n the short stories of alice munro and shash deshpande

RE-SHAPING THE SELF:N THE SHORT STORIESOF ALICE MUNRO AND SHASH DESHPANDEThesis submitted to the PondicherryUniversity for the Degree ofDOCTOR OF PN1LOSOPHYinENGLISHBYH. KALPANADepartment of EnglishPONDICHERRY UNIVERSITYMARCH 1995

To my mother indira my father c s raomy husband prakash my son nikhilwith all my love

ContentsCertificateDeclarationNote on DocumentationAcknowledgementsAbstractPrefacePageviixivI--MAPPING OUTfBrief Sketch of Munro and Deshpande, and Their Works 4Feminine Identity 6The Short Story Genre and Women Writers 10Postcolonial Literary Background 20Postcolonialism and Feminism 24The Concept of Universal Sisterhood 2911--A MAN AND A WOMANSilent SufferersWomen in a Predicament

Power RelationshipsExtra-marital RelationshipsWomen JiltedMale NarratorIndependentmree Women111--PROVIDENCEDead/Absent MothersDominantPassive MothersDistanced MothersmaughtersIndependent MothersIV--VOICESFamily TiesSibling RelationshipsFriendsOthersV--SUMMING UP: THE PHOTOGRAPHERSWorks Consulted

Dr. P. MarudanayagamProfessor and HeadDepartment of EnglishPondicherry UniversityPondicherry 605 0 14CERTIFICATEThis is to certify that the dissertation entitled RE-SHAPING THESELF: FEMININE IDENTITY IN THE SHORT STONES OFALICE MUNRO AND SHASHI DESHPANDE, submitted to thePondicheny University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for theaward of the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPW in English, is arecord of original research work done by Ms. H. Kalpana during theperiod of her study 1992 - '95 in the Department of English,Pondicherry University, under my supervision and guidance and thatthe dissertation has not previously formed the basis for the award to thecandidate of any Degree, Diploma, Associateship, Fellowship or anyother simiiar titles.PondichenyDate: 30-3-45(Dr. P. MARUDANAYAGAM)w~@p:~54:!?@ ,st, 4y,gjkb .PBEJ~G oyc: iru QJ #?; a7{ghrnt[.& J *;*-!a;\ 4 iY;u, in, ;A:GPg;$; / ' " """ ,. "" :. , ! I ':in * r. b

H. KALPANA, M. PhilResearch ScholarDepartment of EnglishPondicherry UniversityPondicheny 605 014DECLARATIONI hereby declare that the dissertation entitled RE - STHE SELF: FEMININE DENTITU IN THE SHORT STORIESOF ALICE 0 SIIASHI DESWANDE, submitted to thePondicheny University in partial llfilment of the requirements for theaward of the Degree of DOCTOR Of PHILOSOPHY in English, is arecord of original research work done by me under the supervision andguidance of Dr. P. MARUDANAYAGAM, Professor and Head,Department of English, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry 605 014,and that it has not previously formed the basis for award of any Degree,Diploma, Associateship, Fellowship or any other similar titles.PondichenyDate: 3s - 345~ l -Signature(El. KALPANA)

NOTE ON DOCUMENTATIONThe thesis follows the MLA format of parenthetical documentation,namely, the author-date system. The short stories, however, aredocumented by referring to the collections (abbreviated format), and thepage numbers. Footnotes are used throughout the doctoral thesis toclarify and suggest any point of view that may arise in the main body ofthe thesis. Works consulted are cited at the end of the thesis. The shortstory collections of Alice Munro and Shashi Deshpande have beenabbreviated as follows for convenience:1968 Dance ofne Happy Shades (1988)-------- DHSToronto: McGraw Hill Ryerson Ltd.197 1 Lives of Girls and Women (1 983)----------- LGWNew York: Plume (Penguin Group).1974 Something I've Been Meaning To Tell You (1 990)---SIB Toronto: Penguin.1978 Who Do You Think You Are? (1981)------- WDYToronto: Penguin.1982 The Moons ofJupiter (1983)----------------- MOJEngland: Penguin.

1 9 8 5 The Progress of Love (1 98 7) ----------------- POLNew York: King Penguin.1990 Friend of My Youth ........................... FOYToronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc.Deshpande' s works1978 The Legacy .................................... LegCalcutta: Writers Workshop.1986 The Miracle and Other Stories ------------- MirCalcutta: Writers Workshop.1986 fiwastheNightingaIe-------- ---------------- GaleCalcutta: Writers Workshop.1986 If was Dark .................................... DarkCalcutta: Writers Workshop.1993 The Intrusion and Other Stories ------------ IntNew Delhi: Penguin.

Many political and historical developments have influenced thecountries of Canada and India. The effects of colonisation have nurturedan ambivalent sense of identity among the people of the two countries.Besides this, the Canadians have also dealt a feeling of displacement.This problem of identity is reflected in the literary work of the twocountries, and the issue is intensified in writing by women. Womenhave been threatened not only by colonial influences, but also by theexisting patriarchal ideologies. Women writers, therefore have begun toquestion the concept of self and the nature of feminine identity. Theaim of the thesis is to analyse this concept of feminine identity, and there-shaping of self that is undertaken by the women characters in theshort stories of Alice Munro, and Shashi Deshpande. The thesis isstructured into five chapters preceded by a preface:Chapter One: Mapping Out charts the background of the thesis,and touches upon the important areas that underlie the study. Beginningwith a brief introduction of the authors and their works, the chapterproceeds to study the concepts: feminine identity; the short story genreand women writers; postcolonial literary background; postcolonial ismand feminism; and the concept of universal sisterhood.

PREFACEAs I begin to write this thesis, I recollect my participation in theCanadian Workshop organised at Baroda in March '92. That was myfirst acquaintance to Canadian literature. In that month long proceeding,I was greatly impressed by Alice Munro's Pi740 Do You Think You Are?Being a woman and being aware of society's pressures on women, I wasinstantly struck by the plethora of experiences, honestly and truthfullyexpressed in the portrayal of Rose, the principal character in the book. Iinstantly felt an urge to explore Munro's writing, but my enthusiasmwas short-lived when I realised that securing her works was verydifficult. I, however, pursued my interest, and made a nuisance ofmyself in all places in the country having even remote links withCommonwealth literature. Finally I had managed to read not only fourcollections of Munro, but also secured copies of some secondarymaterial which was an encouraging factor.This progress was enhanced by the occurrence of two other relatedincidents--a talk with Prof. Susie Tharu, and the discovery of the workWomen Writing in India, edited by Tharu and K. Lalitha. The richnessof Indian women's literature was a revelation and I was ashamed of myignorance of these writers. These related incidents initiated me not onlyto survey Indian women's literature, but also to include an Indian writerin the doctoral thesis. The final decision I reached was to explore the

in portraying characters' relationships with others. I diligently pursuedthe project for two years amidst various setbacks--family pressures, lackof material, the dubious attitude of people who thought that a body ofCanadian and Indian literatures hardly existed, the dilemma of locatingthe writings from a specified point of view, and the fear that I may notbe able to achieve my goal. Finally, the encouragement andinterest,displayed by many well-wishers who argued, discussed, andstressed the importance of pursuing such a cross- cultural researchproject convinced me of the validity of the project. The project'ssignificance and worthiness was further proved when I received theGraduate Research Award by the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute in1993. This grant has helped me considerably in continuing the work andcompleting it.

the short story collections--Munro's Dance ofthe Happy Shades (1 9681,Lives of Girls and Women (1 97 1 ), Something I've Been Meaning To TellYou (1 974), kt710 DO You Think You Are? (1 978), The Moons of Jupiter(1982), The Progress ofLove (1987), and Friend of My Youth (1990);and Deshpande's The Legacy (1978), The Miracle (1986), It was theNightingale (1 986), it was Dark (1 986), and The Infmsion and OtherS~ries (1993). The succeeding chapters are divided on the basis ofvarious relationships that exist between the women characters and othersin the short stories.Chapter 11--A Man and A Woman3 discusses women's desire andneed for relationship with men. It examines the short stories wherewomen characters are wives/lovers of men and the nature of women'ssexuality.Chapter 111--Providence4 views the relationship between mothersand daughters, in the various short stories by Munro and Deshpande.Chapter IV--Voices depicts all other human relationships in theshort stories such as friendship, hostility and family ties, and also3This is the title of one of the stories in Deshpande's collection,Gale.4This title is taken from Munro's story in the collection, WDY.

analyses experiences such as death, fear, and alienation.Chapter V--The Photographers5 is the concluding chapter whichconsolidates the various ideas and analysis put forward, in the earlierchapters.Brief Sketch of Munro and Deshpande, and Their WorksAlice Munro was born, and brought up, in Wingham, Ontario. Shestudied at the University of Western Ontario, and afterwards moved toVancouver and Victoria. In 1972, she returned to Southwestern Ontario,and now lives in Clinton. Her first collection of short stories, Dance ofZ%e Happy Shades, was published in 1968, and it got the Govemor-General's award. 1971 saw the release of the collection, Lives of Girlsand Women6 and in 1974, her third collection, Something I've Been5 This title is borrowed fiom a story in Munro's collection, LGW.6LGW and WDY are sequence stories, i. e. they are "a volume ofstories, collected and organized by their author, in which the readersuccessively realizes underlying pattern and rheme7' (1 989: 148). (Munrohas described LGW as a novel but I consider it as a short story sequence.Munro herself has admitted to writing the parts at different times andnot continuosly in a sequence as a novel is generally done. Moreovercritics have viewed it both as a collection of short stories and as a novel,thereby endowing an ambivalent identity on this book.) Robert M.Luscher in "The Short Story Sequence: An Open Book" makes somevery interesting observations on such sequence stories. He refutesCalisher's idea that the identity of the the short story is threatened, he

Meaning To Tell You was published. This was followed by Who Do YouThink You Are (1978), which was also chosen for the Governor-General's award. (This collection was published with a different title inthe United States-The Beggar Maid and it was the runner-up for theBooker prize.) Her fifth collection, The Moons of Jupiter was released in1982. Munro was recognised a third time when she won the Governor-General's award, for the collection The Progress of Love (1985). Herlatest collection, Friend of My Youth was published in 1990. Munropresents a honest, sensitive and sympathetic view of women in herstories and has been an experimenter and innovator in the genre of shortstory writing.Shashi Deshpande is the daughter of the renowned Kannadaplaywright, Shriranga. She was born in Dharwad, Kamataka, andgraduated from Bombay University. She has in recent years settleddown in Bangalore. She started writing in earnest only from 1970. Herinitial writings were short stories which were published in variousmagazines. They were collected and compiled by the Writers Workshoppoints out that instead in linked stories the stories gain contexts,characters, symbols and themes, thus providing a richer identity to theformat. He adds that they act as unique hybrids providing the pleasure ofthe "patterned closure of individual stories and the discovery of largerunifying strategies that transcend apparent gaps between stories"(1 989: 148- 1 50). Therefore there is more room for subjectiveinterpretation and active participation; the reader's task thus becomessimultaneously more difficult and more rewarding" (1 989: 158).

in Calcutta--The Legacy was published in 1978, and in 1986, the WritersWorkshop brought out three volumes viz; The Miracle, it was theNightingale, and It was Dark. Penguin Books in 1993, released TheIntrusion and Other Stories. Some of the stories in this collection hadalready been published in the earlier coiiections brought out by WritersWorkshop. Shashi Deshpande has also authored six novels--The DarkHolds No Terrors (1980), Come Up and Be Dead (1983), Roots andShadows (1983), That Long Silence (1 986), if1 Die Today (1987), andThe Binding Vine (1993)--and she gained recognition when That LongSilence was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award in 1987.Feminine IdentityThe theme of feminine identity takes a new meaning when weencourage ourselves to understand works of other countries bytransporting ourselves into new lands, and questioning the literary worksbased on the sociological background and settings of that particularregion. Such a process is not an easy one, and it may give rise to anumber of unresolved trends in postcolonial writing. There issatisfaction, nevertheless, in raking up this rich mass of literature, andattempting to understand it. I am not overtly concerned at the momentwith solutions to the problems that the women characters in the shortstories of Mun1-0 and Deshpande experience, but with the ability toatleast minimally understand and sympathise with the nature and

complexity of the problems that the women characters in these storiesface. To clarify this aspect further it is better to state that the purpose ofthis doctoral thesis has been to learn the "nature" of the subjugation orvictimisation based on the society' that these characters (in the texts ofMunro and Deshpande) are rooted in. It is not possible to make ageneralised comparison between the works of Munro and Deshpande,and therefore the thesis is located within two focal areas: i) theintersection of middle class women and identity; and ii) thedevelopment of self within the relationships that exist between womenand others in society. The growing awareness of women and their role insociety has allowed both these writers* to create women characters, who7 Stimpson validates the argument illustrating that cultural historyhas revealed the genderised ways in which people portray themselves aswriters is mainly as a product of society. Many women writers try todeny their social conditioning, and some of them have consciouslyrebelled against this conditioning in their writings. The significantoutcome of this denial has been that women writers have createdcharacters who are different and who attempt to overthrow the codedstructure in a bid to establish themselves (1988:95).A point that Stimpson makes is of interest here:... feminist critics have recognised that every woman, aslanguage user, has multiple relationships with chosenaudiences. Each will embody its own sense of language, of herplace in the world, and of the possibilities of change in thatplace. At times, women may speak or write only forthemselves. Their motives may be weariness, fear, orinsecurity. More cheerfully, they may be claiming a private

explore the possibilities and the potential of being women, and theirabilities to reshape themselves.Feminine identity or the consciousness of woman is rooted in herrelationship with others. Carol Shields states that while Canadian menhave written about "man and landscape, man and history, man andmoral issues", women have written about "relationships between peopleand particularly between men and women" (1993535). What CarolShields mentions about Canadian women writing is to a great extent trueof all postcolonial women's writing. In their writing, Alice Munro andShashi Deshpande adopt a subversive9 style reflecting the strategieswomen writers employ to deal with oppression; they visualise characterswho make compromises, or who try to gain respect and a sense of selfactualisationby reversing the general image of women in that societyand at times, the writers also depict characters who intentionally resortspace in which to experiment with style, to test perceptions, toplay with fantasies. Whatever the cause, the effect is toreinforce an impression of the apparent solitude of language(1988:119).9Breen's definition of patriarchy and subversiveness may help inunderstanding these terms. She states that when men are dominant in allpositions of power, then it can be referred to as patriarchy;subversiveness is depicting the "status quo" without supporting it.Therefore, in subversive writing the writers consciously orunconsciously undermine the established concept that men beingsuperior should dominate women (1 990:x).

to being weak and powerless, in order to exist in a peaceful andharmonious relationship with others.My emphasis on identity is thus motivated by the feeling, thatwomen are suppressed, and are subjected to pressures of societal taboosand prejudices. I also recognise that women's experiences can belocated at four stages of their growth:* maturing from a girl into a woman.* development of a sexual/intimate relationship with men.* entering into matrimony.* conception and giving birth.During these developments women feel separated, and theydevelop a self-awareness of what they lose. This revaluation of selfleads to a consciousness which in some cases motivates action. Theattempt to act which may be negative in terms of society is what I termas re-shaping. In the process of the doctoral thesis I will argue that thecharacters in these short stories of Munro and Deshpande move towardsself-awareness and a re-identification of their selves.I, thus, perceive identity to be an awareness of the gendered rolesand strongly feel that the notion of identity is something nurtured bysociety. Society creates certain images and women mould themselvesinto these roles by the process of socialisation and domestication. They

are told that they are inferior to men, they are weak, passive and it isfeminine to be gentle, obedient and sacrificing. It is, therefore, essentialto identify, and to know the true nature of oneself. In this context, anawareness of femaleness and an identification with other women canlead to an understanding of the gendered power relations existing withinthe institution, termed society.The Short Story Genre and Women WritersThe short story has been in existence for a long time, and at variouspoints of time in history it has been judged to be close to forms like theromance, and the oral narrative. In spite of being an ancient art, the shortstory is not considered a work of art such as the novel and the poem; ithas in fact been neglected. Moreover, there has been no consistentpattern established as far as short story writing is concerned. This maybe due to two factors, namely, the fact that short stories have existed inall societies fi-om a long time, and that short stories, in later times, havebeen published in non-literary magazines which have been considered ascheap commercial journals. Another factor, according to Valerie Shaw,is that short stories are not linked to the writer's works and she quotesElizabeth Bowen's words to clarify this point: "when a man engageshimself in this special field his stories stand to be judged first of all ontheir merits stories, only later in relation to the rest of his work"

The final problem that one faces is in the definition of the shortstory. Norman Friedmanlo thinks that all narrative fiction in prose whichis short can be taken into this category. He proceeds to use two methods,namely, inductive and deductive methods to classify this category. Headds that if an a priori definition is needed to understand the genre, thenit can be termed as deductive. On the other hand, if one takes it forgranted that one has a rough idea of the structure and the only thing - ~'necessary is a way of conceptualising it, then it can be termed asinductive methodology. He further states that "The first approach fits theevidence to the definition, whereas the second fits the definition to theevidence". He does mention that both of these approaches have theirdrawbacks--the deductive method already assumes there is a pointwhich cannot be wrong and the inductive method implies assumptionsand defines characteristics that one may be looking for. Therefore it isgood to realise that there cannot be only one definition, as "a definitionis always relative to the context and purpose of the inquiry, which inturn will determine which traits we select for the initial two steps of thedefinition" (1989: 15-17). He concludes his study of the various shortstory theories with the statement that while the short story as narrativeprose is short, it can have a number of possibilities with regard to the"size of the action, the manner of representation, and the nature of thelo For a thorough understanding of his ideas see "Recent ShortStory Theories" in Lohafer's Short Story at the Crossroads (1989: 13-3 1). What is stated here is only a brief summary.

end effect" (1989:30). Thus, the important point is to keep the definitionconstant but to vary and combine the other traits to get different types ofshort stories (eg, the biblical short story, the modem short story, etc)which differ extragenerically but which could help in showing how theform differs from other stories. The definition has to be suited to thefacts and not the facts to the definition. (1989:30-31). Mary Rohrbergertries to define the short story but she too finds that the form cannot beeasily pinned down and she thinks that the whole issue moves around ina circle without coming to a central point. She therefore emphasises twoideas: i) Robert Scholes theory that "'generic study.. .[is] the centralelement in a poetics of fiction"'; ii) "Another is that as long as wearticulate and exchange information, we live, continuing to defineourselves and our creations in the only ways we can. We have nooptions. We simply go on from where we are, somewhere betweenshadow and act" (1989:45).A theory close to Friedman's inductive and deductive approach isput forward by Austin M. Wright in "On Defining the Short Story: TheGenre Question". He feels that defining the short story has twoproblems, namely, historical and theoretical. He explains these terms byreferring to Tzvetan Todorov's distinctions. According to Todorov'stheory (which Wright surnmarises) the theoretical genre is "establishedby a congruence of characteristics derived from a system" while ahistorical genre is disclosed by the "observation of an existing body of

works or characteristics which are seen to have recurred together". Thusto state that 'short story' is a story that is short is a theoretical categorywhile different versions of stories, such as the modem short storyhhelyrical short story are historical categories (1989: 46-47). He, too,finally concludes that defining the short story is difficult and that onlytrying to know the meaning of 'genre' may help in clarifying thedifferences (1989: 53).It may, therefore, be more relevant to find out in this context thefunction of the short story instead of trying to define the forrn. Thisaspect becomes significant when I discuss women writing the shortstory. Women writers, are able to dream, fantasise, and weave animaginary world by using the form in innovative ways. Other forms likethe novel too may be able to achieve all this and more" but the shortl1 It is not essential for me to defend the short story or acclaim it interms of its pros and cons, or to redeem it from a position of neglectionand place it in contrast to the novel. What I am more interested in isfinding out what the short story is able to do, and how this helps womenwriters.I would like to draw the reader's attention to William O'Rouke'sessay, "Morphological Metaphors for the Short Story: Matters ofProduction, Reproduction, and Consumption" where he makes threecentral analogies that point out the difference from the novel: i)Theshort story has an exoskeleton that one has to adhere to and this restrainsits size. Therefore the story is always in view while the novel does notpresent such a view. ii) The other analogy is that the "the concept oflength...must be replaced by the concept of space and time intertwined".

story seems to be ideal for women writers in terms of time and space;For women, being burdened with a number of chores have little timeand space to spend on writing.12When he refers to time, he means not the length of time but more thedistance that the text creates between the observer and itself. Thus thespace of the novel is more and therefore it takes longer for one tocomprehend it. iii) The third analogy is taken from economics and hestates that the novel is macro form while the short story is micro form.Thus the "short story is a micro-form, space-time, exoskeletalphenomenon ..." (1989: 193-198).This argument is supported by many writers: Di Brandt in aninterview states that when her children were born, it was a problem forher to find time and space to write (1993:44). Atwood, too, shares thisanxiety and wonders if one could be a woman writer and at the sametime be happily married with children. Her answer to this is aninteresting revelation. She points out that many earlier women writers--Emily Dickinson, George Eliot, the Brontes, Jane Austen, ChristinaRossetti--were unmarried or chidless or had died early. She feels that thehusbands' demands could thwart the progress of the art (Scheier,1990: 17). One notices that Deshpande's earlier works were short storiesand also that she began writing late in life. The biographical note to TheIntrusion and Other Stories mentions that the early years of hermarriage were largely devoted to the care of her two young sons. GailScott in her essay, "Shaping A Vehicle For Her Use" queries:How does a woman choose a form to write in? Is there aconnection between the form she chooses and thecircumstances of her life? ... So, in answer to the question, isthe story really to be privileged over longer fiction, thematerialist in me is tempted to reply: a woman'ssocioeconomic situation may be a determining factor. Maybeshe has a job; maybe she has children. In terms of time, a

I would like to divert a little here, as there is an interestingobservation made by Suzanne C. Ferguson in "Defining The ShortStory: Impressionism and Form". She feels that the short story is not adifferent genre from the novel. The short story like the novel has beenaffected by impressionism and being a manifestation of impression itcannot be studied as a separate genre. It exhibits, like the novel, thefollowing characteristics:* Highlighting the point of view.* Emphasising sensation and inner experience.* Changing or abandoning traditional plot elements.* Description of events using techniques like metaphor andmetonymy.* Disrupting the chronological time order.* Economisation of formal and stylistic patterns.* Foregrounding of style(These are qualities that one notices largely in many women'swoman's life is never simple; she must put aside her writingto do a million other things. To make matters worse, hersocialization has trained her to keep her mind so cluttered withdetails that concentration on a longer work is often, at leastinitially, difficult ....( 1983 : 69-70).The meagre yet reflective data tell us that women writers do nothave much time and space to write, and the short story form isparticularly suitable for the brevity of the forrn is easier to handle interms of time and space.

writings). The only difference is that due to the brevity of the shortstorylj, these impressionistic characteristics seem to be intensified.Therefore, she argues that the modem short story is not a separate genre,but just a different form of impressionism (1982: 14- 15).Moving back to the link between short stories and oral narratives,one notices that the oral narrative projects a sense of togetherness and anatmosphere of a community gathering. This aspect has helped inrecreating an environment of closeness in short story writing by women.(An illustration of this is the understanding among women that onenotices in Munro's and Deshpande's short stories). On the other hand,Joyce Carol Oates has linked the short story to a dream. She feels that itis like a verbalised dream that is arranged in space, and thinks that as thedream represents desire, the short story must, therefore, be arepresentation of desire (May, 1976: 79). One cannot help recollectingFreud's theory on dreams where he states that dreams are manifestationsof repressed desires (1900). Continuing Oates comparison and linking itto Freud's theory, one notices that women's short stories can thusl3Friedrnan, however, finds fault with her ideas and thinks that"Her way of handling this problem is to argue that since modernism is inpart a matter of leaving things out, and since the short story has fewerparts to begin with, modernism affects the story more sharply than itdoes the novel" (1989:21). My reason for mentioning Ferguson is topoint out the traits which, I strongly feel are apparent in women'swriting.

ecome portraits depicting women's repressed desires or wishes.Other theorists of the short story like V. S. Pritchett argue that it isa hybrid because:It owes much to the quickness, the objectivity and the cuttingof the cinema; it owes much to the poet on one hand and thenewspaper reporter on the other; something also to thedramatic compression of the theatre, and everything to therestlessness, the alert nerve, the scientific eye and the shortbreath of contemporary life. It is the art of the shortexpectation of life (May, 1976: 116).Similarly, Valerie Shaw presents the speciality of the form tointegrate other art forms like painting, lyric poetry, or photography. Shefeels that it is "a highly self-conscious form" that is "instinctual" andthat brings "the character to full consciousness for the first time in hislife" (1983:2). It is easy to see the affinity that women have with thisform--women are subjected to intemalising their experiences and hencethey are highly self-conscious. Moreover, women are generallyconsidered to be 'instinctive' and 'sensual' in comparison to men, and3because of these traits they are able to relate easily to the form of theshort story which is intense and compressed. Also, being sensual andsensitive, they absorb more of what happens around them and they are

able to portray the predicaments1 oppressions/ injustices/ joys of womenwith intensity and with a comprehensiveness that allows them to use theform to turn inwards, and depict the feelings and the emotions of theinner body and mind. "The woman writer", Whitlock thinks, "finds itappealing as a means of questioning and reinventing womanhood; a wayof asserting a different voice and a different view" (1989: xxii). Womenlive at various levels--modem women are not only housewives, but arealso educated and hold careers. They exist in two spaces and theirconstant effort to do well at both levels causes tension and friction,giving rise to different personalities. It is not possible to reconcile all thedifferent personalities, and it becomes a significant search for women toknow who they are. This type of tension has given rise to what can becalled the new short story which has been well defined by SusanLohafer:What makes the "new" short story different is its flattery ofthe self as the axis of a world. It may be a small world, a fakeworld, a tragic or a crazy one; it may be familiar, bizarre,tangible, abstract, reported, or dreamed. It may be but theweirdest fragment, yet it will cast a rounded shadow on ourminds. It will revolve on a self. Whose? A single character'soften; the author's always; the reader's -- but that isspeculation for another time. To the list of essentials we willadd the one that makes the historical difference: "I" - matters -

to- you(1983:12).Riemenschneider, discussing the short story and Indian women,thinks that women writers in India confine themselves to portraying awoman's step to liberate herself from the shackles of traditional roles.Writers like Deshpande provide a new concept of women--women whoare at times able to say 'No' and who move into new spheres that theywould not be able to occupy in reality. just the point that writers in Indiaare able to create such situations, he feels, is because of the ability of theshort story to combine "the epic art of extension with the 'poetic art ofellipsis"' (1986: 177).Davey in the article, "Genre Subversion in the English-CanadianShort Story" feels that contemporary Canadian short stories writers havemixed genres and "the concept of mixed, blended, blurred, orinterplaying genre signals receives considerable validation" He linksthis concept to Munro's works which, he states, contain non-modernistfeatures, and thus feels her writings to be close to realism (1988: 147).This could be the reason for the difference in Deshpande's andMunro's short stories. (I do not wish to come to a closure about thegenre's abilities on the basis of just two writers but would like to leavethe subject open so that there can be a firther probing and analysis inthese areas).

