AN EXPLORATION OF SADAT HASSAN MANTO’S SELECTED SHORT STORIES FROM EXISTENTIALIST FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This study examines women's suffering in Sadat Hassan Manto's work, focusing on the patriarchal society in his stories set during the 1947 India partition. The society depicted in his stories is deeply patriarchal, where men are portrayed as superior to women. The author vividly illustrates male dominance in his narratives, representing how they constructed women's image and identity, leading to their sexual exploitation and abuse due to the socially constructed conception of them. In Manto's narratives, the world is predominantly masculine, with leading male characters. Echoing Simone De Beauvoir's views on male superiority, men are portrayed as the citizens and the natives of the world while women are marginalized as the "others," constantly under male scrutiny. This is qualitative research. It is descriptive, analytical, and interpretative. The qualitative Content Analysis Technique’ is applied to analyze the short stories of Manto while applying Simone de Beauvoir’s Existentialist feminist theory (1949). The analysis focuses on women's empowerment in Manto's short stories through Beauvoir's existentialist feminism, revealing how female characters transcend societal constraints to assert their existence. The narratives illustrate women's resilience and ability to carve out their place in society, challenging hierarchical structures that perpetuate male dominance and oppression (Yusuf and Iskandar, 2020).