Prostitutes and Fallen Women in the Short Stories of Manto

Abstract

Manto, an outstanding figure in the oeuvre of Urdu short fiction, was a true ‘progressive’ who could hold a mirror up to the society more faithfully and brutally than any of his contemporaries. With his fearless championing of the truth, Manto brought an element of realism in the Urdu short stories. Gifted with a sharp clear- eyed acumen and a rare sensitivity, Manto loved to handle bold and unconventional themes. He looked at human nature in all its diversity and had a rare knack for not only viewing darkness and ugliness more acutely than others, but also cherishing goodness and beauty in the midst of wickedness, betrayal and brutality. His legacy constitutes a formidable body of work that focuses mainly on the working class, especially the outcast, the marginalized and the peripheral. Manto wrote with particular empathy about women, especially the sex workers and prostitutes and, in a number of his short stories, sought to explore their human essence and relentless quest for identity and dignity. Being the timeless product of his age, Manto compels repeated returns and revisits to his work. My paper attempts to take into account Manto’s handling of prostitutes and fallen women in his select short stories so as to reveal how Manto views them through a humanistic lens which serves to humanize these fallen women, highlight their predicament and show them in positive light.