The Condition of Women in Silence and Memory: A Narratological and Sociocritical Study of Shashi Deshpande’s That Long Silence and Tahar Ben Jelloun’s Sacred Night

Abstract

This study presents a comparative narratological and sociocritical analysis of Shashi Deshpande’s That Long Silence and Tahar Ben Jelloun’s Sacred Night, emphasizing the influence of silence and memory on the formation of female subjectivity. Both books depict women maneuvering through restrictive patriarchal frameworks in postcolonial Indian and Moroccan contexts. Deshpande’s heroine, Jaya, expresses her emotional and psychological distress via an introspective first-person narrative, wherein silence symbolizes both suppression and underlying resistance. Conversely, Ben Jelloun's Zahra grapples with a fractured identity, oscillating between masculine and female identities, as her narrative unfolds via several voices that encapsulate the intricacies of gender and cultural memory. The research employs narratological tools—such as focalization, narrative voice, and temporal structure—alongside feminist and postcolonial criticism to demonstrate how both texts undermine conventional gender standards. Character naming, symbolic silence, and narrative layering serve as primary methods used by the writers to challenge cultural and gender-based oppression. The study contends that silence and memory function not just as thematic elements but also as dynamic narrative devices that facilitate the reclamation of agency. The research highlights literature's capacity to function as a medium for female resistance and socio-political change in postcolonial settings.