the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

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that this is one role which is most difficult to relinqursh
In Nayantara Sahgal's The Day in Shadow, Storm in Chandigarh
and A Situation in New Delhi, the female protagonists are
self-assert~ve women, who rellnqursh therr marltal role when
marriage threatens to become a burden, but wllllngly see
motherhood as the key to happmess and fulfilment Tara
Parameswaran's Once Bittan Twice Married portrays an over
protective mother whose daughter succumbs to her overbearing
attitude In Rail Naraslmhan's Forever Free, the herome
flghts agalnst her mother's interference but returns later
to her widowed mother
1.7.3. Among the Indlan novelists taken up for study here
- Kamala Markandaya and Shashl Deshpande - the former
portrays mothers who are completely defined by their
maternal role while the latter deplcts women against a
tradltlonal backdrop, struggl~ng to shrug off the roles
folsted on them In A Eandful of Rice, we come across a
Markandaya herolne, Nallnl, ~dentlfled solely through her
mother-role, whose need to love. to possess and to wield
power are ail carrled out through her maternal ldentlty
alone In Markandaya's Some Inner Fury, Mira's mother who
personlfles the 'Ma' Image, looks upon her sons as power
symbols In Possession, Anasuya acts as a mother-surrogate,
to whom both Caroline and Valmrkr turn for advice and
guldance Only Lalitha of Two Virgins 1s not totally