the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

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herself are those slots issued to women by the patriarchal
order. Morag is in the transitional stage, '!caught between
the old pioneers and new pioneers" (D:170) - she is unable
to fit into patriarchal moulds, nor is she able to llve an
unimpeded llfe of her own. Oscillating between the two
extremes she sees Fan Brady on one end who is "not the
maternal type" (D:310) and the femlnlne mother Brldie on the
other who has "connotations of perpetual bridehood,
something chlldish and affected about her" (D . 373)
5.5.9.2. In Nectar in a Sieve, we come across Janakl, the
stereotyped mother wlth her "homely face and sayglng flqure,
for she had borne her husband several chlldren" (NS 51.
Rukmani's mother is also an embodiment of the 'femlnlne'
mother, constantly assoclated wlth domestlc lmayes - her
house 1s "clean and sweet" and her chlldren are "well fed
and cared for" (NS 11) Rukmanl too is assoclated wlth
domestlc lmages (NS.139) The Musllm women In 'bourkas' are
assoc~ated with "closed doors" and "shuttered windows"
(NS 48), women who had shut the door to thelr lndlviduallty,
the claustrophobia of the~r homes extending to thelr
personalities
5.5.9.3. The Image of the femlnlne mother portrayed In
advertisements 1s a regular feature of Deshpande's fictlon
and The Dark Holds No Terrora is no exception. Both in