Violence
The theme of violence is central to Manto’s writings. Whether it’s the short stories or the sketches, Manto has written about the brutality faced by humanity during migration from one place to another. In the story, ‘Thanda Gosht’, Kalwant murders her husband with a dagger just because she suspects that he has an affair with some other woman. Eesher’s story which he tells her wife also includes the theme of violence. He tells her how he has killed six people with the dagger without any reason and the seventh person in the house was a beautiful girl who committed suicide. In the story, ‘Khol Do’, the violence is prevalent in the case of Sirajuddin and his family. His family is brutally murdered and his daughter, Sakina is kidnapped and then raped. In ‘Division’, two men carried a heaviest wooden box in search of a treasure but when they opened it, there was a man inside it with a sword and he cut them into four.
Hypocrisy
Mnato’s stories are replete with the theme of hypocrisy. In the story, ‘Khol Do’, the social workers promised Sirajuddin to find his daughter but when they found her, they raped her, and they tell her father that they have not found her yet. After ten days, she was found near railway tracks in worst condition. In the ‘Garland’, Manto has shown how police killed humans for saving the statue of the great anthropist, Sir Ganda Ram and after shooting them, the dead bodies were taken to the ganga ram hospital. Manto has depicted in her writings, how the Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs cheated the people of their own religions as well just to gain profit.
Trauma
Another prevalent theme in the stories is trauma. In the story, ‘Khol Do’, Sakina went through traumatic experiences. She couldn’t explain what happened to her and painfully moves her hand towards the cord of her shalwar. Sirajuddin suffers the trauma of his family’s death and the kidnap of his daughter. In the story, ‘Thanda Ghosht’, Eesher could not resist the traumatic memories of murders. He killed six members of a house and a girl committed suicide because of him. The memories haunted him and he was unable to behave normally.
