THE FEMALE PROTAGONIST OF SHASHI DESHPANDE’S A MATTER OF TIME: AN IMAGE OF SOLIDARITY AND DETERMINATION

Shashi Deshpande, a well-known Indian woman novelist in English, has eleven novels and four children's books to her credit. Her novels are simple stories dealing with the lives of the ordinary people, women in particular, with their heads and hearts. Her women are the human beings who breathe and live around each one of us. They belong to the world of flesh and blood. The main thread of her novels is woven around the life of her women with their struggle for self-realization, selfassertion and emancipation. Since Indian society, to a large extent, has deeply been rooted in patriarchy, women have been facing injustice, suppression, oppression, subjugation and exploitation in one way or the other. They are the victims of social ills and evils prevalent in a contemporary society. In spite of being educated, they have been looked down upon with contempt; they have been reduced to the status of a plaything; they have been treated as lifeless objects used to fulfil men's sexual desire and also as child-bearing machines. Deshpande, who is fighting for the cause of women, gives an outlet to her resentment at injustice done to them in the name of patriarchy.Her women exhibit inner strength, courage, confidence, solidarity and determination in their struggle against the hardships of their lives. They rebel against patriarchy and move on with an urge to turn their dreams into reality. The present article intends to explore the character of Sumitra, the protagonist of A Matter of Time, an epitome of love, strength, solidarity and determination.