or blind obedience.She openly quarrels with her husband and refuses to sacrifice her dignity. Her confidence comes from the emotional and moral support of her father. Asha represents the modern Indian woman who challenges patriarchy and asserts her individuality.
Leena
Leena is Jaya’s college friend who dares to live life on her own terms. She has a relationship with a married man, which society strongly condemns. Jaya initially judges her harshly but later realizes her mistake.Through Leena, Deshpande questions society’s double standards. While men are easily forgiven for immoral behavior, women are harshly criticized. Leena helps Jaya come out of depression and self-hatred and inspires her to think independently.
Mohan
Mohan is Jaya’s husband and represents the typical middle-class Indian male. He is ambitious, materialistic, and obsessed with social prestige. His childhood poverty makes him greedy for wealth and status.Mohan expects Jaya to be silent, obedient, and supportive. Though he marries her for her intelligence and English fluency, he suppresses her individuality after marriage. He discourages her writing but expects her to earn money during a crisis.
Though Mohan hates his own father’s cruelty towards his mother, he unconsciously imitates the same behavior. He believes that a woman’s silence is her strength, while for Jaya it is a sign of suffering.Mohan symbolizes patriarchal authority, emotional insensitivity, and lack of communication in marriage.
Kamat
Kamat is Jaya’s neighbour in Dadar and a widower. He is sensitive, progressive, and emotionally mature. He treats Jaya as an equal and encourages her to express herself freely.Unlike Mohan, he respects Jaya’s intelligence and creativity. He helps her rediscover her lost identity. He also makes her realize her emotional and physical needs.However, due to social fear and moral conflict, Jaya withdraws from him when he suffers a heart attack. Her silence and inaction lead to his death, which becomes her lifelong guilt.Kamat represents emotional openness, intellectual companionship, and gender equality.
Rahul and Rati
Jaya and Mohan's children.
Tara
Tara, the character who belongs to the lower sections of society, doing all kinds of odd tasks that come towards her, represents a self-sufficient woman. Tara and her eldest daughter Manda work twenty four hours for their livelihood as their men were drunkards and unwilling to perform any work.
Mohan’s Mother
Mohan's mom suffered a ton since she needed more courage to express a single word to his dad's way to deal with her, perhaps for her "husband is a shielding tree". She liked to be a quiet sufferer or she probably wouldn't have pondered the death of her self-regard. Mohan's mom needs to endure a great deal on account of his dad's self-absorbed nature just as his male domain demeanour. She could comprehend that the battle the woman is confronting is unpleasant to such an extent that quiet is the main weapon. Quiet and give up. Despite the fact that such an impolite individual he is, she is running her existence with the fallen angel like individual. His dad has never left a solitary possibility of harming her mom's understanding, feelings or sentiments. Mohan's mom needs to wait for his dad, anyway late he is. Around evening time she needs to initially provide supper for their kids and afterward cook rice for him. He needs his rice crisp and hot from a vessel that is immaculate. Mohan interprets her despair and misery as toughness.
That Long Silence – Detailed Summary
Shashi Deshpande’s novel That Long Silence (1989) is an important work of Indian feminist literature. It won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1990. It tells the story of Jaya, a middle-class Indian woman, and her emotional struggle in a male-dominated society. The novel mainly focuses on women’s silence, suffering, identity, marriage, and self-realization. It shows how women are taught from childhood to remain silent, adjust, and sacrifice their dreams for the happiness of others.
The story begins when Jaya and her husband Mohan move into their old, small flat in Dadar. They are forced to leave their comfortable house because Mohan is accused of corruption in his office. To avoid public shame, they shift to this neglected flat. Their children stay with relatives. The small, lonely flat becomes a place where Jaya starts thinking deeply about her life. The silence in the flat reflects the emotional distance between Jaya and Mohan.
While staying in the flat, Jaya starts remembering her past life. She thinks about her childhood, education, marriage, motherhood, and her failed dream of becoming a writer. As a child, Jaya was intelligent, curious, and outspoken. But society did not like these qualities in girls. Her grandmother and mother taught her that a good woman should be quiet, obedient, patient, and adjusting. She was told that women must keep family peace by remaining silent. Her father was the only person who supported her creativity and individuality. However, after his death, Jaya slowly accepted silence as a part of her life.
Jaya loved writing and wanted to become a writer. Writing helped her express her feelings and thoughts. But after marriage, Mohan discouraged her from writing honestly. He did not like her expressing dissatisfaction or emotions. Gradually, Jaya began writing carefully and fearfully. She lost her creative freedom. As a result, her writing became weak, and she felt frustrated. Writing, which once gave her joy, became another reason for her silence.
Jaya’s marriage to Mohan is not happy or emotionally satisfying. Mohan is ambitious, practical, and concerned about social status. He expects Jaya to behave like an ideal wife—silent, obedient, and supportive. There is very little emotional communication between them. Jaya takes care of the home, cooks, cleans, and raises the children, but she feels lonely and unfulfilled. Their relationship becomes mechanical, lacking love and understanding.
