Abstract

Dr. Felix Nayak

ABSTRACT

Nayantara Sehgal’s “The Day in Shadow” is not a feminist novel. In fairness to Sehgal, it is not even intended to be one. It is a woman’s novel and looked at from the angle of a woman; the novel contains traces of feminism. Sehgal definitely succeeds in arousing the consciousness of women and making them aware of their actual position in society. The novel provides a sensitive account of the suffering of a woman in Indian society when she opts to do away with a marriage seventeen years old. After being separated, she faces problems not only in coping with her own fears and tensions but also with the society which does not recognize a woman’s identity apart from her husband’s. A divorced woman is considered to be an outcast and she is curiously watched by others as if “divorce were a disease that left pock marks”1. The mere habit of living with someone for many years makes it difficult for the protagonist to digest the idea of living alone, all by herself. The frightening dream that she has dreamt of gives the reader an idea of her inner disintegration where pain follows her life like a shadow never leaving her even for a moment.