Friday, December 4, 2009
Manto part two
To continue on the same theme of my earlier Manto post, what happens to a man’s psyche when women become unveiled? “How could a woman, even an old woman, bare herself in front of him?” In Khushia Manto’s male character becomes quite upset that a woman have the audacity to show herself to him, after all he is just Kushia. Perhaps he is upset because women do not belong exposed in society, but I think it is more than that I think he is upset that he has no power over them. The men of this society have long held power over woman and for them to be able to say things like “It is just Kushia” must have been unnerving for men.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
hahah what do you think he did to her? I couldn't really figure out the ending to this one. Reading Manto was probably one of my favorite activities for this class. I don't know a lot about the realist movement, I should learn more.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you touched on this is Manto part one, I want to say something about Odour. It reminds me of my African American lit. class, especially about the langston hughes comment on middle class african american males finding the lightest colored females to marry. Representation of the "primitive" as good and "civilized" as bad. India vs. Enland??? I'm being reductive here, aren't I?
I agree with Thao that Manto was probably my favorite book that we read this semester. And I like Roberta's idea that the reason Manto's male character got so upset about a woman showing herself without a veil is because he can't control her. I think the unveiling of Muslim women was a sure sure sign of their new independence in a modern world. But I can see how a man who is so used to dominating women would get upset when she is flaunting her new freedom in front of his face.
ReplyDelete