Language and Style in Shobha De's Novels

This article deals with the use of language and style in Shobha De’s novels. Through analyzing linguistic style in the novels readers may understand her thematic concerns and expand their critical appreciation further. On the flip side though, it is her thematic concerns that influence her choice of certain linguistic style for her writings. The writer has selected feminism and cultural concerns in contemporary India as her main focus. To address this issue and make a strong statement, she has introduced some strong women characters in her novels. The women in her novels, especially the heroines are from a high business class of the society in India. These are the best candidates in her endeavor to challenge the old norms and societal conventions that have held the progress of women in a patriarchal society. The fact that they are not economically dependent on their men counterparts in a relationship meant that they have no reason to be afraid of speaking their mind. As a result her novels exhibit brazen, brave, bizarre, out of the ordinary, explicit, candid and sexually charged language and narrative style. This is a deliberate attempt at presenting a shock treatment and thereby creating awareness in a society, in which women emancipation has yet a long way to go.