A Feminist Reading of Shashi Deshpande’s 'Small Remedies'

The most renowned Indo- Anglican woman writer Shashi Deshpande’s engrossing novel Small Remedies (2000) traces the journey of a woman towards self-affirmation. Her novels prove her mettle in postcolonial feminist literature and deals with the question of emancipation of women in contemporary postcolonial India. Deshpande, belonging to the generation of eminent Indian women writers such as Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, Sarah Joseph and Anita Nair explores the different angles of womanhood and portrays the collective struggle of women in a patriarchal society. Some sources acknowledge that Deshpande refrains from calling herself a feminist but all her texts reflect the cause of according equality to women.  Most of her works ranging from The Dark Holds No Terror to Small Remedies are a testimony to it. The female protagonists of Deshpande such as Madhu Saptarishi in Small Remedies, Jaya in That Long Silence and Saritha in The Dark Holds No Terror are not exceptionally strong women yet they struggle to find their place and space in a patriarchal society. 

Small Remedies is a powerful novel illustrating feminine sensibility and female identity of three different women. With an over-ruling theme of self-discovery, it also deals with oppression and subjugation of women in a conventional Indian social order. Irrespective of the hierarchical religious and financial status women are oppressed by norms and conditions in a male-dominated world. The 19th century feminist activist Tara Bai Shinde in her notable work A Comparison between Women and Men expresses her anger against the contrast between the freedom for both men and women: “You shut women up endlessly in the prison of the home, while you go about building up your own importance, becoming Mr Sir” (134). Small Remedies points out the proneness of women to vulnerability in terms of status, power, rights, privileges and obligations. All the major female characters in the novel are subjected to gender discrimination but Savitribai Indorekar is the only one who dared to choose an independent and challenging life. Bai married into an affluent Brahmin family elopes with a Muslim table player in order to be known as a great classical singer. She is looked down upon even by her daughter for her inappropriate behaviour. Yet Bai did not discontinue following her dreams. 

Madhu writes about Bai: 

“I can make Bai the rebel who rejected the conventions of her   times. The feminist who lived her life at her terms...The woman who gave up everything — a comfortable home, a husband and a family — for love” (166). 

On the other hand, Madhu and Leela defy the assigned roles silently and attain solicitude through their occupations. They neither questioned nor complained anyone but managed to create a space in a male-stratified system. 

Madhu narrates Leela: 

“In her work, too, though she was sidelined after years of working for the party, though she never reached the top of the hierarchy, while men who'd worked under her got there, she never complained” (83). 

Thus, Deshpande portrays the dichotomy between extremely different characters who are marginalized and subjugated. 

Shashi Deshpande strictly follows the ideals of liberal feminism focussing women’s ability to achieve gender equity through their actions and choices. The theme of resistance operates on both domestic and psychological levels in Small Remedies. Jaya of That Long Silence and Indu of Roots and Shadows are all portrayed as writers akin to Madhu of Small Remedies. Both Jaya and Indu use writing as a mode of resistance against conventions while to Madhu, writing is a form of escapism to forget the haunting memories of Adit. Deshpande through the technique of metafiction brings out the emotional resistance of Madhu to accept the death of her son and Som’s indifference towards her. Madhu as the biographer of Savitribai is not in a hurry to pen down the book. Her writing moves on parallel to her coming in terms with her own personal trauma. The narrative goes on, “like a raga, beginning with aalap, continuing with vistaar, gradually gaining momentum in a quickening spiral of suspense eventually to achieve a cathartic calm” (119). The experimental psychologist Norman Maier comments on the process of writing “A writer must therefore overcome ALL resistance: habitual, emotional, and intellectual” (Maier 9). While for Madhu writing about Savitribai takes her into an emotional personal realm. Madhu asserts, “The power of the writer is the power of the creator” (166). Madhu goes through all the stages of the writing process and attempts to closely examine her character: Savitri Bai. Nonetheless the writer in Madhu only associates herself with Bai’s life rather than really writing/ creating anything new out of it. 

