''Roots and Shadows'' is an English-language Indian novel, written by

Shashi Deshpande Shashi Deshpande (born 1938) is an Indian novelist. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri Award in 1990 and 2009 respectively. Biography She was born in Dharwad, Karnataka, the second daughter of the Kannada dramati ...

in 1983. The novel focuses on Indu's interactions with others in her large family and the manner in which this helps to resolve their future and her own personal crisis.

Characters

First generation

*Akka – The female matriarch of the family *Indu's grandfather *Old Uncle - Indu's grandfather's cousin

Second generation

*Narmada Atya - Indu's aunt *Anant Kaka - Indu's uncle *Govind - Indu's father *Madhav Kaka and Sumitra Kaki - Indu's aunt and uncle *Vinay Kaka and Kamala Kaki - Indu's aunt and uncle *Sunanda Atya and Vasant Kaka - Indu's aunt and uncle *Saroja - Naren's mother

Third generation

*Indu - Govind's daughter and the main protagonist *Naren - Saroja's son and Indu's illicit partner *Jayant - Indu's husband *Hemant - Anant kaka and kaki's children *Sumant - Anant kaka and kaki's children *Padmini - Anant kaka and kaki's children *Sharad -Anant kaka and kaki's children *Sunil - Madhav kaka and Sumitra kaki's children *Lata - Madhav kaka and Sumitra kaki's children *Geeta -Madhav kaka and Sumitra kaki's children *Vithal - the adopted Brahmin boy

Fourth generation

* Vishwas - Hemant's children * Sanju - Hemant's children

Themes

* Marriage * Joint-family system * Infidelity * Class and caste relations * Feminism * Modernism

Analysis and criticism

The work has been widely analysed and criticized for its feminist orientation. It has been a source for many thesis and papers on the role of women in society of today.{{Cite web, url=https://www.anubooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Notions-2014-No2-4.pdf, title=Identity motif's in Shashi Deshpande's Roots and Shadows, last=Ashok, first=K. Kumar, date=2014 The work is widely appreciated for bringing out the joint family system in Indian society.

References

1983 Indian novels