Abstract

This brief study discusses various dimensions of the mother-daughter relationship in Shashi Deshpande's The Dark Holds No Terrors and Manju Kapur's Difficult Daughters. Through the study of the characters, this study explores the social and personal fabrics of the mother-daughter relationship. Shashi Deshpande's The Dark Holds No Terrors centres on gender inequality as Saru, the protagonist, is repeatedly made conscious of her gender; even as a child, she is deprived of motherly love and affection. She is treated as a playmate and caretaker for her brother Dhruva. She constantly craves the unconditional love of her mother. Manju Kapur's Difficult Daughters is a story of a daughter's journey back into her mother's painful past. It spans the genres of fiction and history and falters in both. This novel is a pointer to how a mother's influence could be unsettling to the daughter under different circumstances.

Key words: Mother-daughter relationship, motherhood, dimensions, familial bonding, patriarchy.