Saturday, November 7, 2009
1 April
In present day the first of April is also known as April Fool’s Day, and in Monto’s short story “The New Constitution,” the main character Mangu made a fool out of himself. He overheard parts of conversations which lead him to truly believe that there was going to be a new constitution, and that it was going to be in favor of India and its freedom. Mangu beat up "the gora" thinking that he was the foolish one, but in reality he, Mangu, was the fool because there was not a "new constitution" that he was so excited about. April Fool’s Day has existed since the late 1500s. So is it a coincidence that Manto makes Mangu a fool on April Fool’s Day?
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I definitely do not think that this is a coincidence! What better day to make it? The whole story reminds me of the abolition of slavery here in the U.S. You can read many books, poems, narratives, etc. that describe the coming of news papers and the arrival of hearsay saying that slavery is no more, yet those who lived it did not feel the change. I feel like that is what the character in this story is going through, you expect mountains to fall and rivers to be split when news of that importance and proportion come, but does it ever really happen that way?
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