Manto Patriotism Essay

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Manto is one of the famous Urdu short story writers during the time of partition. He followed the writing tradition of Social realism which many of the Progressive writers used. His story dealt with fictional account real life situations. Manto often commented, "If you find my stories dirty, the society you are living in is dirty. With my stories, I only expose the truth" This quote itself explains that Manto 's stories were the harsh reality of the society. He was condemned many times but he was only charged one time. Manto migrated to Pakistan after partition so he was one of the live witnesses of partition and its darkness. In an article written by Shafey Kidwai in The Hindu, he says "Manto makes an honest difference between patriotism and nationalism." According to George Orwell, Nationalism should not be confused with patriotism. He quotes "Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power." Patriotism is love for one 's country and its way while nationalism is aggressively proclaiming that one 's country is superior than others. Nationalism is tainted with the negativity of war and loss. "The Assignment" characterizes the feeling of an Indian Muslim, India belongs to him as much as it belongs to a Hindu. To be …show more content…

It satirically represents the post-partition insane asylum in Lahore. Most of the characters are insane but these lunatic characters unlike the sane people, don 't hide their inner dilemma and confusions, they show it, some even explicitly. Sane and insane are created by man himself. Things that can be seen sane by some people can be seen as insane by the others. Their perception of the social upheaval from that enclosed space shows the vanity of man. To them India is within Pakistan and Pakistan is a place to manufacture razors. In a way, they understand the violence caused by the

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