The Unheard Woman: Silence as Resistance in Shashi Deshpande’s the Stone Woman

Abstract

This paper, the complex role of silence in the short story by Shashi Deshpande titled The Stone Woman assumes that silence is not only a symbol of patriarchal oppression but it is also a covert form of resistance. Although women in old Indian families are culturally programmed to be emotionally reserved, Deshpande redefines silence as a survival tactic and a statement of inner independence. The story uses multiple metaphors and a complex narrative voice to show how silence of women, who have been made silent in their relationships and social life, can also be used to protect themselves against being emotionally exploited.

Using the feminist and postcolonial approaches and narrative theory, the present research studies that silence is a coded language with which women bargain the identity, protect inner worlds, and avoid being subjected to the influence of patriarchal norms. Through foregrounding the unheard woman, The Stone Woman, attempts to break down the expectation of silence being synonymous with passivity, and instead shows how it can be a strong source of resistance even in intimate and domestic environments.