The Dark Holds No Shadows Analysis

On par with Western novelists, Indian women writers have made a bench mark in creating an island of their own in voicing their views and perceptions about the pathetic plight of women in India. Ofcourse, Shshi Desh Pande is not exceptional because, in all her works feminism surfaces as a dominating theme one way or the other. The present paper mirrors her reflections for assertion of identity and crave for emancipation of women from the shackles of traditions and customs. So to say, in her novel, Roots and Shadows, the writer highlits the agony and suffering of the protagonist, Indu in male-dominated society. In The Dark Holds No Terrors, she touches upon male egoism and inferiority complex resulting in sexual sadism, as well the harrowing

Most of her protagonists are educated and exposed to western ideas. As Ramamoorthy puts it, "Her heroines speak of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One's Own and Betty Friedan and it becomes obvious that the women she has created are feminists if she is not one.''2 Moreover, the attitudes and reactions of her protagonists to various issues related to women who are caught between tra¬dition and modernity do provide ample material for treatment from a feminist

The novel highlights the agony and suffocation experienced by the protagonist, Indu in a male-dominated and tradition-bound society. She finds herself alienated when she refuses to conform to the rigid code laid down by society. Marriage to the man of her choice brings only disillusionment when she finds her educated and ostensibly progressive-minded husband no different from the average Indian male. She is even contemptuous of herself when she realises that she has all along been unconsciously aping the model of the ideal Indian wife. The novel gains its feminist stance from Indu's persistent exploration of herself as an individual. An extra-marital affair helps her to break free from the emotional bondage of matrimony and makes her aware of herself, and realise that it is possible to exercise autonomy within the parameters of marriage. Roots and Shadows also offers us scope to observe meaningless rituals and customs all of which help to perpetuate the myth of male superiority. Seen through the novelist's eye, insignificant everyday details take on a new dimension and highlight the gross inequalities present in