Feminine Quest for Identity and Self-Assertiveness in Shobha De’s Starry Nights

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the themes of the feminine quest for identity and self-assertiveness in Shobha De’s Starry Nights. Shobha De has written about the high socialite women. Her novels deal with the lives of such high society women. She describes the characters of modern women in the contemporary society as they are, riot as they should have been. Through her novels, she wants to express that sex and sensuality are a part of life. In Starry Nights, Aasha Rani seems more powerful and bold than Akshay. Like other heroines of Shobha De, she designs a code of conduct for herself which is free of the prescribed gender roles and sexual restrains of traditional society. Shobha De recognizes the unprivileged position of woman and tries her best to this pattern upside down. She is notable for her understanding of the woman’s psyche and her bold and frank treatment of sensitive issues pertaining to women does not present women’s sufferings alone. She transforms them into a creative principle of art and beauty. In a male-dominated society, usually a woman is reduced to being a mere object. This reduction of woman as a commodity is a phallocentric pattern. The women in the novels of Shobha De work to break this image. Her women are assertive, dominating and bold in comparison to their male counterparts. They are not submissive and not feel guilty about their affairs and attitude.