The Impact of Modern Marriage on Women’s Morality and Spirituality: A Study through Shobhaa De’s Socialite Evenings

Abstract

Shobhaa De as a writer is gifted with an extra - ordinary ability to discuss very sensitive aspects of human life tactfully. The way she narrates each and every aspect of human relationship in general and man-woman relationship in particular, is really wonderful. Socialite Evenings, the first novel by Shobhaa De, depicts the upper classes of Mumbai society. It portrays affluent, dissatisfied housewives trapped in unfulfilling marriages and engaging in disastrous affairs outside their marriages. The book also features arrogant, self-absorbed husbands who value their wives more for social status than affection. The narrative includes fashionable gatherings, insincere spiritual guides, and the overall moral, spiritual, and intellectual decline of Mumbai. These elite individuals have abandoned their traditional culture in favor of near-complete westernization, embracing materialism as their sole value system. She brings to light those women in society who are willing to challenge existing one-sided moral standards to establish their own identities.