The female characters in Small Remedies are facing marital discord. They all resist in the domestic sphere to be freed from the clutches of men and become self-reliant. Marriage involves mutual obligations. There is a whole lot of duties and responsibilities associated with marriage for the partners. Arunima Baruha notes the characteristics of ideal wife. She observes that “the ideal woman is the devoted wife who is willing to suffer all kinds of adversities for the sake of loyalty to her husband. She has no separate existence. As Ardhangini she is her husband’s partner in Dharma, Artha and Kama” (35). This is not seen to be completely practised in all marriages and households. In the novel Leela, Madhu, Savitribai and Shailaja are all married women. Only the latter is portrayed as an ideal wife whereas others are one way or the other being seen slightly slipping away from the archetypal roles. Leela’s second marriage to Joe, Savitribai’s elopement with Ghulam Sahib and Madhu’s untimely confession to Som about her sexual abuse are all evil and shameless actions in the prejudiced eyes. On the contrary, Savitribai’s father-in-law’s illicit relationship with a Thumri singer, Som’s premarital relationship with Neelam and Dalvi’s sexual exploitation of Madhu are not taken into account by the moralists. In Small Remedies Deshpande stresses the rigid framework within which women should spend their lives: “Rules could be modified for the daughters, but daughter-in-laws carry the weight of the honour of family, its reputation, its izzat” (220). Deshpande thus clearly highlights the stereotypical categorization of “women as other” who would “never be the equals of man” (Beauvoir 7). 

Indian society has always been hierarchical. The binary opposites male and female are given superior and inferior statuses since time immemorial in India. Most of the women writers project female experiences placing male characters in a darker spectrum. Unlike them Deshpande depicts the mutual and strong bonding between man and woman in her novels. The relationship between man and woman -be it be father and daughter, husband and wife- is the crux of the stories. In Small Remedies too friendships among men and women play a dominant role in the construction of the plot. The friendship among Madhu, Tony and Chandru, motherly bond between Tony and Leela, fatherly bond between Madhu and Babu exemplify the same. At the same time Madhu is also equally ill-treated by men like Dalvi. Deshpande thus drives home the point that not all men are evil and immoral. She also brings out the suspicious and intolerant attitude of society towards the friendship between opposite sex. In the novel Chandru says, “Men and women can never be friends” (254). Deshpande further remarks that an invisible wall of gender discrimination of the myopic society however separates both men and women. 

Amar Nath Prasad in New Lights on Indian Women Novelists in English observes the characterization of men and women in Deshpande’s novels: 

“Shashi Deshpande’s novels clearly reveal the author’s perception of the imbalance between man-woman relationships in the middle class family of our Indian society. It is evident that the novelist tries to correct this imbalance in her novels” (98). 

Shashi Deshpande depicts an expression of feminine sensibility through the exploration of womanhood, motherhood and widowhood in Small Remedies. In her eyes womanhood involves certain collective experiences. Every woman has inborn maternal instinct. Otto Rothfield comments on the close association between womanhood and motherhood: “To grasp her as she really is she should be seen also as a mother. For if love is a duty of womanhood, biologically the function of motherhood is even more important” (Rothfield IX). Hence motherhood seems to be the consummation of womanhood. In the novel, Savitribai and Madhu are portrayed as biological mothers but Leela’s maternal instincts overrules. Munni rejects her relationship with Savitribai for known reasons while Aditya distances himself from Madhu for personal benefits. Both of them are unable to get along with their mothers. Madhu finds Bai’s indifference to Munni unacceptable as she herself is a grieving mother. Aditya’s death gives her a hard blow whereas Bai is unaffected by Munni’s loss. Madhu and Bai are therefore of contrasting characters. Madhu narrates: “When I look into the mirror, I see only what I want to see: a mother, a loving mother... Puta Moha. Yes, I am obsessed with my son” (188). Madhu is kind of a replica of Kaikeyi of Ramayana who blames herself for losing her own son. Leela though not a biological mother seems to be a caring step-mother and second mother to Tony- Paula and Madhu respectively. Paula is quite displeased with Leela while Tony and Madhu treat her as their own mother. The novel further reveals Paula has no children. Deshpande through her characterization portrays that “Childlessness is the worst curse humans could think of for their enemies since ancient times” (117).  
Widowhood is a major issue of women. Adinarayana Reddy in Problems of Widows of India claims that “In widowhood, a woman joins a category of women among the most marginalized, and invisible” (154). Widows always feel insecurity and their selfhood remains questioned. In Small Remedies Leela is a widower and a deglamourised figure. Unlike the ostracized section of widows Leela gets actively involved with the societal problems and stands for them. She keeps staying in her husband’s house even after his death and educated her brother-in-laws. Her cross-caste remarriage to Joe retaining her identity shows her determination in self-hood. Madhu and Savitribai can also be categorized as widows if widowhood is defined as a state of having losing one’s spouse not just due to his/her death. The psychological effects of widowhood are very much visible in Madhu as she ruminates over their past memories and desires for a better life with Som. 