Postcolonial Literary BackgroundThe past decade has witnessed a change in the literature producedin the English language. Literary output from countries other thanBritain and U. S. have made a big impression world wide. This isillustrated by the acclaim received by writers like Michael Ondaatje,Vikram Seth, Ben Okri, Derek Walcott, Githa Hariharan and others.Accordingly the markets have opened wider to receive such literature,and critical readings of these writings have also increased. Yet, one hasto admit that much of the critical writing has been misconstrued, asthese writers are judged by the critical standards of the imperialistcountries. This stance has to change because such writing needs fieshapproaches, and judging by critical standards prevailing in the Westonly distances the works. In recent years this perception that Westernliterary theory is insufficient to judge the national literatures of nonwesterncountries has motivated a number of debates, and an illustrationis Frank Davey's words in his essay "Reading Canadian reading" whichapplies to postcolonial writing:One consequence of Canadian misreading of other nationalcriticisms has been the privileging of particular bodies ofwriting and of literary theories partially generated by thiswriting. Less obvious has been the disguising of such

privileged texts as 'international' literature; the creation of theillusion that British, French, American and Russian literaturesconstitute both the international canon and the source of 'real'literary theory. A third consequence has been the illusion thatnational concerns are unconnected to literary theory and thatthe latter's principles are somehow relevant to all writing(1988:9).14Australian, African, Canadian, and Indian works have been rootedin their respective cultures and traditions, and to evaluate such workswithout understanding the origins and the growth of the people isinappropriate. Therefore "our minds as well as our economies must bedecolonised if we are to understand the decolonising fictions created bypostcolonial writers whose works question the values once taken forgranted by a powerhl Anglocentric discourse" (Brydon & Tiffin,1993:ll).Postcolonial discourse has arisen from the context of imperialismand colonial tensions that the people have undergone. This is acommonality that these literatures share. Ashcrofi et al, tracing thedevelopment of post-colonial writing note two trends in postcolonialdiscourse: i) colonial power is represented by writers who stress notonly the civilised society but also the beauty of the colonialists'I4 For further discussion see Davey.

countries. (This can be witnessed in the writings of writers like RudyardKipling, E. M. Forster.) ii) The natives adopt the colonialists' attitudesand thus, become outcasts within their own land (1989:4-5). Thesewriters write of experiences alien to them, and their texts were written togain approval from the imperialists. (Madhusudan Dutt, Toru Dutt,Sarojini Naidu.) This stance of writing to please or gain approval haschanged in recent years and writers adapted the colonial tongue to strikeback at the rulers. Postcolonial writing uses innovative techniques andcreates a new language separate from the standard language of theimperialists. This is illustrated by Rushdie's Midnight's Children orRaja Rao's Kanthapura. Postcolonial writers have ably used the Englishlanguage to create today not only an English language, but a number ofEnglish languages. The writers are doubly endowed by being able tostraddle two worlds--their homelands and the colonisers land--by theuse of this language. They use the coloniser's tongue to write"'decolonising fictions', texts that write back against imperial fictionsand texts that incorporate alternative ways of seeing and living in theworld" (Brydon & Tiffin, 1993: 11). Pico Iyer in a discussion ofpostcolonial writing15 remarks that the idea of centre and periphery haspostco colonialism does not mean anything political and it is moreconcerned with the discourse that has arisen from a colonial context. Itis a term used to "cover all the culture affected by the imperial processfrom the moment of colonization to the present day7' (Ashcroft et al,1989: 2).

een turned upside down and what was the "eccentric" world is todaythe world's centrel6. Postcolonial writing, thus tries to revisualise realityand rejects the established order in the process of decolonising(1989: 4-5).Maxwell discussing the impact of language in colonised countriesnotes two parallel developments; In the first instance, the colonialistsimplanted their language in the conquered land and made it the newlanguage of the country. (Such a growth is observed in Canada.) In thesecond instance the colonialist's language was not implanted but itbecame a major language along with the existing vernaculars in thecountry. (An illustration of such a development is India) (1965: 82-3).Thus, one notices that India and Canada fall into two categories of thecolonial rule. Besides these influences, the literature produced has alsobeen promoted by the historical and ideological circumstances of whichthe people have been a part. India has produced bilingual writers likeArun Kolatkar, Dilip Chitre, Chudamani Raghavan, and Kamala Dasand also writers who write only in English--Nissim Ezekiel, Raja Rao,R. K. Narayan, Anita Desai, and Shashi Deshpande. Similarly, inCanada one witnesses French-Canadian writers such as Gabrielle Roy,and Marie Claire Blais, as well as English-Canadian writers such as16Iyer's article in Time magazine made an analysis of the rise ofliterary writing in postcolonial countries and the change in powerrelationships between the ruler and the ruled (1 993: 8).

Atwood, Margaret Laurence, Robert Kroetch, Ethel Wilson, and AliceMunro. At the same time the concept of multiculturalism has developedwriters of other origins too. A few that can be mentioned in this contextare Michael Ondaatje, Joy Kogawa, Daphne Marlatt, and Claire Harris.What is the main focus of these writers? Vassanji, talking aboutImmigrant writing, mentions that the writers must write aboutexperiences true to their age and lifestyle. Such writing invariablyproduces themes like alienation, social and political turmoils, racism,economic struggles, subjection and exile (1985:3). Ruminating on thisstatement one notices that most postcolonial writing too discusses suchthemes. The postcolonial writers, moreover depict their rootlessness andglorify their marginality while trying to locate themselves through theirwriting.Postcolonialism and FeminismThe idea of survival and identity has encouraged the growth of anumber of women writers in Canada. These writers have attempted todiscuss in their works the status and role of women within society.English, however, has been an alien language for women writers in theIndian sub-continent, and therefore the number of women writing in theEnglish language are very few. Nevertheless, the past one decade hasseen an increase in literature produced in English by women writers. At

present one finds that there is not only a body of creative writing, butalso a body of criticism spearheaded by critics and academics such asSusie Tharu, Kumkum Sangari, Ketu H. Katrak, Meenakshi Mukherjee,Arun Prabha Mukherj ee, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, K. Lalitha,Tej aswini Niranj ana, Kalpana Ram, Raj eswari Sunder Rajan, andGayatri Chakravarthi Spivak. Some of these women are rooted in Indiawhile others are in Western countries from where they are able tointroduce their ideas into the large body of western criticism. Thesecritics have not only created an awareness of Indian women, but also ina generalised way of 'Third' world women too.At this juncture it is important to concern ourselves with theconcept of feminism and its impact on the literature of the postcolonialcountries. Feminism is generally perceived as a political agenda thatdeveloped in the United States after 1960s. Many developing countriesare disturbed by this concept and do not want to commit themselves to apolitical ideology17 which they feel demands equal rights for women,17A point that is of interest in the present context is Sartre's view onBeauvoir's feminism. Discussing this aspect Tori1 Moi states:... Sartre rightly assumes that simply to discuss women's socialsituation, their sexuality or their identity is not in itself afeminist entreprise. To be a feminist is to take up a politicalposition: it requires the capacity to posit certain goals and todefine one's enemies, and the will and ability to attack them.Feminism, one might say, requires us not simply to describethe status quo, but to define it as unjust and oppressive as

and which is moreover far removed from their circumstances. Incountries, like India, there has been the additional claim by somewomen that they don't need feminism, for Indian women gainedpolitical and legal rights with independence. Another factor promotingthis theory is that the Indian constitution has not made anydifferentiation in gender.What is to be considered at this point is what feminism is and howone can define it. It cannot forever be connected to the establishment ofequality between sexes. It has steadily gained a number of connotations,and also has invited a large number of critical theories variously labelledas Marxist feminism, psychoanalytical feminism, socialist feminism,radical feminism, French feminism, etc. What is relevant at this junctureas far as feminist concepts are concerned is to feel, to know, and tounderstand the predicament and dilemma of women within the contextof the society and culture to which they belong. This can be defined asfeminism18 because such an ideology creates a conscious awareness ofwell. It also requires a vision of an alternative: a utopianperspective which inspires and informs the struggle againstcurrent oppression (1 994: 185).l8This feeling is authenticated by the words of Smaro Kamboureli inSounding Dzfferences:Let me say first that feminism doesn't have to do only withwomen. Quite the contrary: it has to do with all aspects ofculture. In other words, it is a political movement that seeks,

women's problems. Mohanty points out that feminist struggles canoccur simultaneously at two interconnected leilels: "an ideological,discursive level which addresses questions of representation(womanhoodifemininitS.), and a material, experiential, daily-life levelwhich focuses on the micropolitics of work. home, family, sexuality,etc" (1991:2 E ).Passing from feminist theories to postcolonial theory, one noticesthat there are many points of intersection between the two concepts.Both postcolonialists and feminists are faced with the question ofidentity, problem of language, the theme of displacement, and the senseof loss. The problem of language is intensified in feminist writingbecause women in society are always the other, the "second sex" andthey, like the postcolonialists, are forced to use the language of theirmasters. Women writers experience a void, a vacuum as they have touse a language that has been created by patriarchy. One may argue thatpostcolonial countries do not have a language, but as Ashcroft points outthere is a preexisting language in all societies, and it is women whoamong other things, to undo the political rhetoric of ourtradition, which is a rhetoric of polarities, as Lola said. Sofeminist writing as an activity is - has to be - iconoclastic ....that we should move away from our obsession with identity toa concern with difference, from wholeness to incompleteness,from representation to presentation. This kind of movement is,for me, a political gesture that deflects the status quo, be itliterary or social (1 993 : 13 7- 138).

have no language at all (1 989:25 ). Therefore \yomen gvriters ha1.e tocreate a new language'o from the existing one. The construction andperception of such a language, says it'hitlocl;. can be called "femalenaturalism" (a term she bonou~s from Kay Ferres) kvhich means womenwriting about sensual experiences such as touch, taste. hearing, andsmell, or referring to details like food. and clothing, or attempting tochronicle their lives in terms of events like birth, death, and marriage(1989: xxxi).Viewing the theme of displacement, one finds that postcolonialfeminist writing deals with power relations, that constraints women. Incertain instances women's position changes and they may assume apowerful role. Such power transferences are witnessed in Indianhouseholds where women are socialised and domesticated, within thefamily, by the dominating attitude of the mother-in-law, who becomesthe defender af a tradition which had earlier circumscribed her. Theconnections between the two concepts can also be noticed in terms ofnot just language and hegemony, but also in the political set up of thesociety, the experience of being silenced, and the attempt to gain avoice.I9For a more enlightening discussion see Kate McKlunkie'sargument in the article, "Women's Language and Literature: A Problemin Women's Studies" (1983: 5 1-6 1).

Feminism and postcolonialism try to understand the marginaiisedand they try to shift the roles of the oppressor and the oppressed.Postcolonialist feminist writing has now hegun 1~jtl-1 "questioning offorms and modes, to unmasking the assumptions upon tj*hich suchcanonical constructions are founded, moving first to make their crypticbases visible and then to destabilise them" (i\shcroft et al. 1989: 175-176). Feminism's agenda is not only to oppose sexism but also to makewomen think of their roles or their images. Postcolonial feministwriting, thus discusses the position of the victim, and here I restate verybriefly what Atwood has discussed at great length in her critical workSurvival: there is the position where you deny the fact that you are thevictim or acknowledge that you are a victim but explain your position asthe will of God, fate or the dictates of biology. There is also the positionwhere you acknowledge the fact that you are a victim but refuse toaccept that the role is inevitable (1972: 36-37).The Concept of Universal SisterhoodMost writing dealing with women assumes a universality, awomen's group bonded together in their systems of oppression andsuppression. Class, race and society are de-emphasised in such writings,and the major assumption is that men are the perpetrators of violenceand domination, whereas women are the victims and subjects of theseatrocities. This is not to state that all writing pursues this role model, but

this image has clearly been the one mast projected when dealing withman-woman relationships in societies. .A growing body of womenprotesting against the fact of women all m7er the world being a"coherent group with identical interests and desires" has in recent yearsbeen challenged by many women. These women argue that "sisterhoodcannot be assumed on the basis of gender; it must be forged in concrete,historical and political practice and analysis" (Mohanty, 1984: 337 &339).I too, disagree with this system of universality because I feel thatfeminism can locate "the differences within the relationships andpractices it explores, treating them not as unified and homogenous, butas contradictory to the degree that they participate in the uncertainties,incoherences and instabilities of the cultures where they are found"(Meaney, 1993: viii). I also wish to emphasise that the reaction ofwomen to male domination varies depending on the class and status thatwomen occupy in society. Thus, an Indian woman from the lower classis not restricted by social customs and taboos, and knows the dominanceof man and can act accordingly, while an educated middle class womanmay know what is happening to her, but is restricted from actingbecause of social conventions. There may be other women who aretotally ignorant of what is happening to them, and may accept the powerrelationship matter of factly. Also the position of women in India isdifferent from that of western women--the former are economically

dependent on men. and are very much circumscribed by cultural -values.Given this picture of women in India one cannot expect to equate theproblems of western and Indian women. Canadian women areeconomically independent, and more educated, than their Indiancounterparts. Nevertheless, they too, are dominated by the values of themale, at work and at home, and feel the categorisation of class.The assumption of a universal sisterhood also typecasts womenbased on their nationalities. Thus women from developing countries arethought to be submissive, passive, willing, ignorant, and domesticated.In a similar vein, women of developed countries are judged to be smart,loose, unsteady, outgoing, dominant, educated, individualistic, andsexual20. Creation of such stereotypes can be dangerous for onepresumes characteristics without considering the values, the traditions,and the backgrounds of women in different countries. Therefore,feminist studies should not construct a homogenous patriarchy, butevaluate and study the differences based on gender and otherrelationships.2oAfter writing this I happened to discover that Chandra TalpadeMohanty in "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and ColonialDiscourses" takes a similar viewpoint. However, she implies that theconcept/idea of the western women as educated, dominant,etc, is a(implicit) self-representation by the western women themselves (1984:337).

One should at this point remember that "the iiterar! traditions ofpost-colonial nations share ... thematic interests. metaphysical concerns.changes in language pattern. experiments in form" because of their"collective historical experience ..." (Tiffin, 1983 :12). These similaritieshave been stressed in comparative studies done by various writers. Whatis ernphasised here within the limits of this particular research project isto view women's writing not as a monolith but to see how "theseliteratures bear the imprint of the material forces of politics, economics,and culture which acts upon them within the imperial construct and ofhow this is bound up with the replacing of the improved language in thenew geographical and cultural context" (Ashcroft et al 1989:27). Withinthe presence of the coloniser and the colonised, feminist studies becomesignificant as they engage in assessing the women's role within society,and bring into sharp focus the link of power and domination, that existsbetween coloniser and the colonised. Thus, in many ways womenwriters of postcolonial countries become important not only in studyingthis image of a victim, but also in the study of the predator who is alsocircumscribed by the society. Is the woman able to raise herself from theposition of the victim and is she able to rebel and assert herself is whatconcerns the study of identity. Therefore, I cannot hope to universalisethe women's experience, but locate the difference and understandwomen from this difference. Finally it must be noted that byuniversalising women's experiences21. one would only be, once again2iArun Prabha Mukhejee arguing in the context of academic

assuming a position of power and domination, thrreblh becoming thecoloniser as Mohanty points out:Western feminists appropriate and "colonise" the fundamentalcomplexities and conflicts which characterise the lives ofwomen of different classes, religions, cultures. races andcastes in these countries. It is in the process of homozenisationand systemisation of the oppression of women in the thirdworld that power is exercised in much of recent Westernfeminist discourse and this power needs to be defined anduniversalisation, feels that Western literary criticism focuses solely on"form and character7' ignoring other factors. She supports her argumentby pointing out that most works are judged on "available classification"(such as the questipastoralibildungsrornance), ignoring the factor thatthe work maybe rooted in more "formal complexities" of a society's"experience of colonialism, legends of heroes and villains, deeply heldbelief systems, rhetorical pronouncements of local elite such aspoliticians, businessmen and movie stars" (1 988: 13). MeenakshiMukherjee too agrees with this point of view but she thinks that the caseof literary theory, especially in a country like India, is complicated byvarious other factors such as colonialisation for a long period, deeprooted traditional and cultural heritage, plurality of linguistic tonguesand cultures, and limited access to literary pursuits due to low literacyrate, and therefore the printed text becomes the preserve of theprivileged (1989:45). This is not the means to understand and readliterary texts, especially of postcolonial countries where not onlyproblems of caste, and class intervene but also political and economicbureacracy exists. Within this space exists the body of women's writingwhich forms the focus of the thesis.

named (1 99 1 :351).Katrak's statement too validates these differences: "women writers'stances, particularly with regard to glorifjvingidenigratin traditions,vary as dictated by their own class backgrounds, levels of education,political awareness and commitment" and they search for alternatives tothe acts of oppression within the most "revered traditions" (1989: 173).She adds that most of the texts question patriarchal notions that existedbefore colonisation, and that also exist afterwards. She feels that womenwriters locate their predicament within the economic system that basbecome capitalistic because of colonization (1989: 173). Thereforewomen writers tend to decolonize themselves by using new narrativemethods as witnessed in the set of linked short stories of Alice Munro:Lives of Girls and Women andDo You Think You Are, or byconverting myths and legends as illustrated by Shashi Deshpande'sstory, "The Inner Rooms" (Dark), or by displacing the roles of the wife/motheddaughter.In conclusion I would like to clarify that I am herebydeconstructing the subject of women within the context of short storyfiction and not trying to prove theoretically that women's awareness ofidentities in the Canadian and Indian context is the same. Within thepurview of this chapter I have tried to delineate the various influencesthat underlie women's writing and in future chapters will attempt to

discuss women and their relationship with others. The aim of the projecthas been "to make an important contribution to our understanding ofourselves and others, and of the complex processes by which differentcultures make meanings" (Brydon & Tiffin, 199321).

CHAPTER IIN AND A WOMANNow, what specifically defines the situation ofwoman is that she - a kee and autonomous beinglike all human creatures - nevertheless discovers andchooses herself in a world where men compel her toassume the status of the Other. They propose to turnher into an object and to doom her to immanencesince her transcendence is for ever to be transcendedby another consciousness which is essential andsovereign. The drama of woman lies in this conflictbetween the fundamental aspirations of everysubject - which always posits itself as essential - andthe demands of a situation which constitutes her asinessential.--Beauvoir (1 98429)Beauvoir's statement points out the existing inequality betweenmen and women. This viewpoint is shared by many others and it hasforrned the basis for a large body of feminist studies. Munro andDeshpande, too, in their writing portray the unequal relationshipexisting between men and women. The present chapter proceeds toexamine women's relationship with men as wives or lovers. The studyof the stories questions and probes the concept of marriage, the conceptof sexuality and the awareness that is nurtured in women through thesebondings.

Before attempting to read the stories, it is significant to understadwhat the concept of marriage implies in the two societies. Generallyspeaking "marriage" is understood as an ever-lasting relationshipbetween two people. It also connotes men and women sharing love,affection, companionship, understanding, security, sex, etc.Nevertheless as many feminist theorists have pointed out maniage is abond that thrusts women into the role of sen.ants/slaves and creates anegative image within them.This relationship in the Indian context has gained considerablesanctity. Thus, manied women are given importance and treatedrespectfully. The qualities of piousness, chastity and generosity arethrust on them and married women are expected to emulate mythicalarchetypes such as Sita and Savitri. A girl-child in India is brought upwith the view that she is to be ultimately married.In Canada, on the other hand, marriage does not gain suchimportance. Women are empowered with a greater amount of freedomas compared to the Indian women. The Canadian women are allowed tochoose their partners and in many cases, women even choose to livesingly and separate from their partners due to incompatibility. Yet, evenin such a society where women have greater freedom to choose theirlife-styles, one finds that within the relationship itself there isconsiderable amount of gender differences and women are dis-satisfied

with the struggle for power and economic stabilit!..Marriage as The Feminist Dictionafy explains can be seen:(1) as a woman's trade, (2) as a system of economic exchange,(3) as a system of legalised rape and/or prostitution, (4) as aunion to be entered into for countless practical, economic,spiritual, legal, political, emotional, or other reasons, notnecessarily between a man and a woman, with manypossibilities for form and structure, (5) as the materialappropriation by men, (6) as a social contract betweenindividuals who have some freedom to determine its terms, (7)as slavery and servitude, (8) as freedom and escape fiomfamily, community, or class, (9) as a power struggle betweentwo differently sexed individuals whose power is unequal andwhose conduct is judged differentially, (10) as a mutualnegotiation of rights, needs, joys, and responsibilities, (11) asa trap which promotes both security and disability, and (12) asno longer required of women for economic support or socialapproval (1985:252).Some of these concepts are portrayed in the stories of Munro andDeshpande. A point that is to be remembered at this junction is thatmarriage continues to be an essential goal that women strive for in most

societies. Women are still considered weak and powerless. and anunconscious ideology of protecting them esjsts in both societies. Thegrowth of literacy and awareness of social conditions should havebrought greater awareness among women. But, still many women desiremarriage. This is because women still consider it to be a means ofgaining social approval and recognition in society. The trend as noticedin some of the stories is gradually changing and women especially inIndian middle classes are becoming aware of what marriage means.The readings are grouped22 according to the identity struggle thattakes place among the women characters. Some of the women charactersin Munro's and Deshpande's stories are silent sufferers while others areaware of the trap they have entered into. In some other stories womenrecognise the power struggle and while some of them try to accept it,others attempt to overthrow it. Women dis-satisfied and unhappy withtheir life-styles also attempt to form relationships with other men.Women characters are also betrayed by men in few of the stories.Interestingly both the writers also attempt to narrate stories from a male22This division is not very rigid and I am aware that one story canhction in two or more categories. My aim has been to take the mostprominent idea that the story depicts. A second factor that has to beconsidered is that though I discuss rnarital/sexual relationships, the storymay at the same time reveal other relationships too.

point of view and such stories rel~eai the masculine concept of women.A final type of portrayal is that of the independent or free women byboth the writers. These women are able to outgroiv and distancethemselves from the bond of marriage. They depict the women who areable to shape their individual personalities and exist as New &'omen.Silent sufferersOnly two of Deshpande's stories can be grouped into this category.None of Munro7s characters portray such subservient, obedient attitudesand this could be due to the awareness that women already have inCanadian society.The image of such traditional women is reflected in the two stories,namely, "And What's A Son" (Gale), and "A Wall is Safer" (Dark)."And What's A Son" (Gale) discusses a wife who assumes an extremelysubservient and obsequious personality. On the other hand the wife in"A Wall is Safer" (Dark) is quite aware of her position, is educated andyet does not want to change.The husband in "And What's a Son" (Gale) is a "dignified andrespected" old man. He has an illicit relationship with a woman from thelower class. Consequently she conceives, and he keeps her at his place

claiming that she is the widow of his dead son, Harsh. The toiyn peopledo not n7ag their tongues because "it was as much his reputation forabsolute integrity as his wife's staunch acceptance of the youngerwoman that kept scandalous tongues at abeyance" (Gale: 21). One day,some months after the death of the old man, the child falls ill, and thedoctor diagnoses the problem as asthma. It is only then that the widowof the man remarks that the child's father was not her son, Harsh, buther own husband. She had known the truth when the woman had cometo their home, and had also been aware of her husband's weakness forwomen from the lower classes. Even though she knows his weakness,she is silent about the whole affair. Moreover she is pleased about herhusband's virility and thinks that "At his age ... it was a miracle, no less7'(Gale: 24)."A Wall is Safe?' (Dark), too, discusses marital relationships attwo levels--the middle class portrayed by Hema and her family, and thelower class illustrated by the maid-servant, Sitabai and her husband,Ramchandra. Sitabai feels that her name23 is the source of trouble. Herhusband lives with another woman, not caring about her. She works,even though she is pregnant because she needs the "money and thefood". For her it is a question of survival because her husband gives all23The Indian epic Ramayana portrays that Rama's wife, Sitaundergoes a number of hardships and has been projected as the symbolof an ideal woman in India.

his pay to his mistress.Hema, on the other hand, is a lawyer usho has donned the role of atypical housewife doing jobs such as cooking, cleaning, ironing, andtaking care of the children. She is not interested in taking up aprofession as she feels that this would cause disruption in the family.She is aware that she has become an insignificant being as her thoughtsreflect:Everything here is limitless immense. Your eyes go easily a11the way to the horizon. The immensity makes nothing of youand your concerns. Sometimes it soothes me, this idea of myown insignificance. Often, however, I am angered that itmakes so many years of my life take on the grey colour offutility (Dark: 67).In the first story, the housewife displays pride in her husband butshe does not think even once of the other woman. The reason for thismay be the hierarchial power structure existing in Indian society. Whena woman mistreats another woman, she enhances the total power of menas a group within patriarchy. In other words women are able to getpower only as agents of domination and oppression within the maledominated family structure. The woman who comes to gain the upperhand is usually one who has the backing and the approval of the

powerful men. The story plays not only on the comventional selfsacrificeof the wife but it also reveals the poiver of man and the needfor a male child. A third factor is the exploitation of people from thelower classes.The second story reveals that women like Sitabai when illtreatedare unable to offer effective resistence because of their dependence andvulnerability. No alternative sources of support are available to mostwomen outside their family in the Indian society. There is nowhere elsethey can go, if they suffer abuse and neglect. The other woman, Hema,suffers and gives up her career for maintaining the harmony of thefamily. She does have aspirations but is able to forfeit it. In the process,she thwarts her own selfhood and becomes a self-effacing personality.One wonders, (at this point) why women are silent and bear allproblems stoically. It is true that they are trained to undergo sufferingand a secondary role without resistance: Still the question is why dothey put up with it? The answer may be found in the words of Beauvoiras expressed in The Second Sex. She thinks that the young girl thoughaware of the injustice does not complain because, "she is too muchdivided against herself to join battle with the world; she limits herself toa flight from reality or a symbolic struggle against it" (1984: 375). SheEurthers states that:

Woman plays the part of those secret agents who are left tothe firing squad if they get caught. and are loaded r~ithrewards if they succeed; it is for her to shoulder all man'simmorality: all women, not only the prostitute, senre as sewerto the shining, wholesome edifice where respectable peoplehave their abode. qTbenen, thereupon, to these bvomen onespeaks of dignity, honour, loyalty, of all the lofty masculinevirtues, it is not astonishing if they decline to 'go along'(1984: 625-6).Women in a PredicamentGenerally many women are unable to get out of their relationshipdue to a number of reasons. At times they may be economicallydependent or emotionally dependent on their husbandsilovers. In otherinstances as illustrated by the Indian women the restraints imposed bysociety makes it very difficult for women to move out. Also the women,in most cases are aware of their positions and roles as can be seen inDeshpande's "Why a Robin" (Leg), "A Man and A Woman" (Gale),"The Valley in Shadow" (Dark), and "My Beloved Charioteer" (Dark)and hhxo's "How I Met My Husband" (SIB), and "Bardon Bus"(MO*

The husband and wife in "\brhy a Robin' (Leg) are distancedbecause of a dead child. The wife is unable to communicate with herhusband as he blames her for the child's death. She feels the rift and hissilence freezes her: "But his silences, more eloquent than any anger,freezes me. And I don't really need to ask the question-why me?Because I know" (Leg: 51). She is, therefore, filled with a sense of guiltand thinks that she is a failure, "as a wife as a companion, as a mother.Between my husband and myself there is a blankness--we never evenquarrel" (Leg: 52). Her life is made miserable by her low self-esteem,which is intensified by the difference in their status. The marriage hadnot been successful fiom the beginning due to the wife's feeling ofinferiority. She thinks of her presence as an intrusion when she says: "Idawdle over my work deliberately so that I am late going to bed. Twosingle beds. Two islands that nothing can bridge. Not the child. Noteven the bridge of passion. It is his special place, his retreat, the placewhere he can be most alone. I will not intrude" (Leg: 52).The main problem she realizes is that she has denied and sacrificedso much that she has lost herself. She fails to recognise her desire andwants. She realises that without wantsidesires of one's own, a personloses one's ego! "That without wants, there is no I". In contrast to thewomen characters in "And What's a Son" (Gale) and "A Wall is Safer"(Dark) the wife here is conscious of what is wrong and is also aware ofher own loss of identity.

