A Study of the Dynamics of Power within the various Relational Equations: Analyzing Shashi Deshpande's The Dark Holds No Terrors (1980)

<p>The article aims to analyze the assertion of womanhood by the central character Sarita<br>in the novel The Dark Holds No Terrors (1980), through her exercise of feminine<br>agency. By shedding light on the various traumatic experiences of Saru, the paper<br>would highlight how power structures function within various relational equations–<br>whether it is between the mother and the daughter, the mother and the father, or the<br>wife and the husband. This is equivalent to the power structures that frame the<br>patriarchal societal order at large against which the woman is posited as a mere object<br>of assault. The idea of darkness plays a key motif to highlight the constraints against<br>which the central female character fights to achieve her agency. Furthermore, the role<br>of the various other characters that function either as catalysts or inhibitors towards<br>the exercise of the agency of the central character will be explored. </p>