MARRIAGE AS FULFILLMENT AND DESPAIR: A CRITICAL READING OF 'SHIPS THAT PASS', A NOVEL OF SHASHI DESHPANDE (Pages 114-127) by Ms. Noor Fathima Ibrahim* and Dr. V. S. Sreedhara** in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

ShashiDeshpande is a renowned Indian Woman Writer in English who is famous for her exceptional portrayal of middle class contemporary women world. She has attempted to articulate the problems women face in their everyday life. The various customary roles women tend to play as daughters, sisters, wives and mothers have enabled them to realize the painful constraints they are put up with for long, under the male dominated society. In the end, after a prolonged struggle and introspection, her women characters invariably emerge as strong, though not always victorious personalities by asserting their rights and individuality. Her novels reflect various forms of female subjective experiences played out by her principal characters, both within and outside the family. Though the concerns are similar, each of her novels offers a different treatment of the problem women face in a patriarchal setup. All her principal characters, whether it is Sarita of The Darkness Holds No Terrors, Mini in Roots and Shadows or Jaya in That long silence, can be seen struggling with their marriages and family set up and their own self. The Ships That Pass, published in 2012 is no exception. The novel offers a varied interpretation of man-woman relationship where love, trust, and mutual respect matter more than mere individual happiness. It also provides an account of a woman’s journey of a totally confused college girl, both innocent and ignorant of the follies of life, to a person of some intelligence, sure of herself and clear about her future life. Shashi Despond’s woman characters usually traverse such a path, albeit in different ways, but reaching a certain stage of maturity, they reach out to the world of experience and in that become conscious about their own identities and existence. The present study tries to analyze this journey as it is played out in the novel Ships That Pass, in greater detail and examine critically how it deals with the theme of the emergence of a new woman. It also explores what the novel offers in terms of the concepts of marriage and love from a woman’s perspective and what in the author’s view would constitute a rejuvenating experience in a man-woman relationship. Finally, the study will also focus on how the novel articulates the issue of feminism in an Indian context.Despond’s woman characters usually traverse such a path, albeit in different ways, but reaching a certain stage of maturity, they reach out to the world of experience and in that become conscious about their own identities and existence. The present study tries to analyze this journey as it is played out in the novel Ships That Pass, in greater detail and examine critically how it deals with the theme of the emergence of a new woman. It also explores what the novel offers in terms of the concepts of marriage and love from a woman’s perspective and what in the author’s view would constitute a rejuvenating experience in a man-woman relationship. Finally, the study will also focus on how the novel articulates the issue of feminism in an Indian context.Keywords: Indian Woman Writer, contemporary women, male dominated society, prolonged struggle, victorious personalities, individual happiness, woman’s perspective, feminism etc.