"A and A Woman" (Gale) describes the agony and anguish ofLalita, a widow. Lalita recognises that with the death of her husband,life has become dead. She notices that small joys of life become bigissues in the eyes of society. Her desire for "a red and blue sari" meetswith such astonishment that she feels that as if "she had danced nakedon the street" (Gale: 37). Her delight and laughter at her child's attemptto stand up is greeted with the words, "...My God, Lalita, You! ... Youthink it looks nice to laugh like that?" (Gale: 30). And thus she had beenmade to sacrifice all joy of living as her husband was dead. Lalita'sagony is increased when her repressed physical desires are kindled bythe sexual advances of Ajit, her seventeen year old brother-in-law. Shefeels guilty about her sexuality and also feels imprisoned by the kind ofcircumscribed life that she has to lead which provides "no outlet for hervitality, her energy" (Gale: 37).In an attempt to share her agony and guilt, she discusses the issuewith Manu, her dead husband's friend who has been crippled by anaccident. Her sense of guilt is nurtured by her Indian upbringing whichhas invoked the feeling in her that physical desire is evil. Manu, on theother hand, explains to her that the act of sex is natural, and one neednot feel ashamed of it. Inspite of his explanations she is not convincedof what she has done and tells him:

Nothing can convince me that what I've done is not Krong. Ifit were not for Ramesh, [her son] f would kill myself. But youknow what they would say of me afien~rards and how thatwould hurt Ramesh, when he grew up. So I haye to live withthis weakness. A slave to my own body. I disgust myself. I'mdirty, abnormal (Gale: 37-38).Manu suggests that she could leave the place, but she knows thatshe is trapped--her parents are dead and she cannot live on her brother'ssympathy. Moreover her in-laws won't allow her to take away Ramesh,whom she loves. Manu understands that "she was like a restive colt inan enclosure struggling to get out. But there was no gate. She had tojump. And she had lost her legs. Welt, if there was no gate. She had tomake one" (Gale: 39). Finally, Manu suggests to her that they could getmarried, for both of them are maimed in life--one physically and theother mentally. He thinks that they could share their experiences andfight against society, as both of them had faced "living death", theycould now make life more meaningful. He thus wishes to help her anderase the guilt within her. He offers her a new beginning, but is Lalitaable to thrust aside her traditional upbringing and accept him is thepoint.Marriage for the sake of economic gain is the basis of "The Valleyin Shadow" (Dark). The protagonist here is a woman crippled by polio,

and neglected by her husband. She craves for love, and attention but hedoes not care for her. He neglects her and she rraiises that he hadmarried her for her money. He had also slept with her initially, onlybecause he wished to have a heir. She recollects that he had married herfor the money she earned. She realises after the birth of their son that hefinds her distasteful. He had only put up with her "because of his desirefor a son". After the son was born he had avoided her and she "had shutout forever all hopes of any human contact" (Dark: 40).This disregard by him for her sexual needs makes her weave sexualfantasies. These fantasies are also curbed when she becomes consciousof her crippled body, she feels guilty for indulging in such dreams. Thestory has a cliched ending because the wife in spite of being wrongedfeels sony for her husband.In Munro's "Bardon Bus" (MOJ) the narrator, a divorced woman,pictures the romantic notions that women possess about men. She tracesthe life of a woman like herself who could be pleased by just a man'sintimate touch or an intimate tone of voice, With memories of suchintimacies, she could exist and thrive in secret pleasure: "A life longsecret, life long dream-life. I could go round singing in the kitchen,polishing the stove, wiping the lamp chimneys, dipping water for the teafrom the drinking pail7' (MOJ: 111). This fantasy of hers is partiallyrealized when she meets an anthropologist whom she refers to as X. She

stays with him and enjoys a feeling of "leisureb domesticitj- with afeeling of perfect security" (IMCIJ: 113). kloreover, they recogise thehappiness that they share for the short period and as she states:We were not afkaid to use the ward lave. We lived withoutresponsibility, without a future, in freedom, with generosity inconsent but not wearying celebration. We had no doubt thatour happiness would last out the little time required (MQLEven after both of them separate and go back to their respectivelifestyles, the narrator keeps dreaming and thinking about 'X'. On theother hand her friend, Kay is constantly falling in and out of love: "Toher, it seems an adventure and whenever she falls in love, she takes up aman and his story whole heartedly" (MOJ: 116). The narrator realisesthat her friend's behaviour is not exceptional and she understands that atleast she is not condemned to living with reservations and withdrawals,long drawn-out dissatisfactions, inarticulate wavering miseries as sheherself is forced to.She then meets a friend of X's called Dennis. The hopes to gainsome infomTion about X through him, but Dennis is too wrapped up inhis own theories which he wishes to discuss with someone. He talksabout men and women's way of life and tells her that men even when

they are aging love a wider choice and can get younger Ivomen whilewomen cannot do the same. Thus, women are at a disadirantage. Hefurther states that men by such choices are able to renew themselves andgain vitality while the women are removed from life. He, however,changes his view in the final part of his talk and states that Fwmen arelucky as they are able to accept loss and death more easily than men. Heconcludes by emphasising this point:I've seen so many parts of the world and so many strangethings and so much suffering. It's my conclusion now that youwon't get any happiness by playing tricks on life. It's only bynatural renunciation and by accepting deprivation that weprepare for death and therefore that we get any happiness.(Mrn 122)This talk makes the nanator realise that her life is not meant todream about men such as X. She, thus, realises that she has to let go:"What you have to decide, really is whether to be crazy or not, and Ihaven't the stamina, the power, the seething will, for prolongedcraziness" (MUJ 127). Her distancing herself from the man she loves,she feels, is the way to be reassured of oneself.This story reflects the predicament that the woman goes throughand how she is finally able to raise herself from the dilemma she

undergoes through."Material" (SIB) by Munro discusses how women are used asmaterials to construct stories. The narrator is diirorced from her firsthusband, Hugo who is a writer. Her second husband Gabriel, notices thebook published in Hugo's name and buys it so that Clea, the daughterlearns about her father. When the narrator reads the biographical noteshe thinks that Hugo leads a false life. It is then she realises that to himlife has always been unrealistic and dramatic. To him women are justmaterial from which lies and stories could be fabricated. It is thisrealisation that strikes her and she also perceives that Hugo and Gabrielare alike as they both have the ability to label and compartmentalisethingsheings without caring for their individual personalities:At the same time, at dinner, looking at my husband Gabriel, Idecided that he and Hugo are not really so unlike. Both ofthem have managed something. Both of them have decidedwhat to do about everything they run across in this world,what attitude to take, how to ignore or use things. In theirlimited and precarious ways they both have authority. Theyare not at the mercy. Or they think they are not. I can't blamethem, for making whatever arrangements they can make(SIB: 43-44).

The idea of entrapment and release forms the theme ofDeshpande's "My Beloved Charioteer'' (Dark) and Munro's "How I MetMy Husband" (SIB). The old woman in Deshpande's stov has no lovefor her husband because she had felt very restricted by his authoritativemanner. In fact she had been like a puppet who had been manipulated byher husband according to his desires. She had lived with him for twentyfive years and had learnt to know his likes and dislikes, yet he had nevertroubled himself to know her likes and dislikes. She thus feels liberated,free and happy after his death.Edie in "How I Met My Husband" (SIB) is infatuated by a pilot andwaits after he goes away for a letter from him. She waits eagerly for theletter but as she awaits she realises that he is never going to write. Sheunderstands that her waiting was futile:... till it came to me one day there were women doing this withtheir lives, all over. There were women just waiting andwaiting by mailboxes for one letter or another. I imagined memaking this journey day after day and year after year, and myhair starting to go grey, and I thought, I was never made to goon like that. So I stopped meeting the mail. If there werewomen all through life waiting, and women busy and notwaiting, I knew which I had to be. Even though there might bethings the second kind of women have to pass up and never

know about, it still is better (SIB: 65).everyday.Finally she marries the mailman who sees her ~~aiting for the postDeshpande's story "My Beloved Charioteei' (Dark) discusses theentrapment of a wife due to the social conditions imposed by apatriarchal society, while Munro's "How I Met My Husband" discussesthe romantic trap that women may get into. The story "A Man and AWoman" (Gale) displays the authority of the in-laws. It also reveals theamount of freedom an Indian widow enjoys. The fact is that women arecaught in a vicious circle by family and society which makes it difficultfor women to even attempt to free themselves. In this story thoughManu offers her a solution, one wonders if Lalita is able to accept it.This predicament arises because a woman who wishes to escape needsto be able to withstand alienation. How many women are strong enoughto withstand such an ostracization is the question. A final point that israised in this story as well as others is the rigid attitude towards sex andsexuality that women display as opposed to the extremely open attituderevealed by the women characters in Munro's stories.The story "My Beloved Charioteer" (Dark) once again portrays thetrap that marriage becomes for an Indian wife. The woman is unable toget out of the situation while Munro's three stories "How I Met My

Husband" (SIB),"Bardon Bus" (MOJ) and "Slaterial""(SIB) depict theability of the Canadian women to mow out of their predicament.Though Eddie in "How I Met My Husband" (SIB) waits for the man ofher dreams, she realises that he may not return. Once she becomes awareof this fact, she marries the postman and settles down. Similarly in"Bardon Bus" (MOJ) Kay and the narrator are divorced. Both thesewomen realise the meaning of love. While the narrator in the story hasrecognised the illusionary nature of the man-woman relationship, herfriend Kay seems to play around with men, falling in and out of love.The concluding story in this section "Material" (SIB) displays theenlightened view that the narrator has of men. The story reveals not onlymen's exploitation of women but also their inability to come toconclusions and decisions. Women, it is pointed out, are unable todecide and acknowledge priorities. This could also be beneficial forwomen who are then able to be flexible and adapt themselves todifferent circumstances.Power RelationshipsKate Millett in Sexual Politics points out that the basis for allpower relationships is the male-female relationship. She fiuther states,"Social caste supercedes all other forms of inegalitarianism: racial,

political or economic, and unless the clinging to male supremacy as abirthright is finally forgone, all systems of oppression will continue tofunction simply by virtue of their logical and emotional mandate in theprimary human situation" (1970: 25)Male control and power over women in all spheres of life is mhatconstitutes patriarchy and therefore, one needs to eliminate it. But this isnot easy as patriarchal ideology, says Millett has made it certain thatmen always love the dominant roles while women love the subordinateroles. By such a conditioning, men are able to gain the approval of thewomen that they oppress. Their oppression is carried out throughinstitutions such as the academy, the church and the family". These24Power is generally consolidated by conditioning women.Conditioning is generally done by shaping women's appearances,behaviours and attitudes. One method adopted often in Indianhouseholds is differentiation. A new bride is usually taunted and thedifferences between her father's place and her husband's place pointedout thus creating a feeling of inferiority within her. She is considered analien and the rules of submission are thrust on her, mainly by hermother- in law. The mother-in-law becomes the enforcer, as she is nowgiven the authority to rule. She has the right by convention, to dominateand exhibit power over the new daughter-in-law.It may be argued that in present times a change in the traditionalfamily structure has been disrupted as more families are becomingnuclear. Moreover, the practice of purdah in most of the households isgone. Nevertheless one notices that the appearance of the nuclear familyand the disappearance of purdah has not changed the status ofrelationships, Authority is still vested with the father-in-lawimother-inlawor other males close to the husband. The idea of confinement and

institutions rationalise and justify women's subordi-nation to men and inmost cases, women develop a sense of inferiority.Millett also noted that contemporary feminism attempted to destroythe sexlgender system and she looked forward to a society in whichequality of the sexes was established (1970: 62). Marilyn French, toolike Millett, believed that patriarchy is the cause of all oppression. Shestressed that "Stratification of men above women, leads in time tostratification of classes; an elite rules over people perceived as 'closer tonature', savage, bestial, animalistic" (1985: 72). She traced in her bookBeyond Power : On Women, Men and Morals the origins of patriarchyand explained that over a period of evolution, men had become theauthoritative figures and held 'power-over' the women.Mary Daly taking this concept further, states in Pure Lust thatwomen must create and adopt new understanding, different from menand thus, develop themselves. She analyses different types of passions --genuine passions, plastic passions and potted passions. She feels thatgenuine passions such as love, hate, despair, anger and fear activate andinspire women, while plastic passions such as guilt, bitterness, boredomand hostility make women passive and ruin them. She also mentions thatenclosure still plays a major part in the lives of women. These aspectsare part of the issue of domination and socialization as can be witnessedin some of the stories.

emotions like 'love' when packaged and doled out as pulp romanticfiction can harm women and she terms such passions that are idealisedand marketed by society, as potted passions.In this section, the various power relationships existing betweenmen and women in some of the short stories of Munro and Deshpandeare examined.Deshpande's "Intrusion" (Leg) is a powerful story dealing with theawareness of a newly married woman. The newly married couple cometo spend their honeymoon at a small sea side resort. The wife dreads thistrip as she feels that her husband is a total stranger to her. She is upsetby his sexual intimacy and is repulsed by his expectations. She feels likea whore and the atmosphere of the place creates in her an uneasyfeeling:There was something furtive about the place, something deadpan about the servant's face, which made me feel that the menwho came here did so with 'other women'- girls, perhaps,bold-faced and experienced, who would laugh and chat withmen, not go through what I was enduring now. Fears. Tremors(Leg: 41).Her anxiety is increased as the day proceeds and she reviews her

marriage to the man. She feels that she has been marketed as a womanwho is "simple and sophisticated. Her desires and feelings are not takeninto consideration by her parents before marriage or her husband. Shehas doubts about the marriage but her father brushes them away byuttering two practical statements; "what's wrong with him? I have twomore daughters to be married" (Leg: 43). She is unable to defend andargue against these statements and she, therefore quietly submits to themarriage. After the wedding, the couple go to a small fishing village fortheir honeymoon. The newly married bride is however sick of what thenight holds for her and wishes to escape. But she has no choice. On theother hand, the husband is not troubled by any such thoughts and is keenon satisfying his lust. His attempt to hold and kiss her is shattered by herattempts to ward him off. The protagonist wishes to know more abouthim before she shares her privacy with him. She also hopes that hewould talk to her and familiarise herself with her tastes, her likes, andher dislikes. But she understands that he is not interested in her innerfeelings and the bond of marriage has given him the power to conquerher body:I could do nothing. He put his hands, his lips on mine and thistime I could not move away. There was no talk, no wordbetween us-just this relentless pounding. His movements hadthe same rhythm, the same violence as the movements of thesea, yet, I could have borne the battering of the sea better, for

that would hurt but not humiliate like this (Leg: 38).This act shatters her as it is an intrusion. a move that is against herbeing as a woman.Another story that foregrounds such helplessness of a woman isDeshpande's "I Want" (Miv). In this story, Alka, the protagonist is to bemarried. She, too, like the narrator in "Intrusion" (Leg) realises that herwants and needs are not important. Her parents decide the husband forher, while her future husband chalks out what he wants in his .futurewife. No one bothers to find out what her wishes and desires are.Munro's "Friend Of My Youth" (FOY) provokes a number ofquestions on the husband-wife relationship. It questions the validity ofmarriage, and the way society views women who are not married. Anincident is narrated as a story by a mother to a daughter, therebyendowing it an air of fiction. The incident narrated is a portrayal of thelifestyle of two sisters Flora and Ellie. The mother recollects the factthat though Ellie had married Robert Deal, the house had not taken upthe name of Deal.The views of the mother and daughter differ when they discuss theway they would have told Flora's story. The mother titles the story as"The Maiden Lady" and shrouds it with stateliness and reverence". In

her story she wishes to "make her [Flora] into a noble figure. one whoaccepts defection, treachery, who forgives and stands aside, not once buttwice" (FOY: 19). The daughter views the story in a different way: "Ihad my own ideas about Flora's story ... I would take a different tack. Isaw through my mother's story and put in what she left out. My Florawould be as black as hers was white. (FOY: 20). The reason why thedaughter is against her mother's visualisatio~l is because she feels thatFlora may be evil as she turns away from sex. The story also points outthe sexual power men have over their wives. Robert Deal, Ellie'shusband is aware of the delicate health of his wife, and yet he has sexwith her which results in repeated pregnancies and miscarriages.Weakened by these miscarriages she finally dies. Robert Deal remarriesthe nurse who had been hired to nurse his wife instead of marrying Florato whom he had been engaged at the very beginning.The extra ,marital relationship of Brenda with Neil in "Five Points"(FOY) is not founded on love but is carried on because Brenda enjoysthe secret power she holds. She enjoys the moment of meeting Neilsecretly. The secrecy and excuses that she has to make up excites her. Inorder to meet Neil she does good deeds such as "cleaning jobs aroundthe house that she was putting off, mowing the lawn, doing areorganisation at the furniture barn, even weeding the rock garden"(FOE 31). This sense of power makes her feel like the girl in the storythat Neil tells her where the girl used to have sex with young boys by

paying them. The paradox is that she like the young girl in Neil's storyis trapped in her condition. Brenda feels that the absence of Neil, thepossibility of his defection, his denial of her could turn any place, anything, ugly and menacing and stupid" (FOK 36).She has the affair as she wants to have freedom and in thebeginning was reminded when she saw Neil's bed that it was "not amarriage bed or a bed of illness, comfort, complication". She also "lovesthe life of his body, so sure of its rights. She wants commands from him,never requests. She wants to be his territory" (FOE 41). Brenda by theend of the story becomes aware that Neil had "lost some of her sheen forher" (FOE 49) and she comes to the conclusion, that every relationshipcan finally turn out to be just a continuation of life.The strength of power and its impact on men is discussed inMunro's "Hold Me Fast, Don't let Me Pass" (FOY), and in Deshpande's"First Lady" (Leg). Hazel after the death of her husband, Jack comes toScotland hoping to meet Jack's girl-friend, (of younger days),Antoinette and his cousin. During her stay there she notices the changesthat have occurred in Antoinette and Dobie. This revelation reminds herof how she and Jack too had changed. She realises then even beforeJack's death she had a nervous breakdown and after that incident shechanged her life into one of "action, exercise, direction" (FOJ". 83).

She knew that when she had got out of bed (this is what shedoesn't say), she was leaving some part of herself behind. Shesuspected that this was a part that had to do wit11 Jack. But shedidn't think then that any abandonment had to be permanent.Anyway it couldn't be helped. (FOE 83).She realises that Jack too had changed from a quiet youngcharming man, into a braggart. One distinct ~nernory she has of him iswhat she had noticed in him one day when she had been travelling tocollege. She feels that he had become a dull, grey and insubstantialperson. She thinks of the routine life he led spending a couple of nightsat the legion and other days watching television. His life had become amechanical routine filled with "chores, routines, seasons, pleasantries".She had only then realised that day that his loss of power had beenreplaced by "a ghostly sweetness7' (FOE 104).Deshpande's "First Lady" (Leg) depicts the accumulation of powerand the changes it can wrought in a man when he gains power. The storyis also a remark on the sexual constraints that women have to face. Thewoman character, in this story, is enamoured by a freedom fighter andmarries him inspite of the class differences existing between them. Laterafter Independence, she discovers that her husband has turned into apower wielding politician, leading a powerful life.

She falls in love with the man hoping that he too would reciprocateher love. But she realises that he has no time for love and he is also notcapable of loving another human being. After the birth of children headopts celibacy as he thinks that the purpose of marriage is procreation.She, however, feels dissatisfied by her life and is attracted to a youngman who dies later. She soon realises that "life has lost its meaningbecause it relates to nothing but one's own petty concerns" (Leg: 3).Rather cynically she thinks of a line from the Bible at the end of theparty as she and her husband go up to bed which states that old menhave dreams and young men have visions but now she realises that oldmen neither have visions nor young men any dreams. Ironically her laststatement as they go to bed falls on deaf ears as he has removed hishearing aid and consequently cannot hear her. One finds as one goesthrough the story the need for love, the illusory nature of women'sdesires and dreams, the craving for comfort and the feeling that there isno one even to listen to them.The question of power is once again focused upon in Munro's"Labor Day Dinner" (MOJ). Roberta is married to George, a manyounger than her. The story reflects on Roberta's love for George, andher attempts to please him. Roberta does not wear skirts and caftans,because George dislikes them. His contention is that such dresses"announce to him, ... not only a woman's intention of doing no suchserious work but her persistent wish to be admired and courted" (MQA

136). Roberta is moreover conscious of her age and feels that beingolder than George he may despise her. She realises that for her to beherself she has to get away and live alone.George, on the other hand, feels that Roberta spoils her children.He thinks that she placates them, and begs them to do small chores athome and thereby indulges them. He unconsciously thinks that "if eitherof his sisters had ventured on such a display, his mother would havebelted them."(MOJ: 144). This reveals George's conventional attitude.His authority is emphasised in Eva's statement when she asks him totake care of her cat: "But will you & Mom take care of Diana whenwe're gone?" (MOJ: 145).(ernphasis added). .Roberta's elder daughter Angela also recognises that her mother,has become self effacing after her marriage to George. She feels thatGeorge holds power over her mother. She remarks in her journal entry:I have seen her change ... from a person I deeply respected intoa person on the verge of being a nervous wreck. If this is loveI want no part of it. He wants to enslave her and us all and shewalks a tightrope trying to keep him from getting mad. Shedoesn't enjoy anything and if you gave her the choice shewould like best to lie down in a dark room with a cloth overher eyes and not see anybody or do anything. This is an

intelligent woman who used to believe in freedom(MOJ: 147).Lydia in Munro's "Dulse" (AIOJ) is abandoned by her lover,Duncan. She goes to the maritimes and during her stay there sheanalyses her relationship with Duncan. She realises that after her finaltalk to a psychiatrist about Duncan she had felt like "an egg carton,hollowed out in the back" (MU 41). She at that point of time had felt"deprived and powerless and she had an overwhelming feeling "to coverher head and sit wailing on the ground" (MOJ:53). She scrutinises theirrelationship and reflects, "What gave his power? She knows who did butshe asks what and when - when did the transfer take place, when was theabdication of all pride and sense?" (MOJ 55). She had been humiliatedand embarrassed by Duncan's remarks which were objective analysis of"her person and behaviour". He did not just mention them but he hadlisted them precisely. Some of his remarks had been very intimate innature and she had "howled with shame and covered her ears andbegged him to take back or say no more" (MOJ: 53). Lydia understandsthat she had given him the power and was now complaining about it.At the conclusion of the story Lydia has a discussion with one Mr.Stanley who is also staying there about Willa Cather, the writer. Mr.Stanley tells her about the advice Cather gives an young man about hismarital life and Lydia can't help pointing out to the old man that Cather

had not married and was staying with another Lvoman. Therefore shethinks that she could not have advised him properly.bfunro's "Oranges and Apples" (FOI? sketches the suspiciousbehaviour of Murray towards his wife and his way of taking it out onher. Murray befriends Victor, a Polish man who comes to live close totheir place. Victor soon breaks up with his wife, Beatrice, and Murraynot only gives him shelter but also finds a job for him. Soon howeverMurray starts having doubts about his wife and Victor. To know thetruth one rainy night he insists that Barbara should take somebedspreads for Victor. He knows when she returns that Victor has had arelationship with Barbara. Victor, the day after this incident leaves theplace. One can notice in the narration Barbara's innocence. It is Victorwho views her body, while she is sunbathing. Murray makes Barbara'sbody the scene of battle, thus scarring her."Prue" (MOJ) too discusses the sexual outlook portrayed byGordon. Gordon desires to marry Prue after he is finished being in lovewith a younger woman. Prue, narrates this idiosyncrasy of his to othersin a cynical and light hearted manner. Within her heart however she isangered by his remarks. She therefore begins to take things fromGeorge's house and stores them. As Martin says in Paradox andParallel: "She does not have the passion to throw an overnight bag atGordon , so her response takes a devious form, apparently obscure to

herself because she shows no sign of recognising it for the revenge it is"(MOJ: 145).One finds in this section that women are treated asbeings necessary for satisfying the male ego. Stories such as"Intrusion" (Leg), "I Want" (Mirir), "Prue" (MOJ), "Dulse"(MUJ), "Labor Day Dinner" (MOJ), and "Oranges andApples" (FOY) highlight the gender inequalities present inboth the societies. The stories throw light on the oppressiveenvironment that the women have to live in.Extra-marital RelationshipsMarriage, women realise, is not as romantic as they hadanticipated. It becomes a life of duties and responsibilities and fulfillingvarious expectations. In order to escape such constricted/burdenedlifestyles they resort to having affairs with other men. At times they aremarried but at other times they are not married and have relationshipwith married men in order to experience security and comfort withoutbeing committed. Many of Munro's stories focus on the adulterousaffairs of women in stories such as "Oh, What Avails7' OY),"Differently" (FOY) and "Eskimo" (POL).

