Usman Ali is one of the most prominent literary figures in the circle of Pakistani playwrights born in Mandi Bahauddin district. He is the product of the end of the 20th-century influences of post-war, post-colonial, postmodern, and Pakistani literature. He did his M.Phil. in literature from Punjab University and serving as a researcher in Mandi Bahauddin campus of the University of Sargodha. He is generally considered a keen observer.
The Last Metaphor is A
post-colonial piece of writing. The style of this drama is similar to English,
American, and Russian, but this is a typical Pakistani by the dint of its
characters, surroundings, and writer.
The play thematically as well as the portrayal of characters, the
dialogues, and the discussions show that it is more relevant to the theatre of
absurd. In fact, it is a philosophical discussion. Basically in the drama, the
writer has lamented several social evils that are taking place in our society.
When social evils are increased in a society where there is no good. It
vanishes automatically. Society converts into a barbaric and oppressive
one.
The title refers to symbolically something which is lost and the play
divided into three acts. Due to its shortness, it resembles GB Shaw's plays. It
is a commentary to the audience and a continuous discussion between two
characters. Scenes are not regularly created and they are loosely connected.
Banka and Jugnoo are the major characters.
The situation created by the writer remains the same throughout the play,
the social evils. Stage, dead body scenes and even characters also remain the
same. The discussion between the characters shows the social life of Pakistan.
The drama is a discussion on Pakistani societal issues and their root causes.
Act one is primarily about crimes and punishments. It depicts the
barbaric and fake encounters of police which is very common especially in Sind
and Punjab province. In this play police do the same. Banka keeps on
telling the story of two boys who capture by police on a very week suspicion.
They beat the two innocents and bring them to death with the help of people.
The people are so cruel that even no one is ready to accept the dead bodies. It
is said that this is still happening in our society without trial and justice.
The play progresses and touches the looming danger of death. How death is
important. Banka reflects the deaths of family and tells four generations of
death. His grandfather, great grandfather, and his father died in the tube
well. This reflects especially the culture of Punjab and Sindh where there are
tube wells to store water.
This also reflects the poor condition of people. It is the philosophy of
life that death comes very fast to the poor.
The second act is again about death and nature. In this play, people are
divided into two groups. Dead and living. According to the writer’s philosophy
sometimes some people die but they keep on living. Their celebration and
remembrance are remaining in this world, but on the other hand, some people are
just living bodies, and they have no contribution. They don’t do anything for
the betterment of life. The function of fire is becoming weak. It is a belief
in many religions. They take it as worship. In Islam fire is terms with hell.
The characters Jugnoo and Banka are resembling with Vladimir and Estragon, a
drama 'Waiting for Godot' written by Samuel Beckett. In both, the characters of
the play are purposeless and have no meaning in life.
Act three is about burial, and one more character is added but can’t
appear on the stage. This character is a symbolic one. The Bhali is responsible
to bury the dead bodies but he doesn’t prefer to bury the poor people. He is
ready to give the service to well-off persons. He is the representation of the
forces of nature as well as human beings.
In act three the play becomes more and more philosophical because here is
the discussion of man and nature in depth by showing to the audience who is
this dead body is going to be. But we soon come to know that the
dead body belongs to a dog, not a human being. No one is ready to accept it. It
shows that if a worthless person dies then no one care and he makes no
difference to the world. He has no attention. The dog exists as a metaphor.
This short three acts play's characters, themes, scenes are the vivid
representation of Pakistani culture, but on the other hand, they are the
symbolic portrayal of men and their life in the modern period where everyone is
running behind one’s ideals without thinking about the needs of the humanity in
general. We are self-centered having no respect for others' interests and
traditional social set. In fact, this play attempts to highlight the problems
and cause the root of social evils in Pakistani society. It is considered a
bright example of Pakistani Anglophone literature. Although the drama is
written by a Pakistani playwright and represents the Pakistani social set up
its message and interpretation are universal and human in general. Fake
encounters of police are very common. We have bright examples of Sahiwal
incidents.
"According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) data,
as many as 3,345 people have been killed in police encounters from January 2014
to May 2018. The data further shows that 23 women and 12 minors have also been
killed in these police encounters whereas 55 police officials have also been
killed in these encounters."
Pakistani society is surrounded by many social problems. In this short
play, the writer is more philosophical. The play shows the absurdity of modern
times, people have no clear purpose and meaning in life.
It can be summed up that this is one of the most popular dramatic genres
produced by a Pakistani writer. From beginning to the last of this play, the
issues and problems of Pakistani society are vividly explored through
characters. Pakistani society is badly surrounded by a lot of social issues.
Some of the deep and dark issues highlighted by Usman Ali in his short act
play.
