Authentic Female Characters in the Novels of Shashi

Abstract: Shashi Deshpande, at heart, is a realist. She has created authentic female characters—flesh-and-blood characters with recognizable credentials. She presents a plausible story of authentic characters and not shadowy abstractions. She believes in presenting life as it is and not as it should be. There are a number of Indian novels that deal with woman’s problems. But the treatment is often peripheral and the novels end up glorifying the stereotypical virtues of the Indian woman, like patience, devotion and abject acceptance of whatever is meted out to her. The heroines of Shashi Deshpande are totally different in the sense that they explode the myth of man’s superiority and the myth of woman being the paragon of all virtues. Every novel starts with people. Female character occupies a pivotal position in her novels. She creates live characters out of day-to-day life and very carefully avoided creating wooden characters to fulfill her dream. The novelist excels in the portrayal of women characters. But she is against the character of superwoman or idealizing them