Joan in "Oh what Avails" (FOI') walks out on her husband arldchildren and begins a new life. She explains her desertion by stating thatat that time many parents underwent the phenomenon of separating.Marriages which had started innocently without any misgivings hadsplit up (FOE 207). Joan is amazed at the love affairs she has had. Joanrealises as she thinks of her past that that her brother and she had beentaught some values: "They were taught a delicate, special regard forthemselves, which made them go out and grab what they wanted,whether love or money" (FOE 215). But the difference had been thatwhile she had not been good in money matters and had grabbed love,her brother, Morris had grabbed money and had not had a good love life.Georgia in "Differently" (FOY) divorces her husband, Ben andlives with an instructor of creative writing, with whom she had taken acourse. She meet her ex-husband's friend Raymond some years later atVictoria. This meeting reminds her of her ex-husband Ben andRaymond's wife, Maya who had been her friend. Maya and Georgia hadsex with other men and had kept it a secret from their husbands. Mayahad an affair with another doctor, Harvey and had also had an abortion.Unlike Georgia she had not divorced Raymond and had continued adouble life. Georgia had not been able to lead a life of lies and hypocrisyand had therefore blown up her own secure, happy life. But she hadbeen ashamed to reveal to others her happiness with Ben and had alwaysinsisted that she had never been happy:

She had entered with Ben. \i7hen they were both so young. aworld of ceremony, of safety, of gestures, concealment. Fondappearances. More than appearances. Fond contrivance. (Shethought when she left that she would have no use forcontriving anymore.) She had been happy there, fro111 time totime. She had been sullen, restless, bewildered, and happy.But she said most vehemently, Never, never. I was neverhappy, she said (FOE 242).Now, when she meets Raymond she realises that he still thinks thathis dead wife as an ideal wife and tells him to take death differently.Two stories that discuss the relationship of married men to womenare "Eskimo" (POL) and "Accident" (MOJ). Mary Jo in "Eskimo"discusses very ironically her relationship with Dr. Streeter for whom sheworks as a nurse. Mary Jo, while on a trip to Tahiti, slowly understandsthe relationship that exists between her and the doctor. She realises thatshe is after all just a mistress . She had faithfully served the doctor forten years but she knows that though she had worshipped and adoredhim, her place in his life would always be secondary. Carringtondiscussing the story concludes that "Mary Jo can do her work because anurse's work traditionally defines her role as secondary to a man's.Thus, Munro uses the traditional doctor-nurse relationship as a paradigm

of the secondary position of some of her earlier characters" ( 1990: 163)."Accident" (MOa is a story with a different ending. Here Frances,a school teacher, has an affair with Ted, a married man. The story takesa twist when Ted's son has an accident and dies. This incident disruptshis marriage and he divorces his wife and marries Frances. What isstriking about this story is Frances' awareness of her relationship withTed. From the beginning of their relationship she is aware that love is asham: "There had been a dreadful air of apology and constraint andembarrassment about the whole business the worst of it being the moansand endearments and reassurances they had to offer" (MU183). She isalso conscious of Ted's involvement with his own self. He thinks of"himself and his beliefs" (MU& 103) and Frances dislikes this selfcentredness. She now understood that in her affair with Ted "she hadbeen involved in something childish and embarrassing". She alsounderstands that she had managed it all for her own delight seeing himas she wanted to, paying attention when she wanted to, not taking himseriously, although she thought she did" (MU 103).Only one story of Deshpande's reflects an extra-marital affair andeven in this story the woman character is so conditioned that she lets goof her relationship. The protagonist in "An Antidote to Boredom" (Leg)is married to a man who is hardly aware of her presence. He is awareonly of his life and does not care for her, feelings or desires. He lives

every day by routine and she kno\vs how each moment \\.ill be like: "Iknew what he would do next, after eating. He would wash his hands, sitdown with the newspaper in his hands, for exactly five minutes, while Imoved restlessly, wishing he would go away so that I go on with myday's work ..." (Leg: 67).Her life changes when one day at her son's school she meets awidower. Their relationship grows and her dull, mechanical life changesinto an exciting adventure for her. She looks forward to her rendezvouswith him and when he thinks that she must be having guilty feelings, sheexplains that she does not because her husband had never cared orthought of her. This feeling that her husband does not know anythingabout her prompts her to arrange for her lover's stay at her place, whenher husband proposes to go to Delhi on an official trip. But on the day ofdeparture he asks her to accompany him and when she refuses he tellsher that she better decide to accompany him. By his manner, she knowsthat he has become aware of her relationship.The words sounded suddenly menacing and I looked upstartled. The same face, the same voice, but for a brief secondI saw a challenge, ... And then I knew that he knew, he cared, asif a dam had burst, a flood of shame, of guilt swept over me,drowned me. I let go the mirage that I had tried to grasp allthese days, and now I realised, when it was too late, the most

piercing thought of all--that it had been no mere antidote toboredom, but the best part of my life. And I let it go (Lcg: 76).Women JiltedThe theme of cheating and taking up a relationship is witnessed in"Postcard" (DHS), "Tell Me Yes or No" (SIB) and "Winter Wind" (SIB).The narrator, Helen in "Postcard" (DHS) dates a rich man, Clare andhopes to many him eventually. However, while on a trip to Florida hemarries another woman. Helen's mother thinks that it is her daughter'sfault as she had already slept with the man. She thinks that because ofher sexual relationship with him he had lost respect for her. This beliefis also echoed by Helen's friend, Alma who mentions that "Men arealways out for what they can get" (DHS: 26).The narrator in "Tell Me Yes or No" (SIB) after the death of herlover visits his town from where she used to get his letters. Over thereshe visits the book shop that his wife runs and his wife learning that sheis her husband's girlfriend gives her the packet of letters. Only later thenarrator learns that the letters are not addressed to her but are written foranother woman."Winter Wind" (SIB) refers to the married lives of the narrator's

grandmother and aunt Madge. Aunt Madge, the narrator states, ishappily n~arried. Aunt Madge's husband was a farmer politicallyconscious and he was determined, stubborn and entertaining. Shebehaves as the perfect wife. She could have been held up as an example,an ideal wife, except that she gave no impression of "resignation, of doing one's duty, such as is looked for in ideals".(emphasis added). In fact she was "light hearted, impudent sometimes,so she was not particularly respected for her love, but held to be lucky,or half- dotty, whichever you liked" (SIB: 199).On the other hand, the grand mother had assumed a martyred airabout her as she is angry with her lover and to spite him marries anotherman. Even after marriage now and then she met the other man but "noone ever accused them of misbehaviour". The grandmother seems tobelieve in proximity, impossibility, renunciation and the narrator pointsout that "this seemed to make an enduring kind of love!" And I believethat would be my grand mother's choice, that self-glorifying dangerousself-denying passion, never satisfied, never-risked, to last a lifetime. Notadmitted to, either, except perhaps that one time, one or two times,under circumstances of great stress (SIB: 200).

Male NarratorThe ideas that men have about women are etlidenced in many ofthe stories as can be seen by the perception of the male narrator or themale views."Uncle Benny in "The Flats Road" (LGF] marries Madeleine, whohas a eighteen month old baby, Diane. When Madeleine runs awayDel's father consoles Uncle Benny by pointing out that she had notmade Uncle Benny's life exactly "comfortable and serene. He did this ina diplomatic way, not forgetting he was talking about a man's wife. Hedid not speak of her lack of beauty or slovenly clothes" (LGW 17)."Lichen" (POL) is a story that reflects on men's selfishness. Themain character, Stella is aware of the defect of her ex-husband, David.David has relationships with various women but the fact is he can't getyounger. He visits Stella with his new girl-friend, Catherine. He thinksthat since Stella has no man, she has turned into a shapeless woman. Heremarks to Catherine, "Look what's happened to Stella ... She's turnedinto a troll". He is angered when Catherine defends Stella and he thinksof her as ('the sort of woman who has to come bursting out of the femaleenvelope at this age, flaunting fat or an indecent scrawniness, sproutingwarts and facial hair, refusing to cover pasty veined legs, almost gleeful

about it, as if this was what she'd wanted to do all along. Man-hatersfrom the start" (POL: 33).David is bothered about age and appearance and this is e~idencedby his description of Catherine too: "When David first met Catherine ,about eighteen months ago, he thought she was a little over thirty. Hesaw many remnants of girlishness; he loved her fairness and tallfragility. She has aged since then. And she was older than he thought tostart with-she is nearing forty" (POL: 34). David has already begun tohave another affair with a younger woman, Dina. He not only mentionshis new relationship to Stella but thoughtlessly remarks, "You know,there's a smell women get ... when they know you don't want themanymore. Stale" (POL: 40).David is ready to humiliate himself by begging for Dina's love.When he rings her up he begins to assume shameful ways of beggingand in this way humiliates himself. His affair is based totally on sex andthis is illustrated by his revelation to Stella of Dina's photograph. WhenStella sees the picture of Dina, naked, she is only able to think of lichen,the stale weed that clings. David, while leaving, forgets to take thephotograph with him and it lies on his table, where it gets spoilt due tothe sun's rays. When Stella sees the spoilt photograph, she feels:... the black pelt in the picture has changed to grey. It's a bluish

or greenish grey now. She relne~nbers what. she said it lookedlike lichen. But she knew what it was even when David put hishand to his pocket. She felt the old cavity opening up in her.But she held on. She said, " Lichen". And now, look, herwords have come true. The outline of the breast hasdisappeared. You would never know that the legs were legs.The black has turned to grey, to the soft, dry color of a plantmysteriously nourished on the rocks. (POL: 55).It is her awareness of the effect of age and the realisation of herhusband's material attitude that had made her divorce and had helpedher to keep the "flow of the days and nights. (POL: 55).Edgar and Sam have a relationship with Callie in "The Moon in theOrange Street Skating Rink" (POL). In the story though Edgar and Samdon't display it they have a sort of superior sense of their selves as oncethey remark, "Because she was a little slavey, forever out of things,queer looking, undersized, and compared to her they were in themainstream, they were fortunate" (POL: 142). Callie, however, has asuperior sense of herself and proves it by daring everything:It was her scrapbook, and pasted in it were newspaper itemsabout herself. The newspaper had invited people to enter intocompetitions. Who could do the most bound buttonholes in

eight hours? Who could can the most raspberries in a singleday? Who had crocheted the most amazing ~~urnber ofbedspreads, tablecloths, nmners, and doilies? Callie, Callie,Callie, Callie Kemaghan, again and again. In her ownestimation, she was no slavey but a prodigy pitying theslothful lives of others. (POL: 143).She finally even goes to the extent of having sex with both of themand in the act, too, they are the ones who feel inferior. Later on Edgarproceeds with his sexual intercourses and finally fearing that his sexualacts may have resulted in consummation, he and Sam run away. ButCallie is too smart to be outwitted, and figuring the young men'sintentions she pursues them . it is at this point that Sam understood,"Callie's power, when she wouldn't be left behind--generouslydistributed to all of them. The moment was flooded --with power, itseemed, and with possibility" (POL: 157).Years later Sam goes to Gallagher and meets Edgar and Callie. Intheir house he sees a photograph of Callie and Edgar and "Callie looks agood deal older than on her real wedding day, her face broader, heavier,more authoritative. In fact, she slightly resembles Miss. Kemaghan"(POL: 158). The story ends stating that Edgar is happy. He seems to behappy because he is a man who is mentally dependent on someone andbeing with the hard-working efficient Callie has given him happiness.

The title reflects the femininity associated with the moon and the powerof this female self at times of need. As Pappington remarks, " Thus,Callie's association are not always true, for her infinitely complexsymbol reveals another contradiction. Callie has power, but she does notseem to have used it to humiliate her husband7' (POL: 170)."Queer Streak" (POL) discusses the story of Violet. Violet is tomarry a clergy man but the marriage does not take place as Violet'sfather starts getting anonymous notes. When Violet finds out that it isher own sister she reveals the truth to her fianck and he refuses to marryher as he thinks that there may be a streak of lunacy in her family."Thanks for the Ride" (DIIS) is told from the male narrator's pointof view. The narrator is a teenager just out of school. The story portraysthe barrenness existent in the town as well as in individual lives. Thedesolation and barrenness of the town is narrated. " It was a town ofunpaved, wide, sandy streets and bare yards. Only the hardy things likered and yellow nasturtiums, or a lilac bush with brown centred leavesgrew out of that cracked earth. " (DHS: 46). The narrator's new girlfriend Lois too is a symbol of this bare, desolate atmosphere. She is alsohardy like the nasturtium as she is able to survive the sexual relationshipshe has with various men. The narrator is initially upset as sheintroduces him to her mother. He wonders if she " might have done itthen to mock me, to make me into the caricature of the Date, the boy

who grins and shuffles in the front hall and waits to be presented to thenice girls family" (DHS: 50). The narrator after talking to the mothernotices the grandmother and realises that these people are different.They are not innocent like their mothers or like his cousin George. Theyare on the other hand born " shy and sad and knowing". This point isstressed when Lois tells him about the earlier boyfi-iend, " He just wentaround with me for the summer. That's what those guys from up thebeach always do. They come down here to the dances and get a girl togo around with for the summer they always do" (DHS: 54). She hrtheradds that one has to behave grateful to these boys because otherwisethey would go around and say that these girls are bitching.Deshpande's "Rain" (Leg) is narrated by a man who is in love withhis cousin, Radha. But later on she marries another man. Twelve yearslater she comes to stay with the narrator who is now a doctor. She comesto Bombay because her husband is sick and needs treatment. While herhusband is in hospital, Radha's relationship with her cousin developsinto sexual intimacy. One evening as the narrator and Radha are makinglove they receive a phone call informing them of the husband's death.Later, Radha goes back to her parents, but the narrator cannot forget her,and he eventually marries her. Their life is quite satisfactory but one daywhen they are making love, the phone rings and he is reminded of hislove making on the day her first husband had died. This haunts him andafter that things are not the same between them. He wonders:

It has never been any good again. Always, the same. I spendhours wondering what is wrong with me. Has the guilt of thatrainy night scarred me so deeply? Meanwhile I wait forsomething to release me from the cage of guilt and fear, forsomething to set my manhood fiee. But nothing happens. Andall the time I remember her words ... "To live like thisforever.. ." (Leg: 66).Independentmree Women"What woman essentially lacks today for doing great things isforgetfulness of herself; but to forget oneself it is first of all necessary tobe firmly assured that now and for the future one has found oneself'(1984: 168). These words of Beauvoir indicate the path that women needto follow to be fiee and independent women. The stories discussed inthis section reveal the total removal of women characters from thetraditional issues of society and their determination in following newpaths.Jayu in Deshpande's " It was the Nightingale" (Gale) has been aworking woman, who has taken up the opportunity to further her careerprospects by being away from her husband for two years. She desireslike other women ,"to give ambition and success the go by and stay

with him, [her husband] throttled by his love" (Gale:12). Jayu istormented by the thought of deserting her husband, and of not fulfillingher duty as a wife. She has known from her mother that it is thewoman's sacrifice and self-effacing personality that pleases the society.At this point she is tormented, and wonders if her decision is right.Although she loves her husband, she knows that she along with herhusband form a whole, and "though their lives are intertwined yet theyare two distinct strands. But to keep her light burning is herresponsibility and hers alone" (Gale; 13).Jay's decision to leave her husband for two years to further hercareer prospects; creates a feeling of guilt in her. It is not possible towipe out in a few days what has been nurtured within her for a numberof years i.e., the image of a wife. Similarly the husband, though a lovingone, cannot comprehend her as she is so different fi-om the grand-auntwho nurtured him as a child. His construct of a woman is one who is"totally selfless and totally loving" (Gale: 14). Jayu knows that hermother-in-law does not like her, though her husband asserts that shedoes. She senses the disapproval of the mother-in-law in the singlestatement: "I never went even to my mother's house once after mymother-in-law died, because if I did, who would look after him" [herhusband] (Gale: 13).To adopt a new way of life breaking the traditional boundaries is

ather difficult for Jayu, and yet she knows that she has to and she willlive her own life. She is aware of the hurt that she has caused--the hurtthat may never heal. She realises that two years is a little too long, andthe physical distance established between them may ultimately becomea mental one , and yet she decides to do what she has to.Deshpande's "A Day Like Any Other" (Gale) portrays ahousewife's predicament, when she learns through a female informerthat her husband has an affair with another woman. The housewife'sreaction to this news is rather unusual. She dislikes the informer'sgossip, for she has the feeling that she is trying to wreck the happinessof other people. Moreover she does not feel cheated or unhappy withwhat has happened; she knows that " no one can cheat her out of whatshe alone had created for herself' ; she has not sacrificed anything forshe has " always wanted to marry, to have children". She had what shewanted and she saw no meaning in " life without all this" (Gale: 81).She momentarily doubts if by any chance she is bothered about hercomfort and security, and hence does not want to take the informationseriously. She is aware that it has taken years for her and her husband todevelop a relationship, and it would take only "minutes to destroy" it.She wonders if, "This face, this body .... is that all I mean when I say 'I' ?Is that all. he says when he says 'my wife'? The thing that we have builtbetween. does it all depend on this face, this body? Love ... I wish I knew

what it meant" (Gale: 82). She rings up her husband, only to find that heis in a conference. Initially she plans in dressing up, making somethingspecial for tea, hugging him, kissing him and saying 'I love you' whenhe returns as counter measures for winning back his love. But she isproud of her individuality, does not wish to change, and desires that herpersonal traits be "careless, a little untidy and incapable of socialising,of dissemblingy'. She thus decides that, her husband will have to "accepther as she is" (Gale: 83).She calmly tells her husband when he returns home the informationthat she has received. He is frightened by her calmness and sets out toreassures her, "promising her a lifetime of fidelity, of loyalty" (Gale:85). Yet he never speaks of love, and she knows then that he has neverloved her, and at night "as she lay gathering into herself all the trends ofthe day" she realizes that her life is her own, and this fact does make herhappy (Gale; 86). She is therefore not bothered about his infidelity asshe had gained whatever she wanted in life. She knows that her life isher own: "the words the thought grew in her, filling her with a rare aridfearful happiness, a feeling of being suspended in space and time all byherself' (Gale: 86). Once again the reaction of the housewife in thisstory is totally different from that of several others. She does not rave orbecome hysterical on learning of the 'affair', she does not accuse herhusband and, in fact, it is her silence that unsettles her true self, even inthe face of such a serious situation as her husband's infidelity. The story

also foregrounds the fact that the husband has an affair inspite of the factthat he is happily married, has a nice wife and three kids. This ismotivated by the knowledge that he can get away with this flirtation andalso that he can drop the girl once she loses the cham and glamour sheholds for him."Death of a Child" (Leg) is a story that depicts a man's lack ofunderstanding and sympathy. The woman has decided to do away withan unwanted pregnancy and it is too much for her to go through this asshe already has three children She knows that he i. e. her husband canget away from all this but she can never get away as it is something thatshe is tied to; " I can never get away-fiom me, not even f?om my ownbody. I am tied to these things in a way he will never be" (Leg: 47). Hedoes not understand her but she feels like an animal as this is the thirdtime in four years. He thinks that the whole issue is simple and there isnothing complicated about it but she, she knows that one cannot iisolatethe child from her life" (Leg: 44). For her it appears that breeding is justnot the purpose of life. She tells him that children stifle and stunt yourpersonality and he dismisses her telling her that she is parroting wordsout of the books. She finally decides not to have the baby and goes infor an operation. Taking such a decision is hard for her and yet she optsnot to have it because she knows that she can give all of herself ornothing at all to the baby but she also wants as she says "to reserve somepart of myself, my life" (Leg: 47).

Munro's "A Trip to the Coast" (DM') has a structure and tonesimilar to "The Beloved Charioteer" (Dark) by Deshpande. In "MyBeloved Charioteer" (Dark) the two women are widows and while thegrandmother feels happy that her husband has died, giving her fieedom,the young daughter feels cheated as both her father and husband aredead. She therefore has no time for her daughter and the daughter growscloser to the grandma. The story, "A Trip to the Coast" (DHS) toodiscusses fieedom and escape but only in terms of the grand daughter,May who feels restricted by the grandmother. Her grandma dies finallytrying to get hypnotised. Nevertheless, May cannot cherish her freedombecause she feels her grandma is the one who has won.She sat with her legs folded under her looking out at the roadwhere she might walk now in any direction she liked, and theworld which lay flat and accessible and full of silence in frontof her. She sat and waited for that moment to come when shecould not wait any longer, when she would have to get up andgo into the store where it was darker than ever now on accountof the rain and where her grandmother lay fallen across thecounter dead, and what was more, victorious (DHS: 189)."An Ounce of Cure" (DHS) discusses the rejection of a young girlby her boy friend. The young girl on one of her baby-sitting nightsdrinks a lot and shames herself. She is infatuated by her schoolmate,

Martin Collingwood. The boy later drops her and starts dating a girlwith whom he is staging the play " Pride and Prejudice". The youngdisillusioned girl moons over him and she spends "ten times as manyhours thinking about Martin Collingwood- yes, pining and weeping forhim- as I ever spent with him; the idea of him tormented my mindrelentlessly and after a while, against my will" (DHS: 77). Finally at theend of the story when she is grown up she realises that she is a grownwoman and her catastrophe is now forever buried.Munro's "Baptising" ( L o portrays the status of marriage, thestatus of bodies and the status of boy-girl relationships. Del'srelationship with her friend Naomi changes when Naomi developsfeminine attitudes and learns to discuss, "diets, skin-care routines, hairshampooingmethods, clothes, diaphragms ..." (LGE 149). Deldiscovers that she can't talk about such aspects and she also finds herown identity threatened when she reads an article by a Americanpsychiatrist on modes of thought in men and women. The psychiatrist'sarticle mentioned that the vision of a full moon triggered different ideasin boys and girls: "a boy would think of the universe the mystery andmagnificence of it while the girl would think of washing her hair. Del isupset as she does not think in this way and wonders if she is abnormal.Ironically enough the article also states: "For a woman, everything ispersonal, no idea is of any interest to her by itself, but must be translatedinto her own experience, in works of art she always sees her own life or

her daydream" (LGW: 150). Del recognises the difference between herfriend and her and she wonders:I was amazed and intimidated by her at her boring andpreoccupied new self. It seemed as if she had got miles aheadof me. Where she was going I did not want to go, but it lookedas if she wanted to; things were progressing for her. Could thesame be said for me? (LGW: 150)Naomi's aim is to get manied which is assumed to be the normallife for girls. "It was the life of the girls in the creamery office, it wasshowers, linen, pots and pans and silverware that completed thefeminine order, ..." (LGK 161). Del rejects this goal and aims at gaininggrade 'A's in her studies. At this point of time she is attracted to GarnetFrench. Her relationship to him opens to her physical aspect of life. Shecontinues her relationship with him, abandoning her studies. Sherealises Garnet's oppression when he wants her to be baptised and shebecomes aware of the freedom that she will lose."The Beggar Maid" (WDY) casts the protagonist Rose in the role ofa poor woman having to be dependent on the king. The king in this storyis Patrick Blatchford who is from a rich home. The beginning of thestory announces that he is in love with Rose. Rose's relationship withPatrick is very similar to that of Del's in "Baptising" (WDY). Del could

spurn Garnet and realise that her personality was being drowned. ButRose is unable to drop the relationship, because Patrick is too gentle, toohonest and "good and guileless". Therefore, she marries him. Laterwhen she reviews her marriage and her separation, she wonders if shehad entered the relationship because of vanity, greed, and economicsecurity. The answer to that lies in her words: "What she never said toanybody, never confided, was that she sometimes thought it had notbeen pity or greed or cowardice or vanity but something quite different,like a vision of happiness" ( WDY: 99).bbMischief' and "Providence" (WDY) throw light on Rose's affairswith Clifford and Tom respectively. Rose has affairs with other men butshe finally realises that her identity is not within these relations withmen but in her own being. "Wild Swans" (WDY) has sexual implicationssimilar to what Del experiences in "Lives of Girls and Women" (LGFV).Mr. Chamberlain's sexual act is objectively viewed by Del and in asimilar fashion Rose undergoes the whole lecherous behaviour of theclergyman thereby becoming both the "victim and accomplice" (1 08).Thus,Del in Lives and Rose in The Beggar-Maid are the inheritorsof this tradition of repression and guerrilla warfare, practisedwithin the bound of social conformity, but their difference isthat through their intelligence and educational opportunities

they have the chance to deviate openly from genderstereotypes, resisting not only the maxim of the masculinetradition but also of feminine cultural traditions, imaginingnewer and more ambitious plots for their own stories(Howells, 1990: 5).In this bid to "carve a living space" women had for long "colludedin their own oppression" as is seen in the case of the wife who acceptsanother woman in "And What's A Son" (Gale) ;but gradually womenhave become more and more conscious that they need to change. It hasbeen noticed that "women are not weak but oppressed and powerless,not incapable but uninitiated, not inadequate but unacknowledged,unrecognised and rendered helpless due to denial of opportunity,subjugation and suppression" (ChitnisJ987: 237). The fact that awoman is strong, adequate and an individual with an identity ishighlighted in these stories.In the West, individualism has played a great role and in a way thishas helped women to step out of their role-models and achieve anindependent life. In Indian societies women have been greatly restrictedby the community. Women are pushed away into the inner sanctum ofthe house and are taught to practise propriety and obedience. They aretaught to deny, and sacrifice instead of asserting their selves. Individualtalents, skills, capabilities were pushed backwards. Women are not

allowed to pick and choose their partners and marriage is more aconvenience than one of love and affection.Malashri Lal feels that the essential difference between the Westernand Oriental concepts of Womanhood rests upon the interpretation ofthe word, "self-actualisation". In India a woman's roles as wife, mother,mother-in- law are modes of self-actualisation; while the west tends toperceive self-actualisation as an individual goal. (1986: 43) Feministconsciousness in the last decade has led to a blurring of conventionseven in India but more and more feminist thinkers argue that theuniversal objectives of the women's movements are to be speciallydefined within a specific sociological context and that desirable socialchange has to be strategically introduced within the system. Theslowness of the process is preferable to the instant rejection oftenactivated by an obvious infiltration of new ideas.The ideas that one witnesses in some of the stories dealing withIndian life reveal that a woman once married is the man's property. Theother factor is that marriage is a bond for the purpose of procreation.This proprietal air of man is extremely well brought out in the story"Intrusion" (Leg). The aim is to please the man and women are whoresneeded to appease men's physical desire. The total disregard ofwomen's need for sex and her body desires can be noted as alreadypointed out in "The First Lady" (Leg), "A Valley in Shadow7' (Dark),

and "Why A Robin" (Leg). Irvine observes that "feminization, assumedby the male writer in a colonial situation to be synonymous withpowerlessness, does not have the same political implication for women".She further mentions that "although within gender divisions, femininityconnotes passivity", within political materialist structures it can assumean entirely different approach to governance (1989: 11). Thus she thinksthat the story of feminization can at one level be a different version ofcolonialism portraying the female voice. This factor is true of many ofthe stories that are discussed under the section "Power Relationships".Deshpande's stories are subverted in terms of theme while Munro'sstories foreground diverse range in terms of not only themes but alsolanguage and structure. In Munro7s stories one becomes aware "thatstories are being told, sometimes by splitting and doubling, allowingdescription and commentary to function together at other times bydidactic tones meant to help readers achieve a new perspective" (Irvine,1989:12). Deshpande's stories play on the silence of women and revealthe inner strength and awareness present within this silent, muteframework (eg. "A Day Like Any Other" (Gale), "Why, A Robin"(Leg), "Intrusion" (Leg) and "A Valley in Shadow" (Dark). Thus "thereader is taught to take women's texts seriously, to recognise not just thesurface of the female body but its hidden meanings" (Irvine, 1989: 14).Munro's women characters--Del and Rose are endowed with a total

lack of sexual inhibitions. In fact it assumes a clinical curiosity morethan a human desire. One good illustration of such a view is the way Delsees Mr. Chamberlain's penis:Raw and blunt, ugly coloured as a wound, it looked to mevulnerable, playful and naive, like some strong-snoutedanimal whose grotesque simple looks are some sort ofguarantee of good will. ( the opposite of what beauty usuallyis.) It did not bring back any of my excitement though. It didnot seem to have anything to do with me.Women also assume the role of the desirers and this is noticed inthe scene where Rose forces Patrick to have sex with her. Rose realisesthat love is a fantasy, an illusion: She had always thought this wouldhappen, that somebody would look at her and love her totally andhelplessly. It was a miracle. It was a mistake. It was what she haddreamed oE it was not what she wanted. (WDF81).This awareness of what she actually wants makes her a symbol ofthe new woman. The reader is also made aware that one should not getattached and that the way to achieve fieedom and liberty and be wholewomen is to be indifferent to men as well as others. Thus Roberta learnsthat she has to distance herself from George in "Labor-Day Dinner"(MOJ) while Joan abandons her children and husband in "Oh, What

Avails" (POL). Similarly Deshpande's "It Was The Nightingale" (Gale)portrays this attitude .Stories like "Dulse" and "Bardon Bus" (MOJ) also depict thedivision between fact and fiction. Irvine commenting on "Dulse" statesthat "the narrator uses Lydia's dilemma to describe the aesthetic tensionbetween creativity and experience, between living in an ivory tower andliving in the actual world". The character in Bardon Bus feels that "themoment when you give yourself up, give yourself over, to the assaultwhich is guaranteed to finish off everything you've been before, astubborn virgin's belief, this belief in perfect mastery; any broken-downwife could tell there is no such thing" (MU 111)Yet the major drawback is that it is very difficult to achieve thisdistance as women have been trained from ages to nurtured care forothers. Coral Ann Howells rightly points out:Women are deeply implicated in the existing structures of thesocial world as mothers, daughters, lovers and wives so that itis a paradox of most women's position that any search for newways of restructuring their lives and their stories has toacknowledge their genuine need for affective relations andresponsibilities at the same time as they register resistance tosuch constructs (1990: 28).