 Shashi Deshpande’s novels focus on the female protagonists confined in the four walls and are in a conflict between tradition and modernity. To Deshpande traditions are moral and social values for the co-existence and modernity is assertion of one’s own individuality. All her female characters are modern, educated and empowered women though society labels them subaltern. Madhu, Leela and Savitribai are only a few among them. Madhu and Savitribai walking out of wedlock are post modern women. Leela on the hand is a strong Leftist woman and outrightly admits to anyone her hatred towards Gandhiji’s principles of Ahimsa and Sathyagraha. However both Madhu and Leela admire and uphold the familial values of Indian tradition and culture. Savitribai though closely tied to Indian culture through traditional music does not seem to be respecting the familial values as the other duo. 

Gayatri Spivak writes in her article Can the Subaltern Speak?:

“ Between patriarchy and imperialism subject constitution and object formation the figure of a woman disappears, not into a pristine nothingness, but into a violent shuttling which is the displaced figuration of the ‘Third World Woman’ caught between tradition and modernization” (61). 

Deshpande’s characterization are based on the postcolonial binaries and are constructed emphasizing on centre/margin, dominant/ hegemonic, silenced/subaltern etc. 

Small Remedies is apparently a journey from feminine consciousness to self-affirmation. Madhu’s search for identity is linked with quest for liberation and selfhood of Leela and Savitribai. Madhu feels alienated after her father’s death and goes through a phase of feminine insecurity and identity crisis. She says: “My own life had ceased to exist and I could only watch, from a distance, others living out their lives” (44). Later she undergoes the similar trauma when Aditya and Som left her. To come out of it she takes into writing Savitribai’s biography whereas it has only aggravated her pain. Over time Madhu senses a new whole self and decides to start a new life with Som. Similarly Leela too decides to come out of a cocooned after her husband’s death and moves on. Savitribai’s search for identity as a singer forces her to give up all that she has. She seems to be the most liberated soul among all the other female characters. Memory as a device plays a dominant role in the journey of these women towards their selfhood and self assertion. Small Remedies therefore ends with a note: “Memory, capricious and unreliable though it is, ultimately carries its own truth within it” (324). Deshpande’s characters are found to be in pursuit of truth to achieve their individualism and dignity as females. 

In a nutshell, Shashi Deshpande in Small Remedies vehemently attacks the ‘self-proclaimed men’ who uses women and discard her. What makes Deshpande different from other feminists is that, she does not accept feminism as an extreme challenge against patriarchy rather speaks about the reconciliation between men and women. Yet her characters are also able to break the shackles of docility. It is time that the world found a supportive man for every single woman too. Therefore, feminism cannot be a partial struggle but a joint struggle where in men and women contribute collectively.  

Works Cited

1. Baruah, Arunima, ed. Women in India: An Exhaustive Study. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 2003. Print.

2. Beavoir, Simon de. The Second Sex. Trans. H.M. Harshley, London: Vintage, 1997. Print.

3.Deshpande, Shashi. Small Remedies. New Delhi: Penguin, 1996. Print.

4. Maier, Norman Raymond. The Psychological Background of Writing. UK: Edwards Brothers, 1923. Print. 

5.Prasad, Amar Nath. New Lights on Indian Women Novelists in English. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2003. Print.

6.Reddy, Adinarayana. Problems of Widows in India. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2004. Print.

7.Rothfield, Otto. Women of India. Mumbai: D.B. Taraporevala & Sons, 2015. Print. 

8.Shinde, Tarabai. “A Comparison between Women and Men.” Indian Literature: An Introduction. Gurgaon: Pearson Education Services, 2005. Print. 

9.Spivak, Gayatri Chakraborthy. “Can the Subaltern Speak.” Towards a History of the Vanishing Present. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1999. Print.