The
English Fiction written by Pakistani writers explores themes other than alienation,
transformation, consumption, and relativity. This is due to the reason that a
piece of Literature not only portrays the thoughts of the writers but also
reflects the culture and society as pointed out by Alamgir Hashimi poetry
(any piece of Literature) is not just an outburst of emotions by “a way
to represent the culture and the people”.
Read also,
Depiction of Pakistani Culture in Nawabdin Electrian
The English Fiction by Pakistani writers portrays Pakistani- culture and different social evils that are dominant in Pakistani culture. Writers like Ruskhsana Ahmad, Daniyal Mueenudin, Qaisra Sheraz, and Tariq Rehman highlighted many social evils of Pakistani culture such as economic disparity, poverty, class difference, and social disparity.
The first and foremost social evil that is predominant in the Pakistani- culture is poverty. The poverty ratio of Pakistan is increasing day by day and was recorded to be 24.3% in the 2019 census. Many writers depicted this issue of poverty in different ways. Daniyal Mueenudin highlighted this social issue of Pakistan in his short story “Nawabdin Electrician”. Nawabdin being a poor electrician and father of thirteen children (twelve daughters and a son) is compelled to obtain his bread by illegal means. As pointed out by the writers he survived and flourished based on his unique ability “a technique for cheating the electric company by slowing down the revolution of its meters”.
The writer highlighted how poverty forces one to commit wrong acts. Similarly, the thief as portrayed by the writer was more desperate and much poorer than Nawab which forced him to commit a bigger crime i.e. theft. The thief, who tries to snatch the motorcycle of Nawab which was gifted to Nawab by his patron, K.K. Harouni for illegal help is a poor person who has a mother waiting for him in the outskirts of Multan with no house, no money, and no relative. The thief tries to rob the motorcycle which had “increased his (Nawab’s) status”, to fulfill his needs but in doing so dies and is confronted by Nawab for choosing the “wrong way”.
The poverty issue was also highlighted by Ruskhsana Ahmad in her short story “The Gatekeeper’s Wife”, where the gatekeeper’s wife Tara is forced to rob “hunks of meat” from Heera, the Cheetah. Ruskhsana Ahmad highlights how a poor person is compelled to rob an animal of his food out of disparity. The meat is a symbol of wealth which the rich unknowingly or sometimes knowingly waste on their habits.
The writer
points out the reason why Tara had stolen Heera’s meat as ‘her children
often” would go hungry. Ahmad implicitly criticizes the ignorant
wealthy who are way below the animals in recognizing the despairs of their
fellow human beings. Here’s, being an animal understood this disparity and
won’t eat his food until Tara has taken some:
“Heera
won’t go near his food till she’s taken some”.
The
writer at the end of the story gives a message that if we won’t help the poor
and the needy, our pleasures and food will also haunt us just like how
Annette’s food got stuck in her throat:
“The
morsel (got) stuck in her throat”.
The second most important social evil is the class difference and economic disparity. Many writers of Pakistan highlighted this notion in their works. For instance, Tariq Rahman, in his short story “The Zoo,” highlighted how the poor are devoid of basic necessities but the rich flaunt their money on taking care of the animals as it attracts foreign attention. The animals in the short story were given more rights than Hashmat Ali’s family. For instance, they were given pure honey, meat, fresh air, and a place to live as they attracted the attention of foreigners and were given foreign donations.
When Hashmat Ali took his wife, Fatima, and his children, Azmat Ali and Zainab Bibi to the zoo, the children noticed how the bears were given pure honey which they couldn’t afford. Fatima criticizes this notion and says, “They are only animals” but she knows the difference between these animals; who were a symbol of the superficiality of the rich were in this society were more important than poor human beings.
Similarly, Annette in the short story “The Gatekeeper’s Wife” was
oblivious of the sufferings of Tara. She did not pay any heed to her and only
focused on the notion that a “wrong had been committed”. In
the same manner, Nawab was not able to understand the disparity of the thief
who was much poorer than him as pointed out by the thief:
“I
know you are a poor man but I am much poorer than you”.
All
these writers presented the notion of how a person belonging from a different
class or having different social conditions is oblivious of the disparities of
his fellow human beings.