This is validated when Irvine discusses the responsibility of thewomen writers:Because women tend to stress relationship over autonomy,webs rather than hierarchies, women writers are faced withestablishing satisfactory ways of distancing themselves &omthe events of the story, of giving the narrative voice authority,of separating the creating self from the characters in the text(1989: 110).Thus, one notices that each of these stories reveal various facets ofthe power that men wield. In "Intrusion" (Leg) one notices that thenewly married bride is unable to overcome the boundaries of society andis only mutely able to share her agony with her readers. On the otherhand "First Lady" (Leg) depicts the misuse of political power and thechanges that it can wrought between a husband and a wife.Munro's stories are more varied and endow women with morepower and independence. The two readings by the mother and daughterdepict the plurality of the readings in the story "Friend Of My Youth"(FOY). The unsavoury nature of love and the need to be aware of one'spotential is the basis of the stories "Hold Me Fast, Don't Let Me Pass"(FOY), "Labour Day Dinner", "Bardon Bus" (MOJ), "Oranges AndApples" (POL) and "Dulse" (MOJ), while "Five Points" (FOY) revealsthe power that women too can display.

CHAPTER IIIPROVIDENCEThe problem, the only problem, is my mother.And she is the one of course that I am tryingto get; it is to reach her that this wholejourney has been undertaken. With whatpurpose? To mark her off, to describe, toillumine, to celebrate, to get rid, of her; and itdid not work, for she looms too close, just asshe always did.--SIB (246).The bond between a mother25 and daughter is primordial. Themother is reborn with the child and grows along with her. They growand experience each other and at times, their experience converges but itcould diverge also, leading to communication gaps. The mother figurecan assume a number of variations--she could be dead and yet hold astrong aura of her self over the child; or she may be dead and therefore adeadlabsent mother to the child. Sometimes the child may try to revoke25It is good to be reminded of Adrienne Rich's words in thiscontext: "Motherhood--unmentioned in the histories of conquest andserfdom, wars and treaties, exploration and imperialism--has a history, ithas an ideology, it is more fbndamental than tribalism or nationalism"(1 976:34).

the mother. At other times, the mother may be the power figure, namelythe strong dominant mother who may makeibreak the child; or in somecases a weak, submissive, powerless mother whom the child maysympathise witwdislike. She could also be an independent womanasserting herself and the child may realise that she is different fromother mothers.In the fiction of contemporary world, however, the mother has beenportrayed as a monster. Such a situation arises because the daughterbegins to see her own self reflected in the mother. Karen Elias-Button inThe Lost Tradition uses the metaphor of the evil mother as the symbolof the Medusa. She feels that the "Medusa is the dark side of the mother,the grasping mother, representative of the entanglements mothers anddaughters encounter" but she states that this figure could also become "ametaphor for powers previously hidden and denigrated, collectivepowers that we are finally beginning to reaffirm and claim forourselves" (1980: 194). Hindu mythology too portrays such an image inthe depiction of the Goddess KaliiDurga. The Hindu Goddess, theenergetic mother can become a symbol of either benevolence ormalevolence26. Mother, especially in Hindu society is acknowledged26 This division can also be seen in a different way in the perceptionof the institution of motherhood by society--women are consideredLC'impure, cormpt, the site of discharges, bleedings, dangerous tomasculinity, a source of moral and physical contamination" but another

great importance. In fact, the purpose of marriage is procreation whichis illustrated by stories such as 'The First Lady" (Leg), and "The Valleyin Shadow" (Dark). The initial reaction, thus, in many stories is anegation of the mother which changes later into a recognition of themother and a reconciliation with the mother. It is this fluidity existingbetween them and the centring of the mother as a subject that is thefocus of this chapter, which is sectioned as follows :* The deadabsent mothers.* The dominant /passive mothers* The distanced rnothersidaughters* The independent mothers.The Dead/Absent MothersWomen are perpetually attempting to establish their identities.Identity can be defined as the "stable, consistent and reliable sense ofwho one is and what one stands for in the world. It integrates one'smeaning to oneself and one's meaning to others; it provides a matchbetween what one regards as central to oneself and how one is viewedby significant others in one's life (Josselson, 1987: 10). Deshphande'saspect that society projects is the image of them as "beneficient, sacred,pure, asexual, nourishing" beings well suited for being benevolent andnurturing mothers (Rich, 1 976: 34).

"Lucid Moments" (Int) is one such story that discusses the identity crisisexperienced by an ailing mother. It portrays the anxiety of the mother toknow herself and in her quest for identity she tries to connect her owndead mother with a name. Sujatha, the daughter is able to acknowledgeher mother's struggle to know herself, and she connects her mother'squest with her own identity.Sujatha initially identifies herself with her father whom sheperceives as the nearest symbol of power and authority. She recollectsthat "To be admitted to his companionship had been the greatesthonour" and she had "pitied Akka her mother and Shilpa her sister forbeing left outside the magic circle" (Int: 72). Sujatha's perception of herfather changes when she notices that he is unable to cope with his wife'sillness and instead of being strong and independent he becomes a weak,helpless person. She perceives that he is a self-centred man when shediscovers that he does not know anything about his wife, and that shehas always been just a wife, and nothing more to him. Sujatha'sconversation during lunch illustrates this apathy of his:"One of her better days actually". I tell him, during our lunchwhen his question comes up. "She's been talking today ...""Of what?""Her dead mother. She was asking me for her name. Isn't itodd? Baba is pushing his food about on his plate; he seems

disinterested not only in his food but in my talk as well."Baba, do you know it?""What?"''Akka's mother's name?"Irritably he says, "No, how could I?" It sounds as if he issaying-why should I? (Int: 73).Sujatha as a woman can now understand the need of her motherand she is in empathy with her. Her mother's echoing question makesher aware for the need to know one's self. She, as the daughter, is also tobe blamed as she has subverted her mother's image by calling her"Akka" (sister) instead of "Amma" (mother). She knows that her motheris troubled as she wants to know who she is. Her mother is anxious andgrieved because she is not able to recollect her mother's name. Added tothis misery she is also troubled by her own double identity for she doesnot know if she is Sumati or Girija--possibly two identities thrust onher--one by her father and another by her husband, thereby erasing hertrue inner being. This loss of identity is equated with her degeneratingbody: "Since the metastasis, there seems to be almost nothing of her oldself left. The shadows that began under her eyes have captured thewhole of her face, the lower portion has caved in, her eyes have sunkinto two deep, dark wells" (Int: 72). Yet, there is a point ofidentification, interestingly enough, the "bindi" that adorns an Indianwoman's forehead. This mark of tradition is seen here as foregrounding

the self.Sujatha can now realise her mother's silence and she realises thatwomen are continually erased by society. She remembers the preweddingrite when the names of the fore 'fathers' are uttered but not ofthe mothers or their ancestors who are just forgotten. She thus gainsidentity experiencing and sharing her mother's pain and suffering. Shefeels that she shares her mother's death as she had once shared her birthwith her. Dale Spender's remarks about the process of naming are validin this context:Practically it means that women's family names do not countand that there is one more device for making women invisible.Fathers pass their names on to their sons and the existence ofdaughters can be denied when in the absence of a male heir itis said that a family 'dies out'. One other direct result of thispractice of only taking cognisance of the male line, because itbecomes almost impossible to trace the ancestry of women -particularly if they do not come into the male definedcategories of importance (1980: 24).Sujatha's final act of hanging up the framed and enlargedphotograph of her mother bestows not only an identity on her mother

ut also attempts to locate the centralitfortified by her when she makes her littlename as well as her own. Thus the final linking of thenames with oneself decolonizes women and re-frames them; this act canbe recognised by the words of Daphne Marlatt:".Like the mother's body, language is larger than us and carriesalong with it. it bears us. it births us. insofar as we bear it. ifwe are poets we spend our lives discovering not just what wehave to say but what language is saying as it carries us with itin etymology we discover a history of verbal relations (Afamily tree, if you will) that has preceded us and given us theworld we live in. the given, the immediately presented, as atbirth-a given name a given word ... here we are truly containedwithin the body of our mother tongue (1987: 224).Mothers pass on their sense of guilt, weakness, and helplessness totheir daugbkrs. "Peace of Utrecht" (DHS) is an autobiographical storyas Munro herself admits in her interview with Geoff Hancock, that theillness of a parent changes the relationship and it gets to become27Dale Spender states that not only males name their experiencesbut also insist that those who don't share that experience use thosenames. When women are endowed with the power to name then theremay arise a more "accurate classification of the world" (1989: 189-99).

significant: "And so her illness and death and the whole tension betweenus ... was very important. The first story I think of as a real story was"Peace of Utrecht". It's about the death of a mother'' (1987: 215). Thedaughter's visit to her mother's house after her death reminds her -of thecry of her mother which had been "shamehlly undisguised and raw andsupplicating" (DM: 198). The narrator, Helen and her sister, Maddyhad learnt to deal with these cries of helplessness by growing cunningand cold. They took away fiom her, as Helen narrates, "our anger andimpatience and disgust, took all emotion away from our dealings withher, you might take away meat from a prisoner to weaken him, till hedied" (Dm 199). She had demanded love from her daughters but theyhad not enough reserves to draw from and had increased her sense ofisolation and imprisonment. She had, by her illness, changed into ademanding ghoulish mother:Our Gothic Mother, with the cold appalling mask of theShaking Palsy laid across her features, shuffling, weeping,devouring attention wherever she can get it, eyes dead andburning, fixed inward on herself; this is not all (DHS: 200).The mother in this state shifts from normalcy to abnormality. Thusif one day she has behaved like a housewife, taking care of the plants orbaking, another day she is demanding the daughters to dress her up andget clothes stitched for her. Helen escapes this picture of the mother by

moving away and distancing herself. Maddy's letters now no longerproduce in her the "once-familiar frenzy and frustration which mymother's demands could produce" (DHS: 200). The ordinariness of lifeforces her to forget the "Gothic Mother" who had begun to be imaginaryto her. By revisiting her she tries to recapture her but she can't. Finallythe paper that she finds with the words "The Peace of Utrecht, 1713,brought an end to the war of the Spanish Succession" creates thenecessary vision for her to reconcile not only with her mother's spiritbut also to recognise the fact that Maddy too has a life of her own.The mother could also act as a spur influencing and enabling thewoman to change her lifestyle. Such a change is witnessed inDeshpande's "it Was The Nightingale" (Gale). Jayu, the protagonist,takes a bold step to further her career as she does not want to be like hermother. Initially she feels " dislike and contempt" for her motherbecause she had "tried to live her life through her husband anddaughters". To Jayu she seems like a woman "who had made her ownhell and gloried in it" (Gale: 14). Therefore, she battles and finally getsher own self out from such an image. She changes from the selfsacrificingand self-effacing mother into an independent woman.

Dominant/Passive MothersThe girl-child in Indian society is a marginal figure and it becomesmore evident if the child is born out of wedlock or to another man. Thisdifferentiation is brought out in "The Awakening" (Mir). Though thestory deals not with a mother-daughter conflict it becomes significant toexamine it, as the narrative throws open the helplessness of the motherand also reveals her attempts to shield the child. The child is treated in adifferent manner from the others as she is not her father's daughter. Sheis sent to a different school, and the father is distant and does notcommunicate with her. He punishes the child for the dishonour that heassociates with the mother. She is excluded fiom all the activities thatthe father and her siblings undertake. She thinks that by scoring goodmarks in her tests she can please her father, but she finds out that thefather cannot be placated that way. She has learnt silently that her birthitself is the cause of all the anger and punishment. Her final outcry,"Whatever they say, I was born. And I am. I am" (Miv: 63) reveals thatshe cannot be defeated and that she overcomes her alienation. MuktaAtrey in "The Girl Child in the Fiction of Shashi Deshpande" notes:Deshpande unveils the subtle processes of oppression andgender differentiation at work in the family and in the male-centred Indian society. Her feminism does not uproot the girl

child from her given context, but tries to understand anddefine her in the framework of the various factors that shapeher. These include cultural aspects like myths and legends,rituals and ceremonies as well as social and psychologicalfactors such as the family structure, the woman's position init, female sexuality and the traumas of menstruation,childbirth and abortion (1990: 246).Another story that reveals the helplessness of the mother anddisplays the mother as the passive onlooker is Deshpande's "It wasDark" (Dark). The story reveals the ostracization by society that awoman has to undergo. The girl in the story, a fourteen year old is rapedand the trauma of the parents is portrayed. The mother is blamed as thefather feels that she had not taken the responsibility to educate the child.The mother, on the other hand, had faced so many restrictions andboundaries that she had desired for her daughter's freedom:I had been warned enough as a girl. "Don't, don't,don't ...y ou're a female." They had taught me to build a wallround myself with negatives from childhood. And thensuddenly, when I got married, they told me to break the walldown. To behave as if it had never been. And my husbandtoo--how complete his disregard of that wall had been; I hadfelt totally vulnerable, wholly defenceless. I won't let my

daughter live behind walls, I had thought (Dark: 23).Mukta Atrey commenting on the story thinks that stories such as"Why a Robin" (Leg) and "It was Dark" (Dark) reveal the changingattitude of mothers towards their girl children. She thinks that theunderstanding and sympathy between the daughters and the mothersgrow. She adds that "It was Dark" reveals the "young girl'svulnerability which no amount of knowledge of the sexual act can erase.The young girl cannot cope with the crisis and is numbed into a state ofindifference and withdrawal" (1990: 251). To the victim the wholetrauma is associated with a dark room and there is complete blanknesswithin her. The mother feels as if her daughter has witnessed a solareclipse with naked eyes and lost her vision. She understands that she isthe person who has to bring the daughter out of this darkness and leadher towards light. She finally manages to draw her daughter out andmake her aware of the light around her: "Sunlight poured into theroom, ... And now at last her eyes moved from her spot to a glimmering,moving circle ... They rested on that shining light for a moment, thenmoved to me. She saw me" (Dark: 25).In the story the moment of the rape is not revealed to us andRajeshwari Sunder Rajan commenting on the depiction and happening

of rape28 thinks that "the fact that the enactment of rape takes place inprivate and secret places requires the author to conduct his readers intothe innermost recesses of physical space" (1993: 76). She further pointsout in this context that feminist texts of rape counter narrativedeterminism, in different ways: namely by making the raped woman thesubject rather than as a victim of the act; by showing strategies ofsurvival instead of establishing the issue around myths of chastity; byportraying and placing the raped woman in a system of heterosexuallove and oppression through rape; by presenting the literal facts of theact rather than weaving a mystifying atmosphere around the whole issueand finally by representing the cost of the act in complex perspectivesrather than displaying the extinction of the victim. (1993: 76)Deshpande's "Can You Hear Silence" (Dark) sketches the hustleand bustle of a metropolitan city. It also foregrounds the life that aworking mother undergoes. The story exemplifies the'dangr a girl-childmay encounter and the socialisation that the mother has initiated herinto. The daughter tries to link herself to the past of the mother andsavour the silence that her mother has talked about. The image of silencecan assume a number of symbols: "Silence as withheld communicationproduces mystery and enigma" (Sunder Rajan, 1993: 87); it can alsoreveal displeasure as noticed in "The Shadow" or it could display28 For a more detailed discussion on the issue of rape see SunderRaj an's Real and Imagined Women.

secretiveness, (illustrated by "It Was Dark" (Dark) or "Red Dress -1946" (DHS)). In other instances it could be an index of heroism or canshow self-discipline or resistance.We are once again made aware of the importance of names and thesignificance of telling stories by Munro's "Progress of Love" (POL).Unlike the daughter in "Lucid Moments" (Int) the daughter, Fame herehas always called her mother, 'mother' and to her the personal name thather mother has seems strange. She also develops an identity with themother by becoming a part of her personality and is constantly remindedof her: "But I had a sense of her all the time, and would be reminded ofher by the most unlikely things--an upright piano, or a tall white loaf ofbread" (POL: 9). Even though the idea seems a little exaggerated, whatis revealed here is the sense of space that the mother occupies in thedaughter's psyche. The mother's presence becomes a strong one as themother becomes apart of the daughter which is a feeling not felt by thenarrator's brothers:I always had a feeling, with my mother's talk and stories, ofsomething swelling out behind. Like a cloud, a poison, thathad touched my mother's life. And when I grieved my mother,I became part of it ....It seemed as if she knew something aboutme that was worse, far worse, than ordinary lies and tricks andmeanness; it was a really sickening shame (POL: 13).

The daughter is here aware of the mother and her body and shefeels the bond breaks when she herself later on has only two sons and nodaughters. The story of the mother's suicide becomes a link to hermother's past. Redekop remarks that Munro7s exploration of "maternalancestry is intimately related to language and to the process ofstorytelling" (1992: 176). She adds that the naming of the mother andthe aunt constructs the subjects of the story and the two versions of thestory that Fame hears take up two positions, namely, the mother's storyis a story about the mother herself while the aunt's story loses thematrilineal power and is a "challenge" issued by her (1992: 176).The mother in "The Moon in the Orange Skating Rink" (POL) isnot the true mother yet she assumes a demonic form, for one finds thatthe adopted daughter, Callie is always slaving away and finally gains thetitle of slavery Kemaghan. She is a substitute mother about whom thereare lot of stories and the two boarders, Sam and Edgar think that the sexact that they have with Callie might have taken place with MissKemaghan. But the story that Miss. Kemaghan tells them about Callie'sbirth is bizarre and unbelievable. The truth of the story is not what isimportant, "What mattered was Miss Kemaghan7s cold emphasis as shetold this, her veiled and surely unfriendly purpose, her random ferocity"(POL: 151). The story questions the romantic notion of mother, herlove, affection and her sacrifice for the daughter. Munro achieves thiseffect cleverly by positioning a mock mother and thus, makes a mockery

of the conventional notions of motherhood.The questioning of conventionality and tradition is perceived in"White Dump" (POL). It reveals the intricate story line filled with theperceptions of the grandmother, Sophie; the daughter-in-law, Isabel andIsabel's daughter, Denise. The grandmother, Sophie's naked appearancedisplays the embarrassing performance of the mother to shame her son.Redekop thinks that such exhibitionism "challenges our notions ofinnate motherhood and this, at the same time, results in a transgressionof the boundaries between stories. Both stunts are necessary forsurvival" (1992: 177).The narrator in "Moons of Jupiter" (MUJ) is linked to the birth ofher daughters and the life she had with them when she comes to visit herfather who is in hospital. She knows that her daughters, Nichola andJudith would have discussed her and tried to establish their connectionsto her: "They would have talked about me. Judith and Nicholacomparing notes, relating anecdotes; analysing, regretting, blaming,forgiving" (MOJ: 222). She thinks that daughters being women areclosely tied up with the mother and know all about the mother. She isreminded that at Judith's age she had been in college discussing issueswith her friends and at Nichols's age she had been a mother. Sheremembers the talks she would have with her neighbourhood friend,Ruth Boudreau:

We talked about our parents, our childhood's, though forsome time we kept clear of our marriages. How thoroughly wedealt with our fathers and mothers, deplored their marriages,their mistaken ambitions or fear of ambition, how competentlywe filed them away, defined them beyond any possibility ofchange (MOJ: 222).She had felt offended by her father when he had told her that hecould not remember the days when she grew up. She realises that thesame is true when she becomes the mother. All that she can rememberare "hanging out diapers, bringing in and folding diapers.. .I was sleepyall the time then;. ..wives yawning, napping, visiting, drinking coffee andfolding diapers; ..." (MOJ: 223). She realises that they had become likecartoons and had aged by the responsibilities. The story once againpoints out the need for detachment and distancing oneself in order tosurvive. The mother remembers that Nichola had been tested forleukaemia and frightened that she may lose her, she had tried to attain adistance: "There was a care--not a withdrawal exactly but a care--not tofeel anything much. I saw how the forms of love might be maintainedwith a condemned person but with the love in fact measured anddisciplined, because you have to survive" (MOJ: 230). The whole issueis always a secret to the person who is sentenced to death. The fact ofNichola's life had stayed with her and by this secret the mother is

empowered as she gains a wider vision of what life and death means.This mental picture that she sees is a "releasing one"(Redekop,1992:171) as she is able to reconcile to her father's death.Carrington's conclusions about the story are valid:Thus, the experience of withdrawal that Janet's father readsabout and that Janet actively seeks unifies the story boththematically and psychologically by shaping thecharacterisation of the narrator whose experience embodiesthe theme. Her split into two personae, the observer and theparticipant, defines her double roles as her father's daughterand as her daughter' mother. In participating in her own life,Janet has been only the observer on the periphery of both herfather's life and her daughters' lives, and they have beenobservers of hers (204).The Parkinson's disease that we find is the cause of the mother'sdeath in "Peace of Utrecht" (DHS) is in "The Ottawa Valley" (SIB) herein its initial stages. The story begins with a return home to the mother'splace, the Ottawa valley. The story reflects on the instance when themother sacrifices the safety pin to hold the daughter's panties. This veryfeminine act reveals the mother's ability to uphold her daughter'ssecrets forgetting her own troubles. Yet, the daughter is unable to tendand care for her mother as already witnessed in "The Peace of Utrecht".

To illustrate this fact she remarks "I was very much relieved that shehad decided against strokes, and that I would not have to be the mother,and wash and wipe and feed her lying in bed, as aunt Dodie had had todo with mother" (SIB: 244).The sense of power and dominance is depicted by the mother figureFlo in the sequence stories WDY. Flo in "Royal Beatings" and the otherconnected stories of WDY assumes the role of the story teller. Flo likedto imagine and she liked "the details of a death: the things people said,the way they protested or tried to get out of bed or swore or laughed ..."(WDY: 4). Even the way she tells Rose about the death of Rose's motheris quite ridiculous.There is from the beginning a dislike and a mongering for powerbetween Rose and Flo. As Rose points out: "There was a long trucebetween Flo and Rose in the beginning. Rose's nature was growing likea prickly pineapple, but slowly, and secretly, hard pride and scepticism"developed in her. To Rose in the beginning her vision of Flo is one ofextraordinary softness and hardness; "The soft hair, the long, soft, palecheeks, soft almost invisible fuzz in front of her ears and above hermouth. The sharpness of her knees, hardness of her lap, flatness of herfront" (WDY: 11). These images of hardness, flatness and sharpnessfinally lead to the image being put into action. Flo uses her power andauthority, thus leading to the royal beatings that Rose receives fiom her

father. Even before the beatings the power of Flo is displayed by thebody image: "Her legs are long, white and muscular, marked all overwith blue veins as if somebody had been drawing rivers on them with anindelible pencil". Flo's scrubbing is seen by Rose as endowed with "anabnormal energy, a violent disgust ..." (WDY: 15). All these images flowfinally into the question of who do you think you are:Flo speaks of Rose's smart-aleck behaviour, rudeness andsloppiness and conceit. Her willingness to make work forothws, her lack of gratitude .... Oh, don't you think you'resomebody, says Flo, and a moment later, Who do you thinkyou are? ( WDE 15).Flo in the story not only exhibits theatricality and power but alsoassumes the role of a martyr. She finally manages to rouse Rose'sfather's ire and Rose is vanquished by the royal beatings her fatherresorts to. Rose in her new state of the injured victim feels that "She haspassed into a state of calm, in which outrage is perceived as completeand final". In such a state she finds that her choices are clear--"She willnever speak to them, she will never look at them with anything butloathing, she will never forgive them. She will punish them; she willfinish them" (WDY: 20). These thoughts make her forget herself and her

esponsibility. This drama of hatred and violence29 is then followed by~10's bid to appease Rose. Flo, now sure of her power, tries to woo Roseby getting her a jar of cold cream for her wounds and a tray ofappetising food--a large glass of chocolate milk, little sandwiches,canned salmon, butter tarts, chocolate biscuits. Rose "will turn away,refuse to look, but left alone with these eatables will be miserablytempted, roused and troubled and drawn back from thoughts of suicideor flight ..." (WDK 26 ) She finally decides to eat one for strength but,unable to resist, finishes everything thus losing her advantage.This whole picture changes and in "Spelling" (FDY) Rose is thewoman in control while Flo loses all her power. The story is a reversalof "Royal Beatings" (WDY) and here Rose does not have to resort toviolence as Flo is already a victim because of her age. Her senilitymakes her a child and there is one moment where mother and daughterare reconciled. After Flo has been admitted into the aged home, Rosecleans up their place only to discover a wig of Flo's. She takes the wigand offers it to Flo, thus bridging the gap between them: "'A wig' , saidRose, 'and Flo began to laugh. Rose laughed too"'. Rose then assumesthe role of the entertainer, sticks the wig on her head and continues the29 The power relations that one notices in some of the stories are areflection of the physical power that women notice in men and whichthey intemalise in their selves. This could explain the show of violenceand power by Flo in "Royal Beatings" ( WDYJ.

comedy making Flo laugh so that "she rocked back and forth in hercrib" (TDE 191). Flo is once again able to tell her stories and she tellsRose about the removal of gall stones from her body. This bond that isestablished between Rose and Flo makes Rose think later in life oftelling her what she had heard about Hat Nettleton. But, Flo has lost herpower of speech which had given her the power of exhibitor and now"She had removed herself, and spent most of her time sitting in a comerof her crib, looking crafty and disagreeable, not answering anybody,though she occasionally showed her feelings by biting a nurse" (WDY:24). Redekop remarks that "the dialogue of stories that move back andforth between Flo and Rose is a structural acting out of this strange faceto face experience of fool and nonfool, infant and mother (1992: 121).This reconciliation between Rose and Flo helps Rose later tounderstand the power of mothering in the story "Providence" (WDY).Rose's relationship with Anna, her daughter, is one of love but for thefirst time Rose realises the responsibilities of being a single parent. Shealso understands that to the child, the parents are the most importantpeople. Anna's life revolves around her parents, as Rose remarks in hernarrative: "Yet for Anna this bloody fabric her parents had made, ofmistakes and mismatches, that anybody could see ought to be tom upand thrown away, was still the true web of life, of father and mother, ofbeginning and shelter" (VDY: 138). Being with Anna she realises that''For the first time in her life she understood domesticity, knew the

meaning of shelter, and laboured to manage it" (FDY: 145). She finallygives up Anna because she learns that her independence cannot providethe stability that a child needs:She wanted to take Anna with her, set them up again in sometemporary shelter. It was just as Patrick said. She wanted tocome home to Anna, to fill her life with Anna. She didn'tthink Anna would choose that life. Poor, picturesque, gypsingchildhoods are not much favoured by children, though theywill claim to value them, for all sorts of reasons, later on(WDE 155).Anna therefore is sent to live with her father, Patrick and his wife,Elizabeth. Rose finally sees a photo of Anna where she looks demureand satisfied.The mother moves from the distance to become a friend in "Friendof My Youth" (FOY). The story recaptures the mother figure, and herpower of entertaining the daughter. At the beginning of the story it ismade clear that the mother died in her fifties. The story begins with adream: "I used to dream about my mother, and though the details in thedream varied, the surprise in it was always the same" (FOE 3). Thedaughter is reminded of the mother's debilitating body which had beenafflicted by Parkinson's disease. The mother portrayed in the initial

stages of the disease in the story "The Ottawa Valley" (SIB) and themother who is dead due to the affliction in "The Peace of Utrecht"(DHS) is once again revived here. The daughter is able to capture thequalities of the mother that she had forgotten. She remembers the"liveliness of face and voice", "the casual humour she had, not ironicbut merry, the lightness and impatience and confidence?" and her"matter-of-fact reply" (FOE 4). The mother in the dream is not afflictedby the disease and the daughter feels relieved and happy to see her likethat. She finally realises from the dream that her mother had exhibited"options and powers " that she had not known she had possessed. Themother thus turns into a ghost figure: "She changes the bitter lump oflove I have carried all this time into a phantom---something useless anduncalled for, like a phantom pregnancy" (FOE 26). The story brings outthe idea of failure and the inability of the daughter's to know the mothercompletely. This guilt30 of the daughter to represent the mother becomes3oMagdalene Redekop's discussion of this story is veryenlightening. She feels that "Munro's exploration of the daughter's guiltmoves through levels of self-interrogation that are potentiallyparalyzing" She adds that the title is "listed as one of several salutationswritten by the mother". She further remarks that the continuing selfinterrogationemployed by Munro is an "exploration of the workings ofour traditional notions about writing as they relate to lives of ourmothers". The reference to the mother is Munro's way of "insisting onthe fact of referentiality". Thus, the mother's narrative in the story andthe failure of the character Flora in theher's storycan be a reference forthe failure of the daughter's vision ofihe mother. Therefore Redekopargues that "The thread of referentiality is deliberately blurred towards

a "phantom pregnancy" where the daughter is fated to cany the past ofthe mother and is unable to give birth to it."Circle of Prayer" (POL) is a story told from the mother, Trudy'spoint of view. The story begins by a violent act, namely Trudy hurling ajug at her daughter, Robin. The violence begins when Trudy discoversthat the bead necklace given to her by her mother-in-law and which shehad forbidden Robin to wear, had been given by Robin to a friend. Herquestions directed at Robin are answered by silence, and in a fit of rageshe hurls the jug. But fortunately the jug falls on the rug. Robin hadgiven the necklace to her friend and though Robin displays a frightenedlook she is according to Tmdy, "stubborn, calculating, disdainful"(POL: 255). The story is interspersed by the death of a young girl in anaccident. When Trudy hears this she is concerned and is afraid to hearthat a girl might have been "dragged off a country road, raped in thewoods, strangled, beaten, left there" (POL: 256). Her concern is mainlybecause she knows that her daughter goes running and her beauty maycause her harm. Trudy begins to find love and wishes to reconcile withher daughter. When she hears about the circle of prayer that her f?iend,Janet believes in, she agrees to join them. What finally alters her view ofher daughter and bridges the gap between her and Robin is a vision shehas *hich portrays to her the importance of detachment. This helps herthe end of the story, it becomes difficult to tell Flora and the motherapart" ( 1992: 21 1).

to be reconciled to the loss of the necklace. The vision she has alsoreveals to her the importance of furthering oneself and placing oneself inthe role of a spectator:She sees her young self looking in the window at the oldwoman playing the piano. The dim room, with its oversizebeams and fireplace and the lonely leather chairs. Theclattering, faltering, persistent piano music. Trudy remembersthat so clearly and it seems she stood outside her own body,which ached then from the punishing pleasures of love. Shestood outside her own happiness in atide of sadness. And theopposite thing happened the morning Dan left. Then she stoodoutside her own unhappiness in a tide of what seemedunreasonably like love. But it was the same thing, really,when you got outside. What are those times that stand out,clear patches in your life--what do they have to do with it?They aren't exactly promises. Breathing spaces (POL: 273).The mother in "Oh, What Avails'? (POL) is a lively woman who isnot only independent but also exhibits a certain amount of eccentricity.She is also pictured by the daughter as a proud woman and though shedoes not have money, she does not think of herself as poor. This isillustrated by the fact that she does not get a doctor's advice for her son'Morris' eye accident. She treats Morris as a grown up and allows him to

smoke, drink and drive a car by the time he is twelve. The mother herehas a name for everyone in town. She also knows a lot of poetry and attimes "She looks out the window and says a bit of poetry and they howwho has gone by" (POL: 183). Joan, the daughter narrator later in liferealises that one needs to act in order to hide the things one sees "intheir temporary separateness, all connected underneath in such atroubling, satisfying, necessary, indescribable way" (POL: 208). FinallyJoan realises that their mother had taught them to have a "delicate,special regard for themselves" and because of this gift of hers she andher brother, Morris had been able to get what they wanted. Joan quotesthe lines that her mother often used to say:'Ah, what avails fhe sceptred race,Ah, what the form divine!mat every virtue, every grace,Rose Aylmer--Rose Matilda--allwere thine!' (POL: 2 15).These lines indicate to Joan that power and beauty are all of no useand every thing one day fmds its plaee. This global vision is what adaughter can learn fiom the mother.

The Distanced MotherslDaughtersThe distancing and reconciliation of the mother and daughter isapparent in "Why a Robin" (Leg). The mother here feels that herdaughter is sophisticated and graceful compared to her. This feeling ofhers is also partially nurtured by the distance that has erupted betweenher husband and herself. The other factor for her feeling of inferiority isthe difference in status between their two families. She is enamoured bythe beauty of her daughter but cannot reach out to her. She is afraid ofbeing repulsed and remarks: "I don't have the key to open up thisbeautiful child, though she is mine. I don't have the key to her father,either. It is as if I am, in my own house, confronted with two closedrooms. I am condemned to sit outside and gaze helplessly at the closeddoors" (Leg: 51). In spite of the distance between the mother anddaughter, in this story there is reconciliation when the daughter finallyrecognises the mother as another woman. She needs her mother'sassurance when she matures from a girl into a woman. Thus, thedistance is bridged by the recognition of the female body31 and the bond31 It is relevant to note the words of Rich here:The nurture of daughters in patriarchy calls for a strong senseof self-nurture in the mother. The psychic interplay betweenmother and daughter can be destructive, but there is no reasonwhy it is doomed to be. A woman who has respect andaffection for her own body, who does not view it as unclean oras a sex-object, will wordlessly transmit to her daughter that a

that exists between women.Munro in some of her stories depicts the gender divisions thatsociety and the family inflict on the girl. This is illustrated by storieslike "Walker Brothers Cowboy" (DHS) and "Boys and Girls". The tasksthat the parents perform are illustrations of these gender patterns. Themother in "Walker Brothers Cowboy" (DHS) is busy sewing, cuttingand matching cleverly bits of cloth to stitch a dress for the daughter,while the father takes the daughter out for a walk. The story reveals thedaughter's distance32 and dislike of the mother while she is drawntowards her father. The mother tries to regain her gentility but thedaughter realises that trying to be a lady is enough. To be accepted onehas to possess status too. This realisation makes her hate her mother:This is entirely different from going out for a walk with mywoman's body is a good and healthy place to live. A womanwho feels pride in being female will not visit her selfdepreciationupon her female child (1 976:245).32Munro herself has had this experience being a daughter and alsobeing a mother, she observes :I think they go through a stage when they don't want a motherwho is not shocked by four-letter words; they don't want amother who reads the underground newspaper they bringhome; they want a mother bending over the ironing boardsaying, " I don't know what this world is coming to", becausethat's something to define themselves against.

father. We have not walked past two houses before I feel wehave become objects of universal ridicule. Even the dirtywords chalked on the side-walk are laughing at us. My motherdoes not seem to notice. She walks serenely like a ladyshopping, past the housewives in loose beltless dresses tomunder the arms. With me her creation, wretched curls andflaunting hair bow, scrubbed knees and white socks--all I donot want to be. I loathe even my name when she says it inpublic, in a voice so high, proud and ringing, deliberatelydifferent from the voice of any other mother on the street(rn: 5).Magdalene Redekop in her study of the image of mothers feels thatin the story "Walker Brothers Cowboy" (Dm the maternal action to beself-sufficient needs the body of the daughter. She thinks that the fatherand mother both give something to the daughter and the only"difference is that while the mother sews a dress for her, the fathershows her, by example, how to construct a mask. Both parents ensure,however, that the daughter's idea of reproduction will be one based onthrift" (1992:38). What is apparent is that the daughter learns fromobserving and is aware of the double life that the father leads. Thedaughter thus, realises the reality and the illusion that can exist togetherin life.

This observation and the awareness of truth is once again continuedin "Images" (DHS). The daughter feels that the nurse, Mary McQuadehas taken over their mother and has "let her power loose in the house"(DHS: 32). Mary is no goddess but takes the role of the goddess bymaking the daughter feel wicked and sinful: "every time she saidMother I felt chilled, and a kind of wretchedness and shame spreadthrough me as it did at the name of Jesus" (DHS: 33). The daughter isaware that "This Mother that my own real, warm-necked, irascible andcomforting human mother set up between us was an everlastinglywounded phantom, sorrowing like Him over all the wickedness I did notyet know I would commit" (DM: 33). The daughter finds that themother has changed from a story teller and an entertainer into a childwhimpering and crying for Mary's attention. The father once again donsthe role of a quester and a hunter, (who has changed from a rovingsalesman in "Walker Brothers Cowboy" (DHS) into a trapper in thisstory). Another similarity is that once again the daughter is allowed intothe father's circle and is empowered by his secrets. Thus the daughter atthe conclusion of the story is made aware that:Like the children in fairy stories who have seen their parentsmake pacts with terrifying strangers, who have discovered thatour fears are based on nothing but the truth, but who comeback fresh from marvellous escapes and take up their knivesand forks, with humility and good manners, prepared to live

happily ever after--like them, dazed and powerhi with secrets,I never said a word (DHS: 43).Munro's story, "Boys and Girls" (DHS) also depicts the theme ofgender differences, the identification with the father and the final shiftof the daughter from the father to mother. The mother as depicted bymany of Munro's stories is a story teller. The daughter is howeverdrawn to the father even though he hardly shares his thoughts with her.She works for him willingly and is proud to be a part of his world as shefeels his authority. She is aware of the number of duties and chores thather mother handles hanging out the wash, cooking , making jams andjellies, etc., but the daughter feels that "work in house was endless,dreary, and peculiarly depressing; work done out of doors and in myfather's service was ritualistically important" (DHS: 117). Though thedaughter knows that her mother loves her, she feels she cannot trust her.She knows that she loved her yet she was also her enemy. She thoughtthat she was always plotting against her: "She was plotting now to getme to stay in the house more, although she knew I hated it (because sheknew I hated it) and keep me from working for my father. It seemed tome she would do this simply out of perversity, and to try her power"(DHS: 11 8). She never thinks that her mother may have been lonely orjealous of her. Slowly as she grows up it dawns on her that there is achange in the perception of what a girl is:

The word girl had formerly seemed to me innocent andunburdened, like the word child; now it appeared that therewas no such thing. A girl was not, as I had supposed, simplywhat I was; it was what I had to become. It was a definition,always touched with emphasis, with reproach anddisappointment. Also it was a joke on me (DHS: 119).She learns that "girls don't slam doors", that "girls keep their kneestogether when they sit down" (DHS: 118) and that girls can't ask somequestions. Finally when she allows a horse to escape and her fatherdismisses her gesture by the words, "She's only a girl", she cannotprotest as she thinks maybe that it is the truth. This action of hersbridges the gap between the mother and daughter as it does inDeshpande's "Why a Robin" (Leg).Munro's "Time of Death" (DHS) portrays a reversal in the role ofthe mother and daughter. Patricia has caused the death of her brotheraccidentally but she behaves like a mature adult by not becominghysterical like her mother, Leona. Leona develops a hatred for herdaughter and tells everyone she does not want to see her again. She doesfinally reconcile to her because for her the daughter is the means of herlivelihood. Patricia is not upset by these remarks of her mother or by herrole as the earner but her composure is finally broken down by the sightof the 'scissors man' whom her brother had loved to watch. The daily

facts of existence and how they can affect relationships are very wellillustrated by this story.The mother in the "Red Dress --1946" (DHS) is portrayed as amother sewing dresses for the daughter oust as the mother in "WalkerBrothers Cowboy" (DHS) does). The daughter is aware of her body andloathes the need to stand for fittings feeling "like a great raw lump,clumsy and goose-pimpled" (DHS: 148). The daughter has begun todistance herself from the mother and all her stories "which had onceinterested me had begun to seem melodramatic, irrelevant, andtiresome" (DHS: 149). She is like all adolescents insecure and doubtfulabout her self, she doubts if she will be happy at the dance she has toattend later. Her fears soon slip away when she goes to the dance, as shefinds a partner, and things work out well. While returning home shefinds that she had not only been to the dance, but walked home with aboy had also been kissed by her. She realises that "life is once againpossible" (DHS: 160). Close to her home she sees her mother tiredlywaiting for her return and she realises how much the whole event hadmeant to her mother. She herself may never, in her own life, have achance like the one the daughter has and to her this may have been adream, that the daughter had hlfilled:She was just sitting and waiting for me to come home and tellher everything that had happened. And I would not do it, I

never would. But when I saw the waiting kitchen, and mymother in her faded, fuzzy Paisley kimono, with her sleepybut doggedly expectant face, I understood what a mysteriousand oppressive obligation I had, to be happy, and how I hadalmost failed it, and would be likely to fail it, every time, andshe would not know (DHS: 160).Deshpande's "The Awakening" [Mir) portrays the daughter, Alkadespising her mother. The hatred is partly nurtured by the fact that themother is prejudiced and shows more affection towards her brother,Shirish. Alka is angered also by their economic instability and by thenoisy, squalid lives that they live. When her mother admonishes her shehas thoughts that are very similar to Del's in "Princess Ida' (LGW) andthe daughter's in "Walker Brother's Cowboy" (DHS). She thinks thather mother is a "woman with a heavy sullen face and a tongue like aserrated knife". (Mir: 20). Though she equates her father with a saint,she feels that he is a fool who does not wish to change his life. Her mindis also embittered by the difference in status that she notes in the lifestyle of her maternal grandfather and that of their own. Deep inside shecan't understand how her mother could have given up all that to manyher father. She learns that in spite of status differences, love had broughtthem together and that her father's position had not changed even afterthe birth of three children. She dreams and weaves fantasies of existingin luxury which end when her father dies. Her first thoughts are that he

is a failure as he could not even struggle with death. He had left behindhim incomplete duties, responsibilities and empty tears. Therefore sheremarks:There was no pity in me for him. Only contempt. God, let menot live like that. Let me not die like that, having achievednothing, been nothing. Not once that I could say ... My Babasaid this. He said nothing that was not trivial, did nothing thathad any meaning. I searched and searched the whole of his lifefor a meaning and didn't find it (Mi: 25).Her perceptions of her father change when she notices the letters inhis briefcase and learns of the help he had tried to activate to help her.This reconciles her to him. The story illuminates the distance betweendaughter and mother but the focus shifts to the father and the reaction ofthe daughter to the father's image.The Independent MothersThe mother in "Connection" (MO is the link between thedaughter and her maternal ancestors. One confronts the mother who isproud and thinks highly of herself as witnessed later in "Princess Ida".The Mother in "Connection" (MOJ) thinks very highly of her family:

"people who thought so highly of themselves in Dalgleish would belaughable to the leading families of Fork Mill" (MOJ: 6). The motherand aunts of the narrator try to picture the grandfather and tell stories ofhim. Her mother believed that "the grandfather had been a student atOxford and had lost all his money7' (MOJ: 7). This mother who is takenup by her being from gentility is not the only picture presented to thereader. The mother is also a businesswoman, a trader and dealer asrevealed in the subsequent story, "The Stone in The Field" (MOJ). Themother here pities her husband's sisters and thinks that they couldchange their lives. To her life is full of possibility and change. It is theimage of this mother that is portrayed to us more fully in the story"Princess Ida" (LO.The eccentric mother who is at the same time also an independentmother (whom one notices in glimpses in "Connection" and thefollowing story "The Stone in The Field" - MOJ) is encountered in"Princess Ida" (LGW). The introductory sentence that introduces her isthe sentence "Now my mother was selling encyclopaedias" (LGK 54).Though Del finds her mother an eccentric, she still feels the need toshield her mother from the remarks made by her aunts. Del's mother is afar-sighted woman. She sells encyclopaedias but she believes in sellingthem as she thinks that knowledge is "warm and lovely" (LGE 55). ToDel's aunts the knowledge of the mother is an oddity. Del's motherknowing about the gathering of information by Del turns her into an

exhibit in order to promote her sales. She also takes courses such as"Great Thinkers of History" (LGF 662) and writes letters to newspapers.Though Del is distanced;; from her mother, she finds that her motherhas lot of stories to tell her- stories of the past. She knew that her motherhad not left anything behind: "Inside that self we knew, which might attimes appear blurred a bit, or side-tracked, she kept her youngerselves ...; scenes from the past were liable to pop up any time, ... againstthe cluttered fabric of the present" (LGK 62). On the day, she visitsDel's school, Del is ashamed because: "She was so different, that wasall, so brisk and hopeful and guileless in her maroon hat, making littlejokes, thinking herself a success". Del thinks that others pity andsympathise with her because she has such a strange mother. Del couldnot bear "the tone of her voice, the reckless, hunying way she moved,her lively absurd gestures ..., and most of all her innocence, her way'ofnot knowing when people were laughing, of thinking she could get awaywith this". This had caused her to hate. She, however, knows the factthat she herself is not very different fiom her mother but tries to concealit (LGW 68).33 Lorna Irvine in her study "A Psychological Journey: Mothers andDaughters in English-Canadian Fiction" notes:The psychological journey that appears in so much of thisfiction reveals the ambivalence that characterizes thedaughter's feelings about her mother (1980: 243).

Del's mother remarks "There is a change coming I think in thelives of girls and women. Yes. But it is up to us to make it come. Allwomen have had up till now has been their connection with men. All wehave had. No more lives of our own, really, than domestic animals"(LGV: 146). She had learned from her mother the need for self-respect.Initially she had rejected her mother's views but later in life she takesher advice. Her own self-reflective words illustrate this point:I would have had to resist anything she told me with suchearnestness, such stubborn hopefulness. Her concern about mylife, which I needed and took for granted, I could not bear tohave expressed. Also I felt that it was not so different from allthe advice handed out to women, to girls, advice that assumedof carefulness and solemn fuss and self-protection were calledfor, whereas men were supposed to be able to go out and takeon all kinds of experiences and shuck off what they didn'twant and come back proud. Without even thinking about it, Ihad decided to do the same (LGK 147).The stories discussed reveal a conflict existing between themothers and daughters. The daughter has to be distanced as noticed inMunro's "Boys and Girls" (DHS), "Why a Robin" (Mir), and"Providence" (WDY) because she has to find a role model to imitate andthe father's image is a more powerful one. This distancing changes

when the daughter passes through the phases of becoming a woman,namely passing through the phases of adolescence and puberty and thus,she recognises the body of the mother and the meaning of femininity.This recognition makes the daughter accept the mother as perceived instories such as "The Ottawa Valley", "The Peace of Utrecht" (DHS) ?"Friend of My Youth" (FOY), and "Red Dress" (DEB). The daughter inspite of having a dominantipassive mother recognises that there is aknowledge flowing between them that is "subliminal, subversive" and"preverbal" (Rich, 1976: 220). This leads her to get reconciled with the .mother as depicted in stories such as "Royal Beatings", "Spelling"(WDY). Writing about the experience of mothering Adrienne Richstates:It is hard to write about my own mother. Whatever I do write,it is my story I am telling, my version of the past. If she wereto tell her own story other landscapes would be revealed. Butin my landscape or hers, there would be old, smoulderingpatches of deep-buming anger (1977: 221).It is this vision that one notices when the daughter becomes theobserver and the story teller but the past can also help to overcome guilt,and achieve a wider view of the society and the connection betweenthings as witnessed in stories such as "Oh, What Avails" (POL) and "ItWas The Nightingale" (Gale). This recognition and relevance of life

finally leads to mothers who are able to move from being mothers intowhole women as illustrated by the growth of the characters--Rose(WDY), Del (LGW), Jayu (Gale), and Alka (Leg). To sum up, it issignificant to recall words from Rich's Of Yoman Born:We are, none of us, "either" mothers or daughters: to ouramazement, confusion, and greater complexity, we are both.Women, mothers or not, who feel committed to other women,are increasingly giving each other a quality of caring filledwith the difhse kinds of identification that exist betweenmothers and daughters. Into the mere notion of "mothering"we may carry, as daughters, negative echoes of our ownmothers' martyrdom, the burden of their valiant, necessarilylimited efforts on our behalf, the confusion of their doublemessages (1976:253).To achieve wholeness and reshape oneself it is necessary formothers and daughters to accept not only one another but also thedifferent selves that exist within them.

VOICESConnection. That was what it was all about. Thecousins were a show in themselves, but they alsoprovided a connection. A connection with the real,and prodigal, and dangerous world-- MOJ (6).These words indicate the need for connections to know oneself.Women's identity is not shaped individually but in relation to othersaround them. The gender pattern of socialisation adopted by society hasresulted in forming different patterns of identification among men andwomen. Men learn self reliance, and self dependence while women learnto take care of others and to thwart themselves. Women, thus, adopt alifestyle that bonds them with others. They are intimately linked to otherpeople and they do not realise the care-taker roles that they adopt. Manypsychologists like Chodorow and Gilligan feel that women are close totheir mothers and that they learn to connect themselves while men adoptseparation (1985, 1990). This may be seen as a disadvantage but theargument is that one needs to think more positively about this attitude.Commenting on this problem, Dana Crowley Jack states that "Aspectsof self-development such as creativity, autonomy, competence, maturityand self-esteem develop within the context of one's closest ties to

others" (1 99 1 : 13).Through the various relationships within family and outside it,women begin to understand the split in themselves. They realise thatthey have allowed other voices to nurture and grow within them, whilethrusting down their own true selves. This knowledge helps them todevelop their true selves, not in isolation but in connection with othersaround them. The strength of their true identities is felt within womenwhen they connect with other women--their sisters or friends. Feminineidentity is partly nurtured by not only a bond of sisterhood but also inrelation to others in the family or society. It is observed that:A woman forms images of self. ..that directly reflect herinterpersonal experiences--as able to give and receive love, oras unable; as worthy of care and support from others, or asunworthy; as free to be herself while maintaining connection,or as unfree--a woman's social contexts, both in particularrelationships and in the wider world, fundamentally affectthese images of self (Jack, 1991 : 16).This chapter recognises the latent identities present in womencharacters and bases the reading of the stories on the variousrelationships, such as family ties, sibling relationships, friends and othervarious connections.

Family TiesThe two sections of the story "Chaddeleys and Flemings" (MOJ)present the connections existing between women. The image of womenis portrayed in Connection very vividly when the narrator describes heraunts. She narrates that the term Old Maids could not be used as "itwould not cover them". Their body contours were richer and they had tobe called Maiden Ladies for:Their bosoms were heavy and intimidating-a single, armouredbundle-and their stomachs and behinds hll and corseted asthose of any married woman. In those days it seemed to be thething for women's bodies to swell and ripen to a good sizetwenty, if they were getting anything out of life at all; then,according to class and aspirations, they would either sag andloosen, go wobbly as custard under pale print dresses anddamp aprons, or be girded into shapes whose firm curves andproud slopes had nothing to do with sex, everything to do withrights and power (MOJ: 1).This picture portrays the sexual apect as well as the power of thefemale body. The story deals with the fact that women unmarried andliving their own lives are not to be pitied but are to be appraised for the

free existence that they lead. These aunts are not the ordinary oldmaidens restricted by society. On the other hand, they are women whotalk not only explicitly about sex but also indulge in unladylikeactivities such as smoking. They discussed the shopkeepers inDalgleish, they went berry picking, drank coffee, fished, dressed up inodd clothes and took pictures of themselves, and made cakes (MOJ : 4).The narrator recalls that the cousins were "audience and performers" foreach other (MN 5). They brought along with them a sense of dramaand in the larger world they had encountered "Accidents, proposals,encounters with lunatics and enemies" (MOJ: 5). These women providea connection with the reality of the world. They were people who knewhow to get on in the world: "They could command a classroom, amaternity ward, the public; they knew how to deal with taxi drivers andtrain conductors" (MU 7).The narrator also learns from the aunts' and her mother'sdiscussions about the maternal ancestry. Later in life she realises thatthey belonged to a decent working class background. She speculates onthis knowledge and thinks that if she had known this earlier she wouldbe shocked and credulous about it. Or she would have been triumphantif she had learnt of it at a time when she was trying to strip away allillusion and false notions. But at the time when she gathered thisinformation she was past caring (MU110).

She becomes aware when Cousin Iris is going to visit her that shewants to show off to Richard, her husband, the relation who is decentlyeducated, well spoken, and moderately well-bred (MQJ 11). Shewanted the visit to go well:I wanted this for my own sake. My motives were not such aswould do me credit. I wanted Cousin iris to shine forth as arelative nobody need be ashamed of, and I wanted Richardand his money and our house to lift me forever, in CousinIris's eyes, out of the category of poor relation. I wanted allthis accomplished with a decent subtlety and restraint and theresult to be a pleasant recognition of my own value, from bothsides (MOJ: 12).She hew that to Richard and his family the background of thefamily was important. Richard and his people disliked poverty. They feltit was like an affliction and since Richard had married a woman fiomsuch a background it was advisable for the wife to be amputated fiomsuch a past which was like a shabby baggage (MM12-13). The visit ofAunt Iris does not go well as she is not very subtle and all the facadethat the niece has built up for the aunt tumbles when she notices thatAunt Iris is different and cannot be the personshe has portrayed:

Nothing fazed her; she was right. Nothing deflected her fromthe stories of herself; the amount of time she could spend timenot talking was limited.. .How many conversations she musthave ridden through like this--laughing, insisting, rambling,recollecting. I wondered if this evening was something shewould describe as fun. She would describe it. The house, therugs, the dishes, the signs of money. It might not matter to herthat Richard snubbed her. Perhaps she would rather besnubbed by a rich relative than welcomed by a poor one. Butshe had always been like this; always brash and greedy andscared; decent, maybe even admirable, ...( MOJ: 16).After the aunt's departure Richard comments on her talk and in afit of anger she throws a Pyrex plate at him. The plate misses him butthe pie in the plate catches him on his face and she is reminded of theshow, "I Love Lucy". At that point she realises that she had beenharbouring illusions and what is thought to be funny in drama isshocking in reality. One cannot expect to cover up things and try tochange the pattern of life. She realises that life is like a dream and that itis transformed "by these voices, by these presences, by their high spiritsand grand esteem, for themselves and each other (MOJ: 18)."The Stone in the Field" (MOJ) reveals the patriarchal connectionof the narrator. The father's six sisters were seen as relics by other

people including the nmtor's mother. The description varies here verymuch when one compares it to the maternal aunts. The image here isthat of leanness, tallness, plainness, paleness, closeness as opposed tothe roundness, the voluptuousness, the colourfulness, and the opennessof the maternal aunts. While the maternal aunts had used words andperformances to control and manipulate the world, the paternal aunts areforever immersed in work. To them, work is something that must go onand that which is never ending. The narrator understands from theseconnections that one can never make up stories because as she says,"Now I no longer believe that people's secrets are defined andcommunicable, or their feelings full-blown and easy to recognise. Idon't believe so" (MOJ: 35). What can be concluded is that life hasconnections and that each one draws something fi-om the connectionsand the voices of others: "My mother's cousins behaved in another way;they dressed up and took pictures of each other; they sallied forth.However, they behaved they are all dead. I carry something of themaround in me" (MOJ: 35).The mother as noticed in the previous chapter "Providence" (CVDY)becomes a distinct identity for the child. The narrator in "The Progressof Love" (POL) recounts her mother's life and the arrival of hermother's sister, Beryl makes her aware of the name that her mother has.This awareness results in her thinking : "Marietta, in my mind, wasseparate, not swallowed up in my mother's grown up body" (POL: 9).

Later when the narrator recalls her mother's life and the relationship thatexisted between her parents she realises the importance of a married lifewhere the husband and wife realise the importance of each other'sactions: "People doing something that seems to them natural andnecessary. At least, one of them is doing what seems natural andnecessary, and the other believe that the important thing is for thatperson to be free, to go ahead" (POL: 30). This revelation makes heraware of the "moments of kindness and reconciliation" that one musthave:I wonder if those moments aren't more valued, anddeliberately gone after, in the set-ups some people like myselfhave now, than they were in those old marriages, where; loveand grudges could be growing underground, so confused andstubborn, it must have seemed they had forever (POL: 3 1)34.The story "The Queer Streak" (POL) by Munro reveals the34 Commenting on this conclusion E. D. Blodgett states:No matter how fitting this comment is as closure for this story,it does not permit us to forget the relation the narratorestablishes between the narration, tkuth and self, and thedegree to which narration detkrmines a truth of self, even ifits truth is at variance with "facts". The truth is perhaps all themore compelling simply because it includes belief, awareness' of illusion, and the necessity to narrate one self at the expenseof another (1989: 148).

sacrifice of the protagonist Violet for her family. The protectiveness ofViolet towards her sister breaks her marriage in "The Queer Streak"(POL). She is engaged to be married to Trevor, a minister. The storybegins like a fairy tale with the words, "Violet's mother--Aunt Ivie--hadthree little boys, three baby boys and she lost them. Then she had threegirls". The opening proceeds to narrate the names of the three sisters--Opal Violet, Dawn Rose and Bonnie Hope. The story has very closelinks to the Cinderella myth. Though the mother is not cruel she isembodied into the framework of the story not as a mother but as an aunt.Violet's wanderings into the waste ground are reminiscent once again ofthe story tale where the unhappy girl takes refuge in the wilderness, butin this the myth is reverted by the rehge being a waste-land. The pictureof the king in their parlour promises to her the riches that the futureholds for her. "That seemed a promise to Violet; it was connected withher future, her own life, in a way she couldn't explain or think abouty'(POL: 209). This reference to a king and a rich future is once againshaped in a different way in the narration as Violet does not get marriedto the prince of her dreams, Trevor. The myth is structured into severalframeworks and one finds that the father is named King Billy Thomasand there is also a horse called King Billy. The derivation of the title'King Billy' is cloaked in mystery and is left without an explanation.Munro by portraying the father as a red head and by highlighting thefact of Aunt Ivie's long maidenhood and subsequent marriage with thered head manages to clothe the story in a layer of mystery and credulity.

Aunt Ivie works outside and like Cinderella, Violet is left to take care ofthe house and manage the sisters.Violet later has changes in her life. Her move away from home forfurther education changes not only Violet but also her relationship withthe family. She finds that she has lost power over them and can nolonger control them. Also the younger sisters share a secret betweenthem which finally changes the course of her life. The other change thathappens is in the love that develops between Trevor, a minister andViolet. Trevor's style of life gives her a vision of a different worldbesides her own. The engagement does not take place as Trevor learnsof the anonymous threatening notes written to King Billy by Violet'ssister, Dawn Rose. He thinks that as he was a minister it was not rightfor him to marry a girl from a family, where lunacy may prevail. Thedoor to her future gets closed by this innocent yet evil action of hersister. She remains unmarried and comes back home. Her sisters,however, leave home, marry and settle while she gets stuck in the sameplace. The myth of Cinderella thus reverses and instead of gainingriches Violet is back at her place near the hearth.Munro by freeing Violet from the bond of marriage seems toendow a particular independence to Violet. In Dane's narration onefinds that Dane remembers her as a professional woman. Dane knowsthat:

Nothing in her [Violet] wanted to be overtaken by a helplessand distracted, dull and stubborn old woman, with a memoryor imagination out of control, bulging at random through thepresent scene. Trying to keep that old woman in check wasbound to make her short-tempered. In fact, he had seen her--now he remembered, he had seen her tilt her head to the sideand give it a quick slap, as people do to get rid of a buzzing,unwelcome presence (POL: 244).Thus, one finds that Violet is not broken down by the events in herlife but is able to revive herself and emerge not only as a successfulprofessional but as also a protector of her family. The fairy tale endingis changed to depict the freedom and determined spirit of the heroine.Such a development is also noticed in the sequence stories WDY.~ose' relationship with her father too is quite different. He attempts tothwart her pride in "Royal Beatings" (WDY) by his violent beatings.Rose understands that he is as much the actor in that as she herself is.Rose when she is slightly grown up ("Half a Grapefruit") never repliesto his general remark, "'Look out you don't get too smart for your owngood"' (WDY: 47). Nevertheless she knows that her father was aware ofall her hopes, ambitions and desires. This knowledge that her fatherknows her inner truths makes her feel guilty. "She felt that she disgraced

him, had disgraced him somehow from the time she was born and woulddisgrace him still more thoroughly in the future" (WDE 47). The genderexpectations are pointed out by Munro in this context. To him Flo is theillustration of what a woman is:Flo was his idea of what a woman ought to be. Rose knewthat, and indeed he often said it. A woman ought to beenergetic, practical, clever at making and saving; she ought tobe shrewd, good at bargaining and bossing and seeing throughpeople's pretensions. At the same time she should be naiveintellectually, childlike, contemptuous of maps and longwords and anything in books, full, of charming jumblednotions, superstitions, traditional beliefs (WDY: 47).Thus, Rose realises that being female was a mistake. She alsorealises that she had all the bad qualities that her father felt a womanshould not have. ~hi;?s that her father had submerged in himself hadndeveloped in Rose. She is unlike her father, in that she is unable to doany skilful task with her hands , and is quite clumsy with her hands. Shealso knows that in spite of all her father's ideas, her father is proud ofher.The paternal and maternal aunts that we notice in "Chaddeleys andFlemmings" (MOJ) are revived in "The Heirs of The Living Body"

(LGW) in the form of Aunt Elspeth and Aunt Grace. They have inheritedthe characteristics of hard work as well as playing jokes and tellingstories. These aunts change colours when they are in Del's house. Theywould become "sulky, sly, elderly, eager" when they were in Del'shouse. Del notices that the relationship between her mother and heraunts take different twists. They are shocked by Addie's (Del's mother)"outrageousness", and her "directness". While Addie talked in straightterms, the aunts talk had many layers to it. They recognised Addie'sability but they disliked the way she displayed it:They acknowledged it in their own family, our family. But itseemed the thing to do was to keep it more or less a secret.Ambition was what they were alarmed by, for to be ambitiouswas to court failure and to risk making a fool of oneself. Theworst thing, I gathered,: the worst thing that could happen inthis life was to have people laughing at you (LGK 32).The two aunts as they go older appear to Del like two constructedpieces and appear quite inhuman as they are removed from men whowould have admired and given them life. From her uncle Craig, Delinherits the tradition of chronicling the lives and being a writer."The Cruelty Game" (kt) and "And Then" (Int) are stories thatexhibit the relationship between children and their grandparents and

their own parents. Both the stories once again rake up a number ofquestions pertaining to the power and the hierarchical structure existentin Indian families. A widow, Aunt Pramila along with her daughter,Sharu comes to live in her in-laws house after the death of her husbandin the story "The Cruelty Game" (Int). The story centres around twohappenings, namely the treatment that Aunt Pramila receives from theother members in the house and the treatment meted out to the younggirl, Sharu by the other children in the house. The socialisation of thewoman is seen in the way Aunt Pramila is alienated and distanced fromall others. The narrator observes, "It was strange how all the women hadbecome friends since Pramila auntie came home. Prarnila auntie didn'tseem to mind that they rarely spoke to her. Her work done, she went toher room and stayed there". Her powerless situation is revealed whenthe narrator comments that "She never spoke even when she saw ustormenting Sharu; she just looked at us" (Int: 125). The other children inthe house, too, torment the young Sharu by making her a butt andtricking her. Their playfulness goes to the extent of making her jumpinto a pit and causing physical harm to her. The day Sharu has herbirthday, all the children in the house gather for a simple party but thisis spoilt by not only the children's cruel pranks but by the abuses heapedon Aunt Pramila by her mother-in-law. Finally unable to find any solacein the house, Pramila aunt leaves the place along with Sharu.

The bond existing between parents and children and betweengandparents and grandchildren is the focus of "And Then" (Intj. Thegrand daughter, Dipali and the grandmother share a bond of friendshipand love, but Dipali's mother, Asha feels that her mother-in-law spoilsher child. The old woman is aware that she is helpless and cannotchange her status in the house though it is her son's place. She realisesthat her two children had never cared for her life and her wishes. Herdaughter, Anju leaves home to study in the states and she feels cheatedbecause she had expected her daughter to get married and have children.She is unable to move herself out of this expectation and visualises herown grandmother's life:What about my life? And I had thought then of mygrandmother who had six sons and two daughters and of herhard callused hands- ..stopped working. And of how she died,as she had lived, in the midst of her children andgrandchildren (lnt: 151).These expectations of hers make her conservative and rigid. She isunable to move out of her son's house and even when one of herdaughter's fiiends requests her to rent her house for her stay, shebehaves snobbishly. Her behaviour is moulded by the fact that Shakuher daughter's friend is a woman who has walked out of her marriageand left her husband. Her open outright behaviour causes anger in the

old woman and she thinks that she is being humiliated, exposed andshamed by the request of Shaku for a place to stay (Int: 154). Her"smug, narrow and self-righteous" attitude is reflected even by her son,Vishwa who approves of her decision. His words reflect the attitude ofwhat society expects from a woman:"I'm glad you think that way, Amrna. I didn't want to sayanything yesterday--I saw her speaking to you--but I didn'tlike the way she forced herself in. I know she's Anju's fiiend,but she's a woman who's left her husband. We don't knowwhy ...." (Int: 156).Sibling RelationshipsMunro's "Visitors" (MQJ) portrays a different sort of connection, asort of mysterious strain that exists between the brothers, Wilfred andAlbert and the sisters, Grace and Vera. Mildred, the narrator and thewife of Wilfred comments that "Brothers and sisters were a mystery toher. There were Grace and Vera, speaking like two mouths out of thesame head, and Wilfred and Albert without a thread of connectionbetween them" (MU 212). The story at one level portrays the reunionof two brothers but at another level it displays the stories that peopleweave and how the stories link up some hidden truths. Mildred becomes

aware when Albert narrates a story of the difference in storytellingbetween Albert and Wilfied:In Wilfked's stories you could always be sure that the gloomyparts would give way to something better, and if somebodybehaved in a peculiar way there was an explanation for it. IfWilfred figured in his own stories, as he usually did, there wasalways a stroke of luck for him somewhere, a good meal or abottle of whiskey or some money. Neither luck nor moneyplayed a part in this story. She wondered why Albert had toldit, what it meant to him (MOJ: 215).E. D. Blodgett discussing this story thinks it is like a "comicpuzzle" and the difference in story telling reminds one of "Munro's ownpractice in various modes" (1988: 121). The fact is that the story thatAlbert narrates is what happens, not a story (MU 215). Blodgettemphasises in his commentary the story that "the story 'that happened',is, of course, no truer than any other, but its telling is so designed,wittingly or not , that it comes closer to the real than Wilfred's kind,which has a more perceptible design" (1987:122). The reality strikeshome and the story concludes with Wilfred crying over the loss of theconnection between his brother and himself.Munro's "Something I Have Been Meaning To Tell You" (SIB) is a

story that portrays the intricate bond that exists between sisters. One isreminded of the fairy tales with the pattern of a good sister and a badsister. Et and Char cannot be thrust into these frameworks of a goodsister and a bad sister and yet the story points at two differentrepresentations. One finds that while Char takes on the role of being alady of society, Et is the dressmaker weaving, patterning, and designingclothes to make her sister the best dressed woman in society. Char isalways the cold, distanced actress whom no one can approach. She isbent on grabbing attention. This is illustrated by her trying to killherself, by drinking blue ink when she hears that her lover, BlaikieNoble marries a lady ventriloquist. To Et, her sister is a woman who hasthe qualities of a legend and she felt that this personality contradictedbecause Char and her ethereal beauty did not seem to be able to exist inthe reality of the world. Discussing the story, Carrington feels that Et isthe controller, the voyeur and Char is the controlled. She mentions thatEt controls Char by exposing her to public criticism. The manner inwhich she dresses Char who is not just her sister but also the wife of aschool teacher motivates the town people to view her with hostility. Thestory also falls upon the myth of Arthur and Guinevere and Arthur andChar are seen as representations of these characters while Blaikie issymbolised as Lancelot. E. D. Blodgett, too in his study of the story seesEt as a manipu1ato1-35, and notes all Et's remarks however offhand are35Martin, however, specifies a different outlook. He thinks that Etalters and makes do and uses her dress making instincts to exist. He

made to fit into a design. The names of the characters and the town theylive in all signify a certain meaninglessness. The town is called MockHill and it does seem as the story proceeds that Et is mocking Char forher beauty. The title of Arthur links the teacher with the legendaryfigure and in the story Arthur is the school teacher, the man who insteadof being magnificent and splendid looks like a fool. His adoration ofChar changes Char into a mysterious person and Et wishes to tell him ofher suicide attempt, but not wanting him to feel mocked, she does not doso. Char, the word signifies something burnt and one feels that Char isburnt and only symbolises a ghostly figure. Et's name in Latin signifiesthe conjunction 'and'. One does find that the story has to be linked withEt and cannot stand on its own. As pointed out by Blodgett, the storyreminds one of c'Mwm"s own preoccupation with the legendarydwelling in the real, investing the real with qualities that make ittimeless. This again removes fiom the story a sense of time's urgency,permitting the apparently real to reflect upon legend in both earnest andgame" (1988: 79).The theme of differences between sisters forms part of the story,further adds that while dressmaker, Char is the wearer of the dresses.Therefore Et does not have to make do with that of Char's. He states,"The disdainful, statuesque Char gets everything new and served up toher on a 'plate-everything except happiness. Et makes her own things,and achieves her own happiness, in spite of her handicaps" (1987: 120).

"Memorial" in SIB. June and Eileen display different characteristics. Onthe death of her son, June does not display any grief but her body is"humming as always with its separate power". It is Eileen who feelsedgy, and grief-stricken by the death of her nephew. June's kitchen isorganised and managed by "order and logic" while in Eileen's house thegarbage is thrown around and "her cupboards under their surfacetidiness bursting with chaos". Eileen lived irresponsibly. Eileen felt inJune's place "the weight of the world of objects". She thought they liveda life buying and using which she feels is the "morality ofconsumerism". Eileen, herself, not having much money was now a"spendthrift, slipshod and content" (SIB: 210). June and her husbandhaving a great deal of money spent it as a "sense of responsibility" andbought things which they thought were "necessary to the house" (SIB:211). Thinking about their mother Eileen realises that June had gotaround the problem of their mother by "majoring in psychology". Eileenwhen she studied literature had discovered crazy mothers but she did notknow how to present such a mother to others. June, on the other hand,"was able to present their mother to her friends with no apologies butplenty of prior explanations and post-discussion. She made people feelprivileged" (SIB: 213). Eileen realises that "June had married Ewart andset about establishing their life. While Eileen's life took any shape at all,blown apart by crises, deflected by pleasures, June's life was built,planned, lived deliberately, filled". In June's life there was "a lack ofdrifting and moping" and occasions such as death were made the most

of (SIB: 214).Eileen realises by the attitude of her sister that June has lost thesense of values and has allowed herself to be changed. She has theunderstanding that people die; they suffer, they die". Incidents such assillness and accidents have to be "respected, not explained". Just makinga show by "using words', she thought was shameful (SIB: 221). Finallywhen June discusses her son's death with Eileen, Eileen has arevelation:In the mirror over the dresser Eileen could see her sister'sface, the downward profile, which was waiting, perhapsembarrassed, now that this offering had been made. Also herown face, surprising her with its wonderfully appropriate lookof tactfulness and concern. She felt cold and tired, she wantedmostly to get away. It was an effort to put her hand out. Actsdone without faith may restore faith. She believed, withwhatever energy she could summon at the moment, she had tobelieve and hope that was true (SIB: 226).

FriendsThe slow development of friendship between Helen, the narratorand Myra is the central idea of "The Day of The Butterfly" (Dm. Myrais in the beginning the target of taunts and jeers by the school girls for inthe school she usually spends her time taking care of her youngerbrother. One day, Helen on her way to school, notices Myra and herbrother walking ahead. Helen observes that Myra is glancing back andfeeling important she calls out to her and walks with her to school. Fromthat day there develops between them a silent understanding. Later,Myra develops leukaemia and is admitted into hospital. Soon in schoolMyra becomes "fashionable" because the girls think that she is fieedfrom all the conditions imposed on them by school and life. When Helenvisits Myra in hospital, Myra offers her a small purse as a gift, but Helendoes not wish to take it as she thinks that Myra has lost her importancefor the present."Mrs Cross and Mrs Kidd" (MOJ) discusses the differences thatexist in individual lives even though two people may have remainedlinked as friends all through life. The first part of the story stresses thedifferent lives that the two women have led. The narrator comments thatthough younger people would think that their being close friends for along period of time, they may have everything in common. Yet the two

old women know that their lives are separate and this is illustrated bythe number of things that separates them (MOJ: 161). Martin in Paradoxand Parallels states "The differences seemed total--social, religious,intellectual, in the way they spoke, in the games they played, and inalmost every conceivable aspect of life, even progressiveness"(1979:150). Their stay at Hilltop Home brings them together but evenhere their lives twist and separate. Mrs Cross takes over Jack, hoping tocontrol and use her power over him while Mrs. Kidd becomes friendlywith Charlotte who is willing to be mastered by Mrs. Kidd. The two oldwomen do not have any disagreements but they only resort to spendingless time together. The story reveals the different friendships bothwomen go through and how finally they are once again united. AsMartin comments, "The old ladies heal the slight breach between them,and their second coming together reinforces the quite unsardonic ironythat there can be real affection even in old age, when the basis for it ismutual need and loneiiness" (1987:150). The sisterly affection thatexists between the two women empowers them and enables them toovercome their differences. Martin's concluding comments about thisstory are valid in this context:Mrs. Cross is a companion able and generous soul whosegoodwill is simple and patent but Mrs. Kidd is moreremarkable. Cultivated, tactful, self-critical--she checksherself for tending to boss Charlotte--with a pride and dignity

that makes her unwilling to be an object of pity and yet do notinhibit an uncondescending affection, she is a character ofconvincing distinction. With her dignity, insight and reticence,she might have been inclined to patronise or dismiss Mrs.Cross as ignorant, prying, and indeed "common" but in thefinal incident she unobtrusively risks her life for her,demonstrating a full sense of sisterly affection (1987: 151).Munro's "Jesse and Meribeth" (POL) reflects on the feminine bondthat develops between two young girls. The nature of this friendship isvery well brought out by the narrator, Jesse. She thinks that two girlsbound in the web of friendship would never tell each other's secrets andalso would not hide anything from each other. Their bond would beconstant and they would not enter into friendships with others. Evenafter marriage their loyalty to each other would remain. Their daughterswould be named after their friends and would be ready to help eachother out whenever they could. Believing in these romantic notions offriendship, Jesse prevails upon MaryBeth to swear and promise andconfide to strengthen their bond (POL: 163). Their life meanders andcourses through school and then their lives part when they enter intodifferent courses of study. Jesse takes up graduate school and Marybethtakes typing and bookkeeping course and begins working at aninsurance agent's shop. During their friendship, Jesse makes up storiesabout the people for whom she works--the ,Cydermans. She romanticises

Mr. Cyderman's interest in her and tells MaryBeth about the growingsexual intimacy between them. When they meet years later, Jesse isreminded of her lies and her relationship with Mr. Cydeman. She thenrealises as she leaves MaryBeth that there are changes as one grows upfrom fifteen to seventeen and seventeen to nineteen. She thinks ofMarybeth and her growing sweeter and fatter, while she visualises theCrydermans fixed in their life while she herself would be "sheddingdreams and lies and vows and errors". But she at that stage of life doesnot realise that: "I didn't see that I was the same one, embracing,repudiating. I thought I could turn myself inside out, over and overagain, and tumble through the world scot-fiee" (POL: 188).In "Mischief' (WDY) Rose meets Jocelyn with whom she developsa sisterly bond. Their friendship is like "one of those luxuriantintimacies that spring up in institutions; in schools, at camp, in prison".They behaved as in school disobeying and doing things that pleasedthem. "They walked in the halls", "they annoyed and mystified the otherwomen" and "they became hysterical" from what they read. They didnot read any deep philosophical books but stuff like True Love andPersonal Romances (F!DY: 104). They discussed their childhood, theiradolescence, their youth and their marriages. Through Jocelyn she meetsClifford and the final act of lovemaking with Clifford along withJocelyn reveals to her the true nature of her relationship with them.

The friendship of Del and Naomi in LGW is very much like thefriendship between Rose and Jocelyn in WDY. Del realises that having afiiend curbs one's freedom but it also extends and resonates life. Theydid many things together in school but later they change paths. Del goeson to higher studies while Naorni moves into the field of secretarialpractice. Another such friendship between two women is that of Del'smother, Addie and Fern Dogherty. They were friends, in spite ofdifferences ."Marrakesh" (SIB) conceptualises the role of a voyeur. Dorothyand Viola, two old women live together. Dorothy and Viola find it"economical" to live together, even though they were different types."They drew comfort .from each other's presence in the way youngquarrel some do, or long-married apparently uncogenal couples", thecomfort they felt was deep down and on the surface all that theydisplayed was "wariness, irritation7' and "comfort for strategy" (SIB:160). Dorothy is aware of the changing life style around her. Sheobserves that her grand-daughter, Jeanette's existence is very differentfrom her own. She is tolerant and takes a positive view of life. Evenwhen Jeanette thinks that the town is being destructed by all thetechnology and new knowledge, she feels like pointing out that thescientists had worked hard enough to root out diseases which had noremedy some years back. She strongly feels that one must be thankfulfor the life one has. This aspect about thankfulness is finally stressed in

the conclusion of the story when she sees Jeanette and the neighbourcopulating: "Strength is necessary, as well as something like gratitude, ifyou are going to turn into a lady peeping Tom at the end of your life"(SIB: 174).Anita and Margot's fiiendship ("Wigtime") is another story wherethe friendship is rooted in differences. They could not meet at eachother's places for Anita's mother disapproved of Margot and her familyand Margot's house was always in a state of "crowdedness andconfusion" and the presence of her violent father, forced the friends tomeet in the cold at a store on the highway. The store was managed byTeresa who was married to Reuel, the bus driver. Anita and Margotgenerally discussed Reuel and his looks. Margot having a father whowas violent and having noticed the family tensions had a great contemptfor men: "Margot called lovemaking "carrying on7' .. But it had occurredto Anita that this very scorn of Margot's, her sullenness and disdain,might be a thing that men could find attractive in a way that she herselfwas not" (FOK 251). They also discussed and experienced manyhappenings at school together and also went for walks to downtownwhere they did window shopping. They thus, passed through a stagewhen "they could never be unhappy, because they believed thatsomething remarkable was bound to happen to them. They couldbecome heroines; love and power of some sort were surely waiting"(FOE 253). They also shared their ambitions and family; and also hid

some of their wishes. Anita, though she wanted to be an archaeologist ora nurse never revealed this desire while Margot never talked of herhome and her father. Later their lives take different turns--Margot getsmarried and has kids while Anita, becomes a nurse, gets married andthen divorced, earned money and completes her doctorate inanthropology.Anita is reminded of her appendicitis operation and her mother'scontemptuous remarks about Margot whom she believes is sneaky andoversexed. She tells her that Margot had been having secretiveengagements with Reuel and had finally stayed back with him not goinghome in the evening. "Her mother said that she had kept Anita inignorance. All this had happened and she had said nothing" (FOE 262).The whole thing was proved as tmth as Teresa had tried to kill herselfand had now closed down the store. Hearing all this news Anita feelswhat her mother wanted to convey is something quite different:t'~nita had a feeling that her mother was angry at her not onlybecause she'd been friends with Margot, a girl who had disgracedherself, but for another reason as well. She had the feeling that hermother was seeing the same thing that she herself could see--Anita unfit,passed over, disregarded, not just by Margot but by life. Didn't hermother feel an angry disappointment that Anita was not the one chosen,the one enfolded by drama and turned into a woman and swept out on

such a surge of life? She would never admit that. And Anita could notadmit that she felt a great failure. She was a child, a know-nothing,betrayed by Margot, who had turned out to know a lo&RX 262).Margot had managed to get hold of a house but this was becauseshe had a controlling power over Reuel. She had seen him with anotherwoman and had threatened him with exposure of the affair which hethought had been a secretive one. Anita hearing this secret of hergaining the house has her own conclusions about Margot:Anita thought that Margot might have given up on vanity butshe probably hadn't given up on sex ...And what about Reuel--what had he given up on? Whatever he did,it wouldn't be till he was ready. That was what all Margot's hardbargaining would really be coming up against--whether Reuel was readyor not. That was something he'd never feel obliged to tell her. So awoman like Margot can still be fooled--this was what Anita thought,with a momentary pleasure, a completely comfortable treachery- by aman like Reuel (FOE 271).Anita had herself divorced as she had the feeling one evening at arestaurant that she cared more for a man she saw in the restaurant thanfor her husband and decided that she can'tlive in such a marriage. This

evelation reminds one of "Differently" where the female character feelsshe cannot exist in a make-believe marriage and that she cannot behypocritical. "Wigtime" (FOY) too has similar overtones, where Anitagets out because she cannot pretend and the other, namely, Margot livesa life where her husband may be cheating her.OthersMunro's "The Office" portrays the bond that developsbetween the writer and the man who rents the place. The story hasintertextual relationships with Woolf s idea of A Room Of One's Own.Just as Woolf states the problem of a woman being unable to have sometime and space for her to write, the story portrays the anxiety of a youngwoman writer to find a space for herself. The relationship that developsbetween the landlord and the writer reveals to her the impossibility oftrying to be serious. The landlord's help and his insistence on trying tomeet the writer reflects the society's attitude towards women who wishto be isolated and alienated from others. Any such pattern is seen bysociety as a deviance from the normal. Munro commenting on this storyfeels:It is the landlord's clamorous humanity, his dreadfulinsistence, which has to get the better of that woman seeking

isolation. It is also, but rather incidentally, about a woman'sparticular difficulties in backing off and doing somethinglonely and egoistical (1 993 : 194).The fact that the writer is young, passive and docile made her thevictim of the man's patronising behaviour. His behaviour is summed upby Munro when she discusses the writing of the story and theautobiographical nature of the episode:The landlord kept making suggestions for my comfort, andbringing me things I didn't want, and telling me stories, ... Mybeing a woman, young and apparently docile, made me anatural target for his heavy, wheedling, patronising, neverquite offensive attentions ... There was also in his conversationa peculiarly enraging, sanctimonious smuttiness, and thesuggestion that maybe a writer wouldn't find these things herelated as shocking as he found them, because writers wereknown to be broad- minded (1993: 193)."The Turkey Season" (MOJ) sketches the working atmosphere andthe relationship prevalent among the workers. The narrator's workingworld is filled with Lily, Marjorie, Gladys (gutters), Irene, Henry(pluckers), Herb Abbott (foreman), Morgan Elliott, (owner), and his son.The adolescent narrator for the first time is exposed to womenly talk.

Her talk with Gladys about appearances makes her realise that "there aredifferent ways women have of talking about their looks. Some womenmake it clear that what they do to keep themselves up is for the sake ofsex, for men'. Others like Gladys think of it as a difficult job that theyare proud of (MOJ: 63). Marjorie's and Lily's discussion about Gladysand Herb Abbott, "sprang from their belief that single people ought tobe teased and embarrassed whenever possible, ..." (MIOJ: 64). Theircuriosity was founded wondering how he lived his life, why he did nothave a wife, children and a home. As the narrator unravels all these interpersonal relationships she recalls that at that time there had been no talkof homosexuals as it was thought to be "rare and confined toboundaries". She ironically states that any man doing women's workwas a homosexual: "they really seemed to believe --the women did--thatit was the penchant for baking or music that was the determining factor,and it was the activity that made the man what he was--not any otherdetours he might take, or wish to take" (MOL 65). By the talk of Lilyand Marjorie she realises that all adults' talk is very illogical and shewonders at how their hands could be so efficient. She queries, "Howcould these women's hands be so gifted, so delicate and clever-...andtheir thinking so slapdash, clumsy, infuriating?" (MOJ: 68). Later whenshe attempts to recollect the looks of her fellow workers, she finds thatshe has many versions of it and once again one realises that the surfacecan hide many aspects of truth.

There are different people who make an impact on the protagonistRose in the set of sequence stories WDY and one finds that thesecharacters enrich Rose's feelings in different ways. Rose's firstencounter is with the grotesque figure of Becky Tide, the abnormal andmutilated girl. She is later in school enamoured by three big girls of theEntrance Class. Though they are like three queens, she feels as if therewas one queen (Cora) and two princesses. Rose is enchanted by Coraand to please her, she steals candy fiom Flo's store to give Cora. But sheis unable to offer it to her and tries to place it in her desk. Cora's friendDoma sights her and she drops the bag. Cora takes the bag to Flo andshe does this not to make trouble for her but to enjoy herself: "Sheenjoyed her importance and respectability and the pleasure of grown-upexchange" (WDY: 37). Flo is shocked by Rose's action and asks her ifshe was in love with Cora. Rose does not think of it in that way as shefeels that love is associated with "movie endings, kissing and gettingmarried. Her feelings were at the moment shocked and exposed, andalready, though she didn't know it, starting to wither and curl up at theedges" (WDY: 38). In later years, she finds that Cora changes fiom aqueen into an ordinary personality: "Rose was not much bothered bythis loss, this transformation. Life was altogether a series of surprisingdevelopments, as far as she could learn" (WDY: 38). Flo, however, keepsreminding Rose about Cora and tries to change her not realising thatRose had already become aware of feelings towards Cora.

"Who Do You Think You Are" (WDY) reflects a deviant figure,Milton Homer who is taken care of, by his aunts, Hattie andMattie Milton. In school Rose meets Ralph Gillespie who doesimitations of Milton Homer. They share a number of traits and thusbecome friends. Both Rose and Ralph lose their things--pencils, erasers,rulers, compass, etc. Because of these regular features they help eachother out and share and learn to beg f?om others. "They developed thecomradeship of captives, of soldiers who have no heart for thecampaign, wishing only to survive and avoid action" (WDY: 203).Ralph, later drops out of school and Rose meets him years later and hasa talk with him. She recollects her conversation with him in later daysand realises that it was bordered by sympathy, kindness andunderstanding though they had not personally discussed any suchsubjects. She realises that the shame she felt in herself had decreased,and that she may have paid attention to the wrong things in her acting.Her final reaction to his death is that she feels deep within her heartthere had been things that they both had shared very closely (VDE 209-2 10).Though a number of Deshpande's stories deal with family ties andrelationships, only three stories distinctly discuss relationships otherthan the marital conflicts or mother and daughter conflicts discussed inthe earlier sections. "A Liberated Woman" (Leg) attempts to express thenotion of liberation and the depths such a term can hide. It is an ironical

statement on the question of liberation. A man meets years later awoman whose family were friends of his. As the narrator points out hehad not only been a friend of her family, but had also been a colleagueof his (i. e. the man she gets married to). She is encouraged to marry himby the family friend as he thought that , "It had seemed to me anabsurdity that two people so much in love should be kept apart becauseof something so trivial as caste" (Leg: 23). Now twelve years later whenshe meets this friend, she discusses with him her marriage and how ithas fallen apart. The friend is astonished to hear that her husband issadistic and abuses her. He wonders why she is still married to him, inspite of the fact that she is a doctor. After she leaves him, he thinks ofher and is astonished:CcBut what really astonishes me is her feebleness, her attitude ofdespairing indifference. Surely she, an educated, earning, cornpe-tentwoman, has no right to behave this way ... to plug all her escape routesherself and act like a rat in a trapl((leg: 29).He is surprised because she refuses to divorce him as she thinksthat the children would know about the father. Thus, when he sees in anarticle and her interview with her which has a very ironical heading:I was idly turning over the pages, and suddenly, there she was,her cool, poised face staring back at me almost arrogantly. It

gave me a little shock. I got a bigger one, though, when I sawthe title of the piece. It was, "A LIBERATED WOMAN".Well! (Leg:29).The stories discussed in this chapter reveal as to how stories canbecome discoveries of underlying selves. The reader is made aware ofthe existing conditions of women and is made to ponder on therelationships that help women in understanding themselves.

CHAPTER VSUMMIMG UP :THE PHOTOGHer [Munro's] art is stereotypic and also acomplex counterpointing of opposed truths in amemorable model of life and reality. One form ofthis doubleness, or reciprocation, might be put likethis: in vivid images and dramatic success shepresents, and makes real and convincing, conceptsthat we usually couch in abstract terrns, cliches, andwordy description. Conversely, she changescommon and familiar incidents with surprisingmeanings and dimensions--Martin (1 987: 1)Munro and Deshpande in their fiction are similar to photographersfor they capture the life of women. The question is how can they be'photographers'. What do they capture in terms of women's lives?Photography according to Webster's dictionary is the art or process ofproducing pictorial images on a surface sensitive to light or other radiantenergy. Both these writers produce images on a surface, that is, in thiscase, the women's minds and bodies. The emotions that they experiencebeing women is, what is captured by these two writers. The writers

present to the readers a picture of normal, everyday incidents at a pointof time. In a vein similar to photography, only the presence is capturedbut one finds' that behind the presence there is a larger reality that ishidden and can be unravelled only when one attempts to draw out thereality that is lurking beneath the surface.The photographer as an artist needs to record and reproduce realityas closely as possible. This aspect is witnessed in the writing of Munroand Deshpande. Stories that illustrate these are the town and peopledescriptions in Munro's LGW and WDY. Deshpande, too, in stories suchas "The Valley in Shadow" (Dark), "The IntrusionV(Leg) and "A Wall isSafer" (Dark) attempts to capture the reality of truth. But unlike Munroshe does not draw out the details of the settings and the colourings thatseep into the setting. This is not, however, a fault for a black and whitephotograph depicts to us only the shades and does not tell us anythingmore of the surroundings. Discussing this aspect of photography one isreminded of John Berger and Jean Bohr's statement:A photograph arrests the flow of time in which the eventexisted. All photographs are of the past, yet in them an instantof the past is arrested so that, a lived past, it can never lead tothe present. Every photograph presents us with two messages:a message concerning the event photographed and anotherconcerning a shock of discontinuity (1982:86).

Del in LGW too makes this point when she writes about thephotographer in her story:People saw that in his pictures they had aged twenty or thirtyyears. Middle aged people saw in their own features theterrible, growing, inescapable likeness of their dead parents;young fresh girls and men showed what gaunt or dulled orstupid faces they would have when they werefifty (205).Thus what one does notice in the work of these two short storywriters is the depiction of being able to look at the oddity of life andtheir ability to comment on the life of the people. This is also the powerof the camera. Susan Sontag remarks that the camera has the power tocatch so-called normal people in such a way as to make them lookabnormal. "The photographer chooses oddity, chases it, frames it,develops it, titles it ..." (1977: 131). The photographer is able to revealthe emotions and the feelings of the personality by a carehl and artisicuse of the camera. Munro and Deshpande, too, in their works displaysuch artistic abilities.Munro also shares similar concerns about photography. In aninterview she comments: "I like looking at people's lives over a numberof years, without continuity. Like catching them in snapshots ...." She

further emphasises "I don't see that people develop and arrivesomewhere. I just see people living in flashes. From time to time. Andthis is something you do become aware of as you go into middleage .... Mostly in my stories I like to look at what people don'tunderstand" (Interview, Hancock, 89-90).It is to be understood that women have hidden lives and stories thatare never highlighted. Borenschen in an article, "Is there a FeminineAesthetic" (ed. Gisela Ecker) affirms that women's stories have beenthrust away. Women's activities, their pasts, their lives are not to beforgotten. Women's sufferings, their subjugations, their oppressions, arepart of a darkened cultural history. In this cultural lineage women artistsand their works just become shadows that are thrustaway ultimately(1985: 31).Munro commenting on the gendered roles perceived in some of herstories states that until a girl is twelve or thirteen a girl feels fiee anduninhibited. She is able to visualise life in terms of action, adventure,heroism, power but this changes when she becomes aware of her sexualnature. This transformation can be witnessed by a reader in the lives ofthe characters such as Violet ("Queer Streak"), Del (LGW), Rose (FDT)and the narrator in "Boys and Girls" (DHS). Munro further adds the girl"understands that for her, participation in the world of action is notimpossible, but does hold great dangers, the greatest danger being that it

will make her not splendid, but grotesque" (186). Thus, the girl realisesthat she has to wait and instead of being courageous, learn to bebeautiful. The full human powers are illusory and not as she expects it tobe. She is forced to accept this definition or will have to compromiseand Munro feels that this is where women have an advantage:But this very denial of action, of full responsibility to the girl,gives her a kind of freedom the young male in most societiesmust give up. To be accepted, to be fully male, he cannotcriticise, he must sometimes participate in, whateverbloodstained practices his society believes necessary to itself;that, or become a revolutionary (Munro, 1972: 186).Feminine Identity:Questioning women's subjectivity and the idea of identity onefinds that there are a number of factors that make their impact on thissubject. The woman heroine in these stories does not undergo strugglebut realises that there are factors that she has to consider in order todevelop herself. She does finally regain her self by accepting theconnections of life and accepting life in many of the stories instead oftrying to be a mythical, heroic character.

It is generally true that women are exploited, oppressed anddegraded in many societies but Munro and Deshpande instead of justpointing and reaffirming these characteristics present women characterswith a future. One notices such characters in stories such as Jayu in "ItWas The Nightingale", Lalita in "A Man and A Woman" (Gale) and Delin "Baptising7' (LGW) and Rose in "The Beggar's Maid" (WDY). Thesecharacters understand that it is up to them to make their lives and theymake use of the openings whenever they can.In the West the relationship of marriage and family is voluntaryand is in principle a contract that can be terminated when individualsagree upon it. On the other hand, Indians regard the family as a strongbond and as an upholder of cultural values and tradition. This makes itdifficult for any dissolution of marriage, once it is solemnized accordingto traditional rites and rituals. Therefore, many women also rejectfeminisim which they feel promotes individualistic attitude, egoism,selfishness, sexual liberty and above all a destroyer of the family.The number of women writing in India not only in English but alsoin regional languages is a revelation of the changing phase of Indianwomanhood. Most of the writing is fundamentally a quest, within theIndian context to know the true identity of women. The subjection andoppression that women face is the major theme of women's writing andyet these works differ as the perception of women's problems is based

on a complex social structure which does not enable an easyunderstanding of the women's dilemma. The social structure in Indiaconsists of various hierarchical levels and it is very difficult for awoman to find her space and articulate as she is thrust into various rolesfrom her birth. It is relevant to know that most Indian women from themiddle classes have become aware of their problems due to an increasein education. What Parikh and Garg thus state is true of Indian women:Contemporary Indian women experience their life space abattle ground between the prescriptive roles based onidealised models of a bygone era and the emerging cognitivemap of modern society which pulls them towards widerhorizons. Caught between the traditional past and a futureinspired by their own dreams and aspirations, Indian womenwalk a tight rope. They cany the burden of both traditionaland modem role expectations, yet are denied the privileges ofboth (1989: 109).One notices in such a discussion of identity that Munro's fiction ismore autobiographical and she uses events such as marriage, children,lovers that have occurred in her life as the base for the stories. CatherineSheldrick Ross feels that she leads a double life, only pretending to belike everyone else. "The idea of a hidden identity appears in many earlystories in the form of a watchful child observer, where watching is

associated with shame, betrayal, and exposure". Ross also points outthat in her later books, "the idea of a hidden identity appears as afascination with the theme of adultery" and the "double life it creates,especially for a married wife and mother who is expected to live her lifefor other people. Instead she can be living this secret, exploratory life"(1990: 24). One notices such stories in her later collections, namely,MQJ and FOXFeminine identity one notices has created the myth of the 'superwoman'. Women are faced with the uphill tasks of standing upto men'sstandards. They "face the nearly impossible task of breaking through theglass ceiling of invisible barriers to achieve like men, whilesimultaneously curbing the self to fit into the traditional glass slipperthat promises blissful relationship". It is such a crisis that has led to thefact that women forget their own inner selves. Therefore it is difficultfor them to draw on any resources. Moreover even, "cultural myths orimages offer little guidance on how to be strong, or on how to beauthentic in relationships, or on how to combine self-development withintimacy" (Jack, 1991 : 26-27). This is very true in Indian society whereone finds that stories from the epics are used to inspire women. A girlchild is always told to emulate characters such as Sita and Savitri, eventhough many stories in the epics feature strong, rebellious women suchas Draupadi. Thus, instead of being a supporting structure, culture hasprepared and taught women to immerse themselves in self sacrifice. To

create a strong self one needs to explore differences and stick firmly toone's own point of view. They must understand that it is not necessaryto abdicate their own perspectives and values. Women have through theprocess of accommodating to cultural standards and practices, absorbedthe "male practice of discounting femininity itself--its knowledge, itsperspectives, its values" (Jack, 1991 : 33).The conventional, traditional route is a myth and an illusion thatcreates not emanicipated but women who lose their identities. It hasbeen drilled into women's minds that the traditional route offers a safeand secure future. But as a girl matures and adopts such a life-stye, shenotices that there is a "reduction of confidence, of possibilities" and ofher own true self (Jack, 1991 : 44). When women try to fit themselvesinto the ideas and notions of others, they realise that they deny their ownneeds which causes dis-satisfaction and dis-iilusionment. No wondermany women undergo traumatic, agonised lives not knowing how to getout of it. Such instances are noticed in stories such as "My BelovedCharioteer" (Dark), "Intrusion" (Leg) Bardon Bus (MQJ) and "A Manand A Woman" (Gale).Relationships, the locus of women's vulnerability to depression,also take place within a historical and cultural context. Depression isboth individual and social; it combines the personal and the political.The relational perspective asserts that the self is social. Mind and self

come into being through communication with others. One cannot healthe self in isolation. Since "the individual is in the deepest senserelational, and because women's vulnerability to depression lies in thequality of their relationships, it is the self-in-relation that begs forhealing" (Jack, 1991 : 205).The roles of wife and mother bring together society's expectationsabout the roles and importance of women with a woman's own personalhistory, self-perception, and hopes. One also finds that such notions actupon women's physical bodies: "women's bodies and nature have beensimultaneously defined, exalted, and devalued by a male-dominatedculture. This legacy of thought, and the long history of genderedpatterns of interaction, profoundly shapes women's self-perceptions".Women have seen themselves as men perceived them and havedeveloped negative images of themselves: "a fear of the rounded femaleform, evidenced by the rise in eating disorders; a devaluation offeminine biological events such as menstruation, childbirth, andmenopause; a dismissal of feminine modes of knowing as intuitive,irrational, or scattered" (Jack, 1991: 85). Such factors are illustrated bythe feelings of the women characters in stories such as "The Valley InShadow" (Dark), "Chaddeleys and Flemings" (MOJ), and"Connections" (MUJ).

Women's orientation to relationships holds potential as well asdanger. Besides imposing a threat to identity, relationships often help inrestoring one's lost self. Some women who are damaged bysubordinating themselves to the images and needs of more powerfulothers later recover their lost selves through relationships with others--people who help them to express themselves as full and equal partners.By exposing both the vicissitudes and the developmental potential ofrelationships, women are able to know and value their identities andthey are thus, able to re-shape themselves.The questions that arise at this point are: How can woman realiseherself? Where can she locate her self? What is one to do with the rolesthat she carries. Woman thinks of freeing herself but it is difficult,because even when holding a career, she still dons the role of nurturer,provider. Even when she is employed at the so-called professional level,if she belongs to one of the occupations traditionally held by womensuch as teaching or nursing she "replicates the selflessness ofmotherhood by focusing on the needs of pupils, patients, or clientsrather than by making her own mark" (1989: 21). Munro's story"Eskimo" (POL) is an illustration of such an aspect.Each woman's identity--the identity that each feels is authentic,real, and true to who and what she is becomes obscure as she leads a lifebased on the expectation that the female should focus on relationships

and tend to the needs of others. In many of Munro's and Deshpande'sstories one finds that the women have problem in sustaining the sense ofself and thinking of themselves as subject. Often we notice that their"subordination to impossible feminine ideals imposed by a patriarchalculture" interferes with the "development of the natural self' (Parikh,1989: 234).Short Story Genre:Reviewing the short story form one notices that both the writers,Munro and Deshpande have successfblly used the form in an innovativemanner to highlight the predicament and dilemma of women.Commenting on the sequence stories, it is relevent to know what TimStruthers states:Lives of Girls and Women has been called another collectionof short stories, a story-sequence, or a story-cycle; however, itmay be best be described as one of a fairly wide-rangingvariety of "open-forms", organised books of prose fictionmade up of autonomous units which take on extra resonanceand significance when combined with other related units.Such "open forms" are ones to which short story writers areespecially attracted and which are usually created by the

evising and the structuring of separately composed, andsometime previously published, short stories. Each organicwhole which results has a greater effect than one might expecta simple combination of its parts to have, since an "openform" is more unified than any miscellaneous collection ofshort stories by a single author, and as unified as, thoughformally different fiom, anything clearly describable as anovel (1978: 123).Catherine Sheldrick Ross talking about SIB says that the storiesdeal with urban life, "adult experience, the complications of marriage,and the barriers to communication between men and women, old andyoung". This statement is true of Munro's other collections, too. Sheadds that Munro's narrative technique convey what the charactersthemselves despair of communicating, namely "the layers of meaning;the implications in the lies, deceptions, and silences; the gap betweenwhat the characters mean and what they are able to tell" (1992: 73).LGW has been seen as a complex enactment of storytellingprocesses by Prentice. He mentions that throughout the novel charactersnot only share stories, but characters also become stories. The storiesreceived from literary, scientific, religious and many other traditionsinfluence and shape characters' lives. Through Del Jordan's narrative,one notices that these story making processes help to build the world in

which she lives. At the same time, the narrative is also able to constructher as part of that world. Within this set of sequence stories, the plot andthe subplot lose contexts as the narrative is arranged in such a way thatthe traditional hierarchy of value is displaced. Del, does form the centreof conflict in all the stories and yet the presentation of the stories occursin such a way that it is difficult to trace a linear traditional consecutivenarrative sequence:The text becomes fabric which exists only in the inter-relationof warp and weft. It can continue to be woven in anydirection, as the stories can continue to be told. There arestories present in the text only as beginnings, and there arestatements of conclusion, alluding back to untold stories. Allcan be likened to loose ends of story that have the potential tobe woven into the fabric but always resisting final closure(1992: 30).Postcolonialism and Feminism:The appropriation of women is a theme persistent in the stories ofboth Munro and Deshpande. One does find that the stories take a lotfrom the colonial outlook, namely the appropriation of space and theallusion to the imperial powers. It is to be pointed out that Munro's

stories do not tell us that "womanhood is a colonized tenito~y whoseinhabitants are enslaved7'. As Helaine Ventura points out "she does notlevel her accusation at the male species in particular since she does notportray the father as a bullying oppressor out to dispossess his wife anddaughter". She further emphasises that the father too is harassed andoppressed: "Like her, he is enslaved by his fa, harassed by his workand undoubtedly underpaid for his foxes ... The narrator's mother andfather are equally exploited without sex discrimination and they,nevertheless, conform to gender roles as a further proof of theirsubservience to a more powerful law" (1992: 85). Such instances are alsoseen in Deshpande's stories. Two good examples are that of the fathersin "The Awakening" (Mir) and "The Intrusion" (Leg).Postcolonial writing and reading thus display the strategiesnecessary to survey the colonising processess. Therefore one notices inthe present context of writings that these two writers persistently searchfor a 'voice'. One also notices that the writers modify the socialconditions to portray pictures of empowerment and of adoption ofsubversive values to reveal the reality existent in women's life. They are"subject to the historicising imperative, such that their strategies addressthe impact of colonising processes on the present and the future"(Prentice, 1992: 281).

Moreover, in Indian colonial period, it is perceived that the nationhad been linked to the mother image. As Sen comments the country hadbecome "the arena in which agreements and conflicts between thecolonial bureaucracy and the colonised middle class were played out".She further adds that the country was not only the captive to be freed byher morally inspired children but the central figure who created andprotected the sanctuary of the home, where the colonised intelligentsia,besieged by the colonial ruler, could take refuge. In this process thehome was demarcated as a rehge and the separation of the 'home' andthe 'world' hardened in the dominant ideology. (1993: 233)In this context the home becomes a private space where thecolonised could take refuge from their masters. This demarcation of the'domestic' as a private space gave rise to the development of a separateprivate space which was safe and secure from colonial intervention. Insuch a situation women became bound to the home. It was inculcated inthem that while men were the fighters of the outer realm, it was the dutyof the women to provide the fighters. Thus, one notices that thewomen's reproductive power was given more importance and"housework and childrearing" became their only "legitimate concerns".The assumption that men's and women's roles were complimentaryjustified the designation of the home as the proper context for women'sactivities. The moral health of the 'nation' was felt to depend onconformity to these different but 'equal' roles" (1993: 233). Within such

an environment the ideology of motherhood became stronger. Womenwere told that as they were the carriers of the future generation, they hadto revere their roles as mothers and give birth to children who werestrong and healthy in order to fight for the country. Also, the women tobuild up the nation had to provide their children with a good educationalbackground. Women were, therefore, educated and taught to be good,strong mothers. The whole theme of motherhood, thus, existed withinthis framework.Susie Tharu in an article in Recasting Women (ed. KumkumSangari) tracing women's literature feels that:This nationalist colour to what is really a common trend--glorifying women who fulfil their wife and mother roles withexceptional ardour--placed an enormous burden on the womenwho came within its defining scope. It was the women, theircommitment, their purity, their sacrifice, who were to ensurethe moral, even spiritual power of the nation and hold ittogether. But even as we point this, we must not forget thatthis phase also made for a positive evaluation of femininitythat did not allow for a limited growth. And no parallelphenomenon exists in the West (1980: 26).

Mother-Daughter Relationships:This consciousness of motherhood and colonialism is replaced byanother ideology in the post-colonial context, namely, the mother-childrelationship. Women experience pregnancy as a splitting of their selves.In other words, it is a "separation and coexistence of the self and of another, of nature and consciousness, of physiology and speech". Thisidentity crisis is boosted in an institutional, socialised manner indicatingto women that motherhood is the essence of womenhood. The fantasydevelopes to indicate that the mother and child are one and there is noexistence of the self. The mother is asked to forget herself by beingresponsible towards the child. There is an unconscious association ofwomen to the birth of children. A woman, unable to bear children isviewed with sympathy and pity, especially so in Indian society. Such asituation is witnessed in Deshpande's story "And, What's A Son"(Gale).This patterned, negative behaviour is taught by mothers todaughters as the mothers are the exemplaries for the daughters. It is alsoperceived that the mothers fear their daughters will meet with rejection,isolation, and danger if they stray too far outside social norms thatgovern gender interactions. In their attempt to save their daughters frompain and loss, mothers unconsciously teach them methods of relating to

the male world. This leads to the development of women who are self-effacing, self-sacrificing and highly accommodative.Social and cultural values create a paradox in which the motherchildrelationship is intensified at the same time it is rendered impotent.A mother exerts a powerful influence on the development of her child asan individual while she is relegated to a powerless position in society.She passes along the culture's devaluation of the feminine to herdaughter. Thus, weakness, submissiveness, power-lessness, not onlybecome associated with females, it also passes as essential trades fkommothers to daughters. Daughters thus, cannot overcome this inheritancewhich disables and curbs them.Mothers do not attempt to victimise their daughters. Daughtersthemselves, inherit the quality of powerlessness that their mothers hadthemselves acquired. Thus the daughters in these stories of MUKO andDeshpande respond not only to the biological relationship between themand their mother's, but also to the cultural/social context thatperpetuates this relationship. This cultural/social perspective of womendevalues their personalities. A daughter only sees a reflection ofdependence and weakness regardless of her mother's individualstrengths. Tne daughters as one notices in these stories in order tonegate the image of the mothers attempt to break away from them. Butthis action is not easy. Thus women not only promote the dilemma but

also get entrapped. One way out of such a predicament is for women tosustain relationships and to draw from it, thereby empoweringthemselves.A more sophisticated and complex response would take intoaccount women's wish to sustain relationships as well as to empowerthemselves. By acknowledging the patriarchal traditions that frame andgive form to female powerlessness, daughters and mothers can give thelie to the weakens and dependence the culture attributes to women. Bysympathising with the desperate position of a woman of whom bothhusband and culture demand perfection, a daughter whose motherdemands perfection of her can temper her anger toward her mother. Byrecognising the cultural pressures that set the borders of her own life, amother can temper her demands on her daughter. Mothers and daughterstogether can resolve the common predicament of mother blame bybuilding on womanly strengths--a sense of connection with others, aninvestment in sustaining relationships, mutual empathy, a commitmentto co-operation and mutual care--important qualities, often trivialisedand demeaned by the culture (Parikh, 1989: 189- 190).To conclude, one has to understand and evaluate women's liveswithin the social and cultural perspectives. The future of such a studylies in developing and enriching cross-cultural understanding which canbe understood in the words of Catherine Stimpson :

Such processes enhance, no matter how internally, a person'ssense of power and freedom. Reinforcing this is theprobability that reading is an indeterminate act. Because of itsvery nature, a text can invite us to help create its meaning. Aswe decide what it is all about, we are cognitively alert,responsible, fecund, capable. We gain a sense of strength.Simultaneously, we enter into what we have left of the worldof the text. We vicariously experience events and personalitieswe might not meet in ordinary life--including dramas ofinsubordination. We gain, then, a sense of possibility. If weempathise with a character, we may also mitigate somecrippling illness, a self-perception of weird singularity. Wegain, finally, a sense of community (1988: 159).

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