Why Saadat Hasan Manto’s writings are considered as immoral, vulgar and controversial:
Saadat Hasan Manto is no doubt an Urdu gem and one of the most brilliant writer but he is still from those writers whose writings are hard to understand so it is easy for the ordinary minds to call it vulgar or immoral.
Many people find Manto’s writings vulgar and immoral, however, these people do not want to admit that the issues Manto has written about are the reality of their lives. These are those people who see vulgarity and immorality around them, but it is hard for them to accept when someone points out it.
As Manto himself says that if you cannot bear these stories it means that the society is unbearable, the society is already naked enough. He was charged for obscenity almost for six times, but he cleared that he was not a pornographer but a storyteller.
Manto was against partition and partition took a toll on his health. He tried his best by his writings to highlight the diaster of parting a country into two halves, but at last, he had to leave his birthplace due to riots and migrated to Pakistan.
About partition, he takes a dig and says that “Allah sends down natural disasters to control population explosion. He encourages us to go to war, He creates Pakistan and Akhand Bharat (India). In doing this, He teaches humans new and innovative methods of birth control” (Manto).
Saadat Hasan Manto was inspired by the writings of Maupassant, Zola, Hugo, Chekhov, Tolstoy and he taught himself from them. Later his exposure to Somerset Maugham, O. Henry, D.H. Lawrence encouraged him to write about issues of sexuality in ways that were new and disturbing to many people.
“Manto is a good example of those writers from the colonized world whose universalist aspirations and cosmopolitan attitudes were rooted in regional languages, literature, and cultures” (Ayesha Jalal- The Pity of Partition).
Saadat Hasan Manto talks openly about the relationship of men, women and society common perception about the woman. Manto criticizes the society that looks at a woman just as a sexual object but questions her freedom. Manto criticizes the society that does not allow a woman to work but ready to use her to satisfy their sexual needs and pay her for that.
Manto also questions the society double standards about love that says love is above and greater than a sexual relationship but in every love relationship, physical relationship is the first thing that someone wants to develop. He was or still is controversial for his plays like Thanda Ghost and many others, where a man rapes a woman and after rape finds out her dead and he becomes impotent for all his life.
Quotes of Saadat Hasan Manto:
Although there are many quotes or sayings of Saadat Hasan Manto, we are highlighting a few here:
Many people criticize the following quotes because they are unable to understand its deeper and true meanings, or they like to close their eyes on reality.
- “Some men wear a beard for the same reason as a prostitute wears a burqa” (cloak) (Manto)
It is easy for the men of the Muslim community to hide their true selves under the beard as it is a religious symbol so to hide their evil side, some wear beard so no one questions their piousness and it is the same as some prostitute wear or hides under a cloak or gown to hide what she does in reality.
This is one of the highly controversial sayings of Manto, maