Inner Struggles and Silent voices: Exploring Female Identity through That Long Silence

The main objective of this paper is to present the problems faced by women in india especially their position in family and society through the work of Shashi Deshpande's ' That Long Silence' (1988). The work portrays the struggle of the female protagonist to preserve her identity as a wife, mother and most fundamentally as a human being, According to Indian tradition a women’s life is completely controlled either by her family or husband. Women are not allowed to share their thoughts or opinions on anything, they also sacrifice their dreams and desire for their families. The research paper is to examine the Psychoanalytic feminism through the protagonist Jaya, a housewife from a middle-class family educational background being in quest for her identity. This approach deeply examines Jaya’s internal conflict and how she is shaped by societal expectations. Even though she is educated, she remains silent against the injustices that have impacted her. Not only Jaya but also the other women characters portrayed in the novel Jaya’s mother, grandmother, cousin Kusum have also maintained silence for centuries. Psychoanalytic feminism looks at how Jaya”s silence is deeply rooted , showing her struggle with fear and self-doubt feelings she learned from being raised to accept a lesser role since childhood .Psychoanalytic feminism helps us understand the impact of societal expectations on women’s inner lives . Jaya’s journey highlights the need to break free from silence and find her true self.

Keywords: Psychoanalytic Feminism, identity crisis, internalized oppression, patriarchy, social conditioning.