When Mohan loses his job due to corruption charges, his confidence collapses. He becomes insecure, angry, and emotionally weak. At this time, he needs emotional support, but both husband and wife lack communication skills. Jaya does not know how to comfort him, and Mohan does not know how to express his pain. This emotional gap increases the distance between them.Jaya also reflects on her role as a mother. She feels she has failed her children. Her son Rahul becomes rebellious and runs away from home, while her daughter Rati becomes dependent and weak. Jaya realizes that her emotional emptiness and silence have affected her children’s emotional development. This realization fills her with guilt and sadness.
One important character in Jaya’s life is Mr. Kamat, her widowed neighbor. He is kind, understanding, and open-minded. He treats Jaya as an equal and encourages her to think freely and write honestly. With Kamat, Jaya feels relaxed and confident. She can express her thoughts without fear. He becomes her emotional support. His sudden death deeply shocks Jaya and increases her loneliness. His death also makes her realize how rare genuine emotional understanding is in her life.
Jaya also remembers many women in her family, such as her grandmother Ajji, her cousin Kusum, and others. All these women suffered silently due to social pressure, emotional neglect, and helplessness. Their lives show how women are trained to tolerate pain without complaint. Jaya understands that she has followed the same pattern of silence and sacrifice.
The emotional climax of the novel comes when Mohan angrily leaves the house after accusing Jaya of not supporting him. Left alone, Jaya deeply examines her life. She realizes that her silence has destroyed emotional connection in her marriage. She understands that silence is not strength but a form of self-destruction. She accepts that fear of conflict and social judgment stopped her from expressing her true feelings.
At the end of the novel, Mohan sends a telegram saying he will return home and that he may get his job back. Jaya decides to accept him and rebuild their relationship. But this time, she resolves not to remain silent. She decides to speak honestly, express her feelings, and establish emotional communication. The novel ends with hope, suggesting that healing begins when silence ends.
In conclusion, That Long Silence is a powerful novel about a woman’s journey from silence to self-awareness. It shows how patriarchal society suppresses women’s voices and how emotional silence destroys personal happiness. Through Jaya’s story, Shashi Deshpande highlights the importance of self-expression, emotional honesty, and identity in a woman’s life.
Feminism in That Long Silence
Feminism in That Long Silence is presented in a simple, realistic, and psychological way. Shashi Deshpande does not show loud protest or aggressive rebellion. Instead, she shows how ordinary women suffer silently within a male-dominated society. The novel focuses on the emotional struggles of women, especially within marriage and family life. Through the character of Jaya, Deshpande explores how women are trained from childhood to be obedient, patient, and self-sacrificing, and how this training slowly destroys their identity and happiness.
From a young age, Jaya is taught that a woman should remain quiet, adjust, and depend on her husband. She learns that obedience and silence are the qualities of a good woman. This social conditioning forces her to hide her real thoughts, feelings, and desires. As a result, Jaya grows up suppressing her individuality. Her silence becomes a way to survive in society, but at the same time, it becomes a source of emotional pain and loneliness.
Marriage is shown as the main institution through which patriarchy controls women. Jaya’s husband Mohan is not violent or cruel, but he expects her to obey him, manage the household perfectly, and support his decisions without question. He believes that a wife’s duty is to serve her husband and family. In this process, Jaya slowly loses her self-confidence, independence, and identity. She becomes only a wife and mother, forgetting her own dreams and ambitions. This shows how patriarchy works quietly in everyday life, making women feel invisible and unimportant.
Another important feminist aspect of the novel is the suppression of Jaya’s creative voice. Jaya loves writing and wants to express her thoughts honestly. However, Mohan dislikes her bold and truthful writing, especially when it reflects her dissatisfaction with married life. To avoid conflict, Jaya begins to censor herself and hide her real emotions. This shows how society controls not only women’s behaviour but also their thoughts, creativity, and freedom of expression.The title That Long Silence symbolizes the generations of silent suffering of women. Silence becomes Jaya’s habit and survival strategy, but it also traps her emotionally. Over time, she realizes that her silence has destroyed communication, understanding, and emotional closeness in her marriage. Through deep self-thinking and writing, Jaya slowly becomes aware of her inner self and her suppressed desires. She understands that silence has only increased her pain and loneliness.
In the end, Jaya decides to break her long silence. She chooses to speak honestly, express her emotions, and face her problems with courage. This moment marks her feminist awakening, where she begins to reclaim her identity and self-respect. However, Deshpande’s feminism is gentle and realistic. Jaya does not leave her family or reject marriage. Instead, she seeks equality, understanding, and emotional freedom within her relationship. This reflects Indian feminism, which focuses on balance, adjustment, and self-growth rather than extreme rebellion.
In conclusion, That Long Silence is a powerful feminist novel because it reveals the emotional oppression faced by women in everyday life and emphasizes the importance of self-expression and self-awareness. Through Jaya’s journey from silence to voice, Shashi Deshpande shows that true freedom for women begins when they understand their own worth and dare to speak for themselves. The novel encourages women to break their silence and live with dignity, confidence, and independence.
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