Fractured Identities of Women in Partition in Manto’s Short Stories ‘Cold Meat’ and ‘Open it!’

Abstract

Saadat Hassan Manto chronicled the chaos that prevailed, during and after the separation of the subcontinent in 1947. No part of human existence remained untouched or taboo for him. Manto’s short stories debate about various issues and of them women issues are one of them. He sincerely brought out stories of prostitutes and pimps alike, just as he highlighted the subversive sexual slavery of the women of his times. His concerns on the socio-political issues, from local to global level are revealed. The focus of this paper will locate the simulated portico prevailing in the society related to women and their unsettling fractured identities in the society with respect to post colonial aspect.  This paper primarily discusses about these two short stories Cold meat and Open it with reference to the women’s position. The splintered identities of women are taken into consideration and the study of two different short stories is premeditated in this paper.