Dark Holds No Terror

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A WOMAN’S SEARCH FOR REFUGE – THE DARK HOLDS NO TERRORS Shashi Deshpande’s second novel, The Dark Holds No Terrors is about Sarita- a well educated and an economically independent woman. The novel presents Sarita’s search for her identity followed by her self-realization. It is the story of Sarita (Saru) and her agonizing search for her self . It is a story of a marriage on the verge of breakdown and of a woman who has been made acutely conscious of her gender since childhood. The novel presents the image of woman struggling against the oppressive social norms of the male dominated society. The novel opens with Saru’s return to her parents’ home fifteen years after she leaves home, with a vow never to return. But she returns to seek refuge. Years on, Sarita still remembers her mother’s bitter words uttered when as a little girl she was unable to save her younger brother from drowning. Now, her mother is dead and Sarita returns to the family home, ostensibly to take care of her father, but in reality to escape the nightmarish brutality her husband inflicts on her every night. Retrospection of the past leads to self realization in Saru. The epilogue of the novel taken from Dhamapada, authentically reflects her self realization: ‘You are your own refuge. There is no other refuge. This refuge is hard to achieve’. Dhammapada2 Being caught in the whirl pool of trauma and agony a mature Saru finally shuns extremes and takes a practical view of the circumstances. She realizes that separation from her spouse is not the ultimate solution to her problem but a tactful assertion of her identity within marriage is the ideal remedy. In the novel,
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