Synopsis This book attempts to explore the genius of Shashi Deshpande vis a vis the women’s world in her novels. Her protagonists raise their voice against the straight-jacketed role models of daughter, sister, wife and mother and refuse to be the objects of cultural and social oppressions of age-old patriarchal society. Her novels sensitively portray the plight of women and their mute, convoluted self-abnegation. Deshpande in her novels has advocated feminism and her concerns are not only with the themes of feminism but also humanism.