Chapter 2: Short Story: "I Want..." — Shashi Deshpande
Part A: 15 Short Answer Questions & Answers (1-2 Sentences)
Q1: Who is Alka and what is her primary conflict in the story?
Answer: Alka is a twenty-seven-year-old unmarried Indian woman who faces severe social stigma, emotional anxiety, and family pressure to conform to traditional marriage expectations.
Q2: Why is Alka's mother extremely anxious in the opening scene?
Answer: Her mother is anxious because Alka is twenty-seven, an age considered very late for marriage, and she is desperate for the visiting groom's family to approve of Alka so they can look the world in the face.
Q3: What does Alka's mother insist that she wear for the meeting?
Answer: Alka's mother insists that she wear a bright, heavy blue silk saree with gold embroidery to make her look attractive and hide her anxious expression.
Q4: Why does Alka feel "degraded" during the marriage inspection process?
Answer: Alka feels degraded because she is treated like an object or a commodity, standing silently while strangers scrutinize her body, her voice, and record her physical details.
Q5: Who is Baba and what is his role in the story?
Answer: Baba is the prospective groom who has come with his family to inspect Alka and decide if she is suitable for marriage.
Q6: What surprising question does Baba ask Alka during their private meeting?
Answer: During their meeting, Baba looks at her and asks her directly, "What do you want?" which surprises her because no one has ever asked her about her personal desires before.
Q7: How does Alka's father react when the marriage is finalized?
Answer: Alka's father is deeply relieved and overjoyed, smiling warmly and exclaiming that a massive burden has finally been lifted off his mind.
Q8: Describe the recurring nightmare that haunts Alka.
Answer: Alka's recurring nightmare is that she is running on a dark station platform, trying desperately to catch a departing train but always missing it, representing her fear of being left behind by society.
Q9: What does the title "I Want..." symbolize in the story?
Answer: The title "I Want..." symbolizes Alka's repressed desires, her sudden awakening to self-identity, and her struggle to express her own choices in a patriarchal society.
Q10: Why does Alka wipe off the lipstick her mother applied?
Answer: Alka wipes off the lipstick because she rejects the artificial, superficial beauty standards being forced on her to please strangers, wanting to remain true to herself.
Q11: How does Alka feel when she first learns that Baba's family has accepted her?
Answer: She feels a strange mix of excitement and confusion, comparing her feeling to that of a child who has been given a new, unfamiliar toy but does not know how to play with it.
Q12: Why does Alka feel angry at her father's immense relief?
Answer: She feels angry because she realizes her father viewed her primarily as a heavy social burden to be got rid of, rather than as an individual with her own feelings and choices.
Q13: What does the "blue silk saree" represent in the narrative?
Answer: The blue silk saree represents the heavy burden of social conformity, traditional gender roles, and the sacrifice of personal identity to please societal expectations.
Q14: What inner conflict does Alka face regarding her age of twenty-seven?
Answer: At twenty-seven, Alka feels caught between her natural desire to live on her own terms and the societal pressure that tells her she is an incomplete, aging failure if she remains unmarried.
Q15: How does the story conclude for Alka?
Answer: The story ends with Alka surrendering her illusions of independence, accepting the marriage, and entering a submissive life, while carrying a deep, quiet sense of lost self-hood.
Part B: 12 Medium Answer Questions & Answers (80-100 Words)
Q1: Discuss the significance of the title "I Want..." in Shashi Deshpande's story.
Answer: The title "I Want..." is highly significant as it represents the central conflict of the story: the suppression and sudden awakening of female desire and agency. In a patriarchal society, women are rarely asked what they want; instead, they are told how to behave, how to dress, and whom to marry. When Baba asks Alka, "What do you want?", it shocks her because she has spent her entire life fulfilling the wishes of others. The incomplete phrase "I want..." highlights her inability to even define her own desires, as she has been conditioned to have no independent voice. It serves as a silent, powerful cry for self-expression and personal identity.
Q2: Describe the relationship between Alka and her parents as shown in the text.
