INTERNAL DILEMMA OF TWO SISTERS (DUI BON)

Abstract

Ashapurna Devi’s Dui Bon (Two Sisters) presents a subtle yet powerful exploration of the emotional, psychological, and social dilemmas experienced by women within the institution of marriage and family. The novel revolves around two sisters, Sharmila and Urmi, whose contrasting personalities and roles reveal the complexities of feminine identity in a patriarchal social framework. This paper, titled “Internal Dilemma of Two Sisters (Dui Bon)”, examines how the novel reflects the traditional expectation of the “ideal wife” as represented in the Sanskrit Neetishastra verse, which defines a wife through six virtues—service, wisdom, nurturing, beauty, pleasure, and forgiveness. Through the character of Sharmila, the narrative presents a woman who almost completely embodies these virtues, devoting herself to her husband Shashank with selfless care and emotional dependence. However, her excessive nurturing also creates a relationship of imbalance, where love turns into silent sacrifice and emotional burden.

Urmi represents a modern, educated, and self-aware woman who values ambition, companionship, and individual purpose. Her engagement with Nirad and her emotional understanding with Shashank expose the tension between duty and desire, freedom and social expectation. The paper argues that the internal dilemma of the two sisters lies not merely in romantic or domestic conflict, but in their struggle to negotiate selfhood within prescribed gender roles. Sharmila’s dilemma emerges from her unquestioning devotion and fear of losing emotional security, while Urmi’s dilemma arises from her desire to maintain personal identity in the face of restrictive expectations. Shashank, positioned between the two women, becomes a symbolic representation of the male desire for multiple feminine qualities that are rarely found in a single individual.

The study highlights how Dui Bon critiques the unrealistic idealization of women in marriage and questions the patriarchal notion that a wife must fulfill every emotional, physical, and moral need of a man. By analyzing the psychological depth of the sisters, the paper reveals the silent conflicts, emotional sacrifices, and unspoken aspirations that define women’s lived experiences. Dui Bon emerges as a sensitive literary text that exposes the contradictions of marital expectations and the emotional fragmentation of women caught between tradition and modernity.