Critical Analysis
Toba Tek Singh
Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) was among the most famous, provocative, and
controversial Urdu writers of the 20th century.He was a prolific writer of essays, plays, film scripts,
and a novel, but he was best known for his short stories. Born in Punjab, his writing career really
took off in Bombay; he then moved to Lahore in Pakistan in January 1948, some months after
partition. His successive stories largely focused on the theme of partition, exploring its human
consequences from a range of different angles. Manto's stories are known for his tradition of
realism, verbal economy, reliance on internal elements, and especially his sudden, sometimes
disturbingly uncertain endings.Saadat Hussain Manto was a distressingly prophetic and daring
writer.
Toba Tek Singh was published in 1955 written by Saadat Hussain Manto in 20th
century.It was an absorbing and profound short story about relationship between India and
Pakistan,actually a satire on the idea of partition.It was originally written in Urdu language.The
story deals with inmates of the “lunatic asylum Lahore”.The characters and setting are tools of
reflective reality of present time of distress and chaos.Manto uses mental asylum as a picture of
pint-sized world where people of different caste and religion live and face the psychological trauma
and imbalance.The main character of story is Bishan Singh.He is symbolic of trauma of
displacement.Fellow inmates of asylum are partition refugees who suffer from mental illness but
are seen to appear saner than the outer world of political chaos.
Main Idea: A disastrous event like partition traumatized people by putting them nowhere.
The first two paragraphs of the story give an introduction about the time when the
story is set and the plot that follows. The two paragraphs foreground the time of exchange and the
circumstances under which the “governments of India and Pakistan” came upon a pact of
exchanging the lunatics of the counter religion of the respective countries, i.e., India and Pakistan.
It is in the third paragraph that Manto brings into the story the dilemma of the time of exchange
and the theme of mental illness. The asylum is the representative symbol of the whole continent
and madness a metaphor for trauma that people and refugees went through. The forceful movement
of people is evident of the “tough job” and the “pure chaos” when the people were reluctant to
migrate from their native places for the mere reason of their religion of birth. The border lines are
artificial. The lunatics show a more humanistic aspect of the society where the governmental aids
are nothing but pure politics.
While the story is a piece of fiction, it is consumed with light of the real exchange in the year of
1950 when the Hindu and Sikh patients from Pakistani asylum were moved to India and the
Muslim counterparts moved to Pakistan. Thus, the asylum of Lahore showcases the big picture in
small custody. The madness of these inmates of the asylum is more about the madness of
partition violence than their personal disability. The trauma of partition appears to be so
ridiculous that it has a great psychological impact on these inmates. The ruthlessness prevailing
in the humankind is the cause of the uncertainty and loss of sense of belonging and disturbed
identities. The character of a Sikh lunatic questioning about the exchange with a fellow Sikh
offers a contexual insight on the unimportance of demarcation on basis of caste and religion.
“Sardarji, why are we being deported to India? We don’t even know their
language.”
The above word threw a light on the innocence of people who are caught in the web of
political world and suffer a loss of identity when try to align with the outer world of chaos. Manto
shows underlying goodness of these lunatic inmates of the asylum with the words that “Not all
the inmates were insane.” The innocence in their minds and hearts deny them any impact of
theouter world. “They had only a vague idea about the division of India or what Pakistan was.
They were completely untaught of the present situation.” Another motive for their lack of
information is the lack of literacy amongst them and the absence in their attain to media,the
newspaper never gave them the clear picture.The only thing they were aware about was some
“Quaid-e-Azam” who had made the state of Pakistan. But “they were all at a loss whether they
were now in India or in Pakistan.” The inmates are distressed with their loss of identities and
belongingness: “I don’t want to live in India and Pakistan. I’m going to make my home right
here on this tree.” All the outer chaos of partition is displayed in the noise in the asylum when
the Muslim lunatic proclaims himself to be Jinnah and Sikh lunatic to be Tara Singh. The induced
violence symbolizes the communal riots during the times of partition. Moreover, the absence of
psychiatrists in the asylum shows Manto’s criticism of the partition by emphasizing the diplomatic
government and bureaucratic procedures.
The main conflict is shown with the character of Bishan Singh who utters “gibberish”
words and is interrogative about his town Toba Tek Singh. While his attachment of Toba Tek
Singh implies his identity and belongingness, his mutterings represent the union of varied
religions, languages, and thoughts, all mixed without equal proportions. “It was all so confusing!”
However the coming of Fasal Din gives an idea of hopeful humanity. The division of Gods,
separation of love, the inability of communities to take the decisions is all represented by Manto
with his own suffering and confusion. The motion reaches the height whilst Bishan Singh gets mad
over the scenario of his Toba Tek Singh and refuses to visit any place, however take a seat down
stiff among the 2 borders and declare this anonymous land his place. The last paragraph of the tale
evokes up pity and depression to the humanity criticizing the insignificant border strains made
through people to split the folks who belong to no faith however to faith of humanity and their
birth. The mental trauma of such walls tear the belongingness of human beings aside and disturb
their identities which Manto become usually in opposition to of and consequently criticized in his
works. The narrator in the end refers to Bishan Singh as Toba Tek Singh. It is the location that
belongs to him and now no longer him who suffers for mental belongingness.
Tone and Style
Saadat Hussain Manto used a critizing tone on this story. He critized the governments of each
nations and politicians for isolating Indian and Muslims in the name of religion and he was not in
fovour of partition.He also used sad and pity tone in the end.The author used informal style
throughout the story.Manto used easy style and language with words like “zamindar”, “bloody
Indians”, “sardarji” to keep the reader involved. The motive of author was to persuade the readers
that the partition was now no longer the manner to go.He turned into in opposition to the partition
and for this reason wrote this tale to in shape his factor of view.Hence the story is a powerful
political satire.
Saadat Hasan Manto consequently succeeds in posing a satire on lack of mental equilibrium
of human beings in the course of partition and courting among the governments.This may have
helped readers to go some way towards processing their psychological trauma.
The author used cause and effect pattern in the story. He defined the way it effected the
inmates of subcontinent in wide variety of ways. The manner the mentally sick had been dealt with
and the way it effected them on the time of partition.The pattern was single cause and multiple
effects.
Conclusion
Toba Tek Singh in particular was reflection of his own mental problems,addiction to
alcohol and possibly depression. More than just this, “Toba Tek Singh” and the character of Bishan
Singh is a symbolic commentary on the psychological trauma of the human displacement brought
about by partition. The specific subcontinental context was crucial in phrases of attitudes towards,
and remedy of, the mentally sick around the time of partition.The trend of Manto was also also
followed by other authors.Mental illness and psychological distress are prevalent in many of
Manto’s other stories, “Khol Do” being just one example.