Answer: Alka’s relationship with her parents is marked by tension, silent duty, and emotional distance. While her parents love her, their love is filtered through societal expectations and anxiety over her unmarried status. Her mother is anxious and demanding, focusing entirely on Alka's physical appearance and dressing her up like a doll to please visitors. Her father treats her unmarried presence as a heavy, exhausting burden that dominates his mind. There is no open, honest communication between Alka and her parents, leaving her feeling isolated and viewed as a family problem rather than a daughter.
Q3: Explain the role of the "marriage arrangement process" as a patriarchal practice in the story.
Answer: The marriage arrangement process is depicted as a humiliating and objectifying ritual that strips women of their dignity and agency. Alka is subjected to an "inspection" where her physical features, her voice, and her domestic skills are evaluated by the groom's family. This process treats the woman as a commercial commodity to be bought or rejected. The power lies entirely with the visiting family, while Alka must stand silently, smile on command, and endure their intrusive gaze, highlighting how traditional matchmaking systems reinforce the submissive status of women in society.
Q4: Analyse the inner conflict Alka experiences regarding her age of twenty-seven.
Answer: At twenty-seven, Alka is considered "old" in the traditional Indian marriage market, which creates deep psychological trauma for her. She is caught in a painful conflict: on one hand, she values her mature self and wants to be recognized as an individual; on the other hand, she cannot escape the societal shame of being unmarried at her age. Every failed match increases her anxiety and feelings of rejection. This age milestone makes her feel like an outsider in her own community, driving her to accept a marriage where her personal choices are completely ignored.
Q5: What does Alka's recurring nightmare of the train symbolize?
Answer: Alka’s recurring nightmare of missing a departing train is a powerful psychological symbol of her fear of social abandonment and failure. The train represents the steady, moving timeline of socially acceptable milestones—such as marriage and motherhood—that society expects everyone to catch. Missing the train symbolizes being left behind, remaining unmarried, and becoming a social outcast. The panic and anxiety she feels in the dream reflect her real-life fear of being stuck in her parents' home as an unwanted, unmarried daughter of twenty-seven.
Q6: Critique the family's reaction to Baba's family accepting the marriage proposal.
Answer: The family’s reaction to the acceptance of the proposal exposes the harsh reality of how daughters are viewed in traditional households. Instead of celebrating Alka's happiness, her father reacts with immense, desperate relief, stating that a heavy burden has finally been lifted from his mind. Her mother immediately plans to offer a coconut to the temple in gratitude. This reaction is deeply insulting to Alka, as it confirms that her parents did not see her as a cherished individual, but as a stressful liability and a source of social embarrassment that has finally been resolved.
Q7: Describe the interaction between Alka and Baba during their private meeting.
Answer: The private meeting between Alka and Baba is filled with awkwardness and sudden emotional intensity. Baba, unlike the previous suitors, does not ask conventional questions about her domestic skills. Instead, he looks at her and asks, "What do you want?". This direct question pierces through Alka's defensive shield, making her feel exposed and confused. While Baba appears calm, confident, and somewhat sympathetic, the interaction highlights the deep gap between them: Baba has the power of choice and voice, while Alka is too frozen by years of submission to even articulate a response.
Q8: How does the story expose the commodification of women in traditional matchmaking?
Answer: The story exposes commodification by comparing the marriage inspection to a business transaction or a product display. Alka is dressed up in expensive silk, adorned with jewelry, and painted with makeup to make her more appealing to the "buyers." Her natural personality is hidden behind a polished facade. During the meeting, she is made to walk, speak, and show her accomplishments, while the visitors observe her coldly. This process reduces a complex human being to a physical specimen, proving that traditional matchmaking values women only for their external conformity and submissiveness.
Q9: Discuss the significance of Alka's choice of clothing and makeup in the story.
Answer: Alka’s clothing and makeup represent the conflict between her authentic self and the artificial identity forced upon her. Her mother insists on a heavy, bright blue silk saree and applies dark lipstick to make her look "presentable." Alka, however, feels suffocated by this costume. In a quiet act of rebellion, she runs to the bathroom and rubs off the dark lipstick, wanting to face her inspectors without artificial decorations. However, she cannot discard the heavy saree, symbolising that while she can resist in small ways, she is ultimately trapped in the heavy garment of social expectations.