Lastly, the social disparity can also refer to social recognition in society. Qaisra Sheraz in her short story represented this lack of recognition and acceptance of individuality. “A Pair of Jeans” reflect the Pakistani culture by highlighting the prejudices people have in our culture. Miriam, a Pakistani girl living in England went with her friends on hiking. She wore a tight pair of jeans with a short vest and jacket in which she was uncomfortable “she felt odd in her clothing”.
She wore this as the
occasion demanded and to get recognition from her English friends. After
returning home, she met the “surreptitious glances” of her
future in-laws who were “prejudiced against such girls” as
according to them such girls are not “docile, obedient and sweet”.
The writer highlighted how a mere piece of cloth determines one’s modesty as
pointed out by Ayub, the future father-in-law of Miriam:
“You
said that she was a very sharif, a very modest girl”.
The
writer implicitly criticizes society which judges people based on
clothing.
In short, one may say that the themes of Pakistani writers are quite different from the of English writers as they represent Pakistani culture and Pakistani mindset. Themes such as economic disparity, social disparity, class difference, identity crisis, and partition are the focus of Pakistani writers writing in the English language.
Modern fictional pieces of writing generally revolve around the themes of alienation, relativity, transformation, and consumption, but the fictional works produced by Pakistani writers are different in themes and even in style. Pakistani story writers, for instance, Daniyal Mueenduddin, Rukhsana Ahmad, and Qaisra Shahraz depict the society in terms of culture and economics. Except for A Pair of Jeans by Qaisra Shahraz, both the stories Nawbdin Electrician and The Gatekeeper’s Wife vividly depict the excruciating condition of the poor in Pakistan. A Pair of Jeans reflects the class difference. There is an economic disparity in Pakistan.
The capitalistic system is deeply engrossed where the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. When poverty exceeds the boundary, they have no option except to act on some illegal activities like Nawabdin and the gatekeeper’s wife Tara. Let’s take a closer look at all the stories to get more knowledge about the society and the poor’s financial condition in Pakistan. The story revolves around Nawbdin in ‘Nawabdin Electrician’ written by Daniyal Mueenduddin. It is a short story but depicts clearly the economic condition of the people of Pakistan. Nawabdin is basically an electrician and works for K.K Harouni, an influential feudal lord by having a lot of fields.
Nawabdin slows down the revolutions of the electric meter to be saved from many bills. He used to treat the water pipes sometimes heating them, joining the wires, sometimes bypassing switches, and so on. He is a poor person by having thirteen children. If he does not do this, his children face starvation and ultimately die. The condition of his house is also very pathetic and poor with a ragged wall and leaking roof.
He gets a Honda motorcycle from his patron as a gift, and it incites him more to keep this illegal activity up. The story becomes more tragic when one day a thief asks for a lift. He keeps the gun in Nawabdin’s head and fires which leads to the injury to Nawabdin. Another villager supposedly fires at the tree and a bullet hits the thief and both take them to the hospital. The thief dies and Nawabdin saves.
This glimpse of the story shows that both Nawbadin and the thief are poor. Thief very vividly describes his financial position to Nawabdin. He has no house, no shelter, and even not sure about the next meal. The same economic conditions can be seen in the contemporary society where we are living. Another story, ‘The Gatekeeper’s Wife’ written by Rukhsana Ahmad also depicts the same economic condition but with different characters and scenarios.
The story revolves around two main characters Annette and Tara. Annette, a newly married woman from British visits Pakistan for recreational purposes and loves animals while Tara is the wife of the gatekeeper who is extremely poor. One day on her visit to the zoo, Annette sees that a long, thin woman enters the restricted area near the heera’s cage. She picks up the meat given to the cheetah and saliently makes her way home.
Annette gets shocked and depressed hurries back home and tells whole the story, she has seen in the zoo. Annette keeps a meeting with Tata. Tara tells her the story which clearly reflects her poverty and economic condition. She tells Annette that her children are starving and even the cheetah wants her to feed her children with this meat.
A Pair of Jeans by Qaisra Shahraz clearly portrays the gap between the nations. All the story dramatically changes due to the dress of Miriam. It leads to the break of engagement. The glimpses of all three stories clearly show the economic condition of Pakistani society as well as class differences. There is a clear demarcation between the poor and the rich.
Economic inequality is visible. The number of beggars increases day by day, price hiking, and the unemployment rate all make Pakistan an economically disabled country which can be seen in the modernist fictional piece of writings as well.
The additional analysis is done by SOL.
