A Literary Criticism on Saddat Hussein Manto's 'Toba Tek Singh'

Saadat Hasan Manto’s ‘Toba Tek Singh’ is a short story that explores the theme of identity during partition and the chaos and confusion that ensued due to the event itself. Manto, who was part of the Progressive Writers' Association, is someone who wrote with purpose and often incorporated themes of societal change and problems in his writing. Yet he wrote in such a style where he was not trying to be moralistic or making comments but bluntly and straightforwardly.

Toba Tek Singh was weaved around the real event that happened between India and Pakistan where they exchanged the mental asylum patients who were Hindu and Muslim to India and Pakistan respectively. Manto very creatively uses the setting of the asylum to criticize the partition while still treating mental illness as a matter of life without over-dramatizing or trivializing the matter. Manto in his writing used what we call the 'Madman Archetype'. Bishan Singh could be seen through a medical gaze by the readers, because surely what could a mad person do? But that's exactly the point, even people such as Bishan Singh don't understand the need for the partition. By equating the matter to the mentally challenged, one is more or less safer from censorship and can tread safely into sensitive matters. Besides, this kind of setting could even be the aesthetic quality of the piece. We feel the loss of identity on 2 levels, as a mental patient and as a victim of partition.

Keeping in account the sensitive matter at hand, Manto does not use elaborative or flowery language. There is an omniscient narrator that takes us through the asylum like they're reporting, which is suitable for this kind of narration. If we observe the language of Bishan Singh however, he mumbles a combination of words in different languages. In the context of the event, language has become a bone of contention. 'Why should we go to India? We don't even speak their language!' By repeating Bishan Singh's mumbles throughout the text; his monomania, this point is being emphasized. Language has become a part of identity to people and they are not ready to let go of it, just as Bishan Singh keeps repeating the same thing over and over again.

In light of the text itself, there are blurring lines as to what counts as sane and insane. But it is probably what Manto meant to achieve. Are the ones in the asylum truly insane for not understanding the partition, or is it the leaders of both nations who thought this was a good idea? Who was truly sane in this situation, what is truly sane about the situation? Don't the insane actually sound sane when they ask about Pakistan and India? The mental asylum- as mentioned previously- is a setting used creatively for the whole situation itself. If the asylum is a microcosm of the nation, then its keepers are 'illiterate' and the common people who do not understand the need for partition are called insane.

Once we've understood this carefully woven dichotomy of the text, it brings us to the question of what is fiction and what is reality. If we look at the author's life itself, he was an alcohol addict, and borderline depressed. So the text has been inspired by internal elements as well, which are very much real. Fiction or reality? Maybe an amalgamation of both.

The main theme of the content is identity, Manto narrates his characters describing them and what they're doing at the moment. This gives us a picture of the character and their sense of loss of identity. Some inmates declared themselves God, Quad-E-Azam and even Tara Singh. This grandiosity complex stems from a state of hopelessness, from wanting an identity and wanting to be recognised. And of course coming to the main point of the story: Toba Tek Singh, which is a place. But Bishan Singh was called Toba Tek Singh because that was where he was from. Identity is very localised to people, and this was being stripped away from them.

The ending which is the signature to Manto's writing style; abrupt and sometimes disturbingly uncertain, was incorporated into this text as well. Bishan Singh sitting right in the middle of the two borders and declaring it Toba Tek Singh may even be seen as an impactful ending. A man who has given up, a man who's defying definition. A man who doesn't understand nationalism but feels patriotic about his birthplace. This adds to the perceptible quality of the text, where we can perceive what people during the partition truly went through.

As for its stand of time, people value identity as long as people want to belong. And people never stop wanting to belong, because humans are social animals. For these reasons, it has earned a spot for being one of Manto's best works.