Q10: Analyse the shift in Alka's emotions from anxiety to relief, and finally to anger and hollow acceptance.
Answer: Alka’s emotional journey is a complex spiral of psychological adjustments. She begins with intense anxiety and dread before the inspection. When she hears that the family has agreed, she experiences a sudden, childlike relief and excitement, feeling like she can finally "look the world in the face." However, this relief quickly turns to anger as she watches her father's joy, realizing her consent was never truly valued. Finally, this anger fades into a hollow, quiet acceptance, as she surrenders her dreams of true freedom and accepts her destiny.
Q11: How does Shashi Deshpande capture the silent, suppressed desires of Indian women?
Answer: Deshpande captures these desires through a deeply introspective, first-person narrative that exposes the contrast between a woman’s outer obedience and her inner turmoil. Alka never speaks her protests aloud; she complies with her mother’s demands and smiles for the guests. However, her internal monologue is filled with sharp observations, anger, and a desperate longing for self-hood. By focusing on these unsaid thoughts, Deshpande reveals the rich, complex, and suppressed emotional lives of women who are forced to live as silent puppets in a traditional society.
Q12: Explain why Alka feels like "a child with a new toy who doesn't know how to play with it" after the proposal is accepted.
Answer: This metaphor reflects Alka’s complete lack of experience with personal choice and agency. Throughout her twenty-seven years, she has been told how to live, think, and behave by her parents and society. When she is suddenly handed her "destiny" in the form of a confirmed marriage, she does not know how to feel or behave. She has wanted this marriage to escape social shame, but now that she has it, she realizes she has no control over it. Like a child with an unfamiliar toy, she is fascinated by the change but feels entirely unprepared and anxious about the reality of her new role.
Part C: 5 Long Answer Questions & Answers (200 Words)
Q1: Provide a comprehensive feminist critique of the arranged marriage system and the objectification of women as depicted in Shashi Deshpande's "I Want...".
Answer: Shashi Deshpande’s "I Want..." is a powerful feminist critique of the arranged marriage system in India, exposing how it systematically dehumanises, objectifies, and silences women. The narrative centers on the humiliating ritual of the bride-inspection, which Deshpande portrays as a commercial transaction where the woman is evaluated like a product. Alka, at twenty-seven, is already treated as damaged goods in this market. The system demands that she hide her authentic self behind a polished facade of expensive blue silk and makeup to satisfy the patriarchal gaze of the groom’s family. Deshpande highlights the absolute lack of female agency in this process; Alka is a passive object of inspection, while the power of choice rests entirely with the male suitor, Baba, and his family. The emotional damage of this objectification is severe, leaving Alka with deep feelings of degradation, anxiety, and a recurring nightmare of social abandonment. Furthermore, the system’s cruelty is reinforced by the family structure. Alka's parents do not seek her personal happiness or compatibility; they are driven by the urgent social need to remove the "burden" of an unmarried daughter. The father's immense relief when the marriage is finalized proves that the patriarchal family prioritizes social conformity and honor over the daughter's individual humanity. By exposing these silent struggles, Deshpande’s story challenges the romanticised image of arranged marriages, revealing them as patriarchal structures that survive by suppressing the independent voice and desires of women.
Q2: Trace Alka's psychological journey from societal compliance to self-awareness and ultimate resignation.
