"Thanda Gosht" and Other Stories Literary Elements

Partition Literature, Short Stories, Satire.

The setting of the novel is Sub-continent during the partition of Pakistan and India in 1947. The stories have been written in the context of murders, brutality and bloodshed during migration.

The narrator of the stories is anonymous and the stories have been told from third person's point of view.

Ironic, Satirical, Condemning, Agonizing, Anxious, Traumatic.

There are no specific protagonists and antagonists in Manto's stories. The Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs are protagonists as well as antagonists in the stories but they are not particularly highlighted by names or religions.

The major conflict in the stories is between the murderers and their victims. In some stories, the murderers regret slaughtering the wrong persons and sometimes they suffer from inner conflicts because of brutally killing the innocent human beings.

In 'Khol Do', the climax comes when Sirajuddin finds that Sakina is missing and the other family members have been killed. In 'Thanda Gosht', the climax comes when Kalvant realizes that Eesher is not behaving normally and he might indulge in some affair with another woman.

Eesher's disturbing condition foreshadows his confession, which he made before his death.

Manto has understated the harsh realities of his society in his stories and especially in the sketches. He has understated how people killed one another without feeling any sympathy or empathy towards others. The Hindus killed their own fellow human beings because they considered them as Muslims, and the Muslims slaughtered the people of their own faith because of taking them as Hindus.

Manto has demonstrated how innocent beings were sliced into pieces and how virgins were raped and tortured. Manto has also understated the pathetic condition of women and prostitutes. He has also given an account of the alcoholics and the erotic desires of people.

There are allusions to murders, rapes, kidnapping, migration, trains, alcoholism, prostitutes, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, virgins, dupatta, false religious beliefs, hypocrisy, deceit, lies and treachery.

Manto has demonstrated the images of murder in both Thanda Gosht and Khol do. Eesher kills six persons of the same family and Sirajuddin's family is slaughtered. The images of violence and killing are prevalent in all the stories. There are images of rapes depicted by Manto in Khol Do and the black margins.

Images of trauma are also depicted by Manto through the demonstration of the condition of Sakina at the end of the story. In Khol do, the narrator says, “Sirajuddin lay gazing absent-mindedly at the dusty sky, till he suddenly caught sight of the sun. The warmth of the sun’s rays penetrated every nerve of his body.” It portrays the sufferings of Sirajuddin because of the loss of his family “a nightmarish vision rose before his eyes – flames, loot… people running… a station… firing… darkness and Sakina.” There are images of people worshiping a dead man because of the sweet water. The water became sweet because of throwing sugar sacks but the ignorant simpletons think that it is because of the miracle man, Manto has also shown how people were slaughtered brutally and killing was like a job for them.

The paradox in the story is that both Hindus and Muslims wanted to kill each other but they unintentionally killed their own people. Another paradox is that not only the enemies but the fellow beings also killed their people. The social workers raped the women and the police killed the innocent men. Another paradox in the story is that instead of feeling satisfied after slaughtering the people, the murderers were agitated by their acts of violence.

There is a parallelism between the massive slaughter of both Muslims and Hindus. Manto has shown that Hindus murdered the Muslims and dashed their religious places while the Muslims destroyed the lives of Hindus. The Sikhs also slaughtered the Muslims and raped their women.

An example of metonymy is Sakina, who represents all the innocent women who were raped during partition. An example of synecdoche is Sakina's dupatta, which shows the loss of her virginity and self-esteem.

Trains, death, sword and dupatta have been personified by Manto in his stories.