Answer: Alka’s psychological journey in "I Want..." is a tragic progression from reluctant compliance to a sudden, painful self-awareness, ending in quiet resignation. In the beginning, Alka is fully compliant, allowing her mother to dress her up and prepare her for the inspection, despite her deep internal dread and feelings of degradation. However, her encounter with Baba acts as a psychological catalyst. When Baba asks her, "What do you want?", it breaks her submissive mindset and forces her to confront her own empty, suppressed identity. She realizes that she has never lived for herself or made a single independent choice. This moment of self-awareness brings a brief, surge of hope, but it is quickly crushed by the external reality of her situation. When the proposal is accepted, she experiences a temporary, superficial relief, but this is immediately followed by intense anger and bitterness as she watches her father celebrate the removal of his "burden." She realizes that she has been traded into a new set of expectations without her true consent. In the final phase, Alka’s anger gives way to a hollowing resignation. She surrenders her illusions of freedom, recognizing that she lacks the courage and social support to rebel. Her journey ends in a quiet, sad conformity, representing the thousands of women who bury their self-hood to survive within patriarchal boundaries.
Q3: Analyze how Shashi Deshpande uses symbolism (the saree, makeup, the train nightmare, and the house facade) to represent female entrapment.
Answer: Deshpande masterfully employs several key symbols throughout the narrative to represent the physical, social, and psychological entrapment of women. The heavy "blue silk saree" with gold embroidery is a prime symbol of social expectations; it is a beautiful but suffocating uniform that Alka must wear to conceal her anxiety and conform to traditional standards of marriageability. The "makeup and lipstick" applied by her mother represent the artificial identity forced upon women to make them acceptable to the male gaze. Alka's act of wiping off the lipstick is a symbolic attempt to reclaim her authentic self. The "recurring nightmare of the departing train" represents her paralyzing fear of missing societal milestones and being left behind as a social outcast, highlighting the intense psychological pressure to conform. Finally, the "facade of the house," described as grand and clean while hiding the tension and anxiety inside, mirrors the lives of the characters themselves, who maintain a polite, traditional outward appearance while suffering from deep emotional suppression. Together, these symbols build a dense atmosphere of confinement, showing that every aspect of Alka's world—her clothes, her home, her dreams, and her body—is controlled by social forces that keep her trapped.
Q4: Examine the conflict between individual desire and social conformity in a traditional Indian family structure.
Answer: The core thematic conflict in "I Want..." is the intense struggle between individual desire and the demands of social conformity within the rigid structure of the traditional Indian family. In this structure, the individual is expected to sacrifice their personal identity for the honor, stability, and reputation of the family unit. This conflict is embodied by Alka, who longs for self-expression and independent validation, but is constantly forced to bend to the social anxiety of her parents. Her mother and father are not villains; they are ordinary individuals trapped in a system where having an unmarried daughter past a certain age is a source of intense social shame and gossip. Therefore, they push Alka into conformity, treating her personal feelings as irrelevant obstacles to a successful match. The family operates as an agency of social control, policing Alka's dress, behavior, and thoughts to ensure she fits the submissive mold expected by society. When Baba's question "What do you want?" introduces the possibility of individual desire, Alka is unable to answer because the family structure has never allowed her to develop an independent will. The story demonstrates that in the clash between individual desire and social conformity, the weight of family and social pressure almost always crushes the individual, leading to a forced and hollow harmony.
Q5: Discuss how the story challenges the traditional roles of daughter, wife, and mother, advocating for female autonomy and voice.
Answer: Shashi Deshpande’s "I Want..." acts as a powerful advocate for female autonomy and voice by systematically dismantling and challenging the traditional, idealized roles of the daughter, wife, and mother. In patriarchal discourse, a daughter is often treated as a temporary guest or a burden to be handed over; a wife is expected to be submissive and selfless; and a mother is celebrated for her endless sacrifices. Deshpande strips away this romanticization. She shows that the role of the "daughter" can be a deeply painful experience of surveillance and objectification, where her worth is tied solely to her marriageability. The role of the "mother," as shown through Alka’s mother, is depicted as an agent of patriarchy who trains her daughter to be submissive and values her only when she conforms. By highlighting Alka's silent rage and her desperate struggle to answer the question of what she wants, Deshpande exposes the psychological emptiness of these traditional roles. The story argues that a woman cannot find true fulfillment or dignity as long as she is defined solely by her relationships to men and family. By leaving the phrase "I want..." ringing in the reader's mind, Deshpande demands that society recognize women as autonomous individuals who have the right to define their own desires, make their own choices, and speak with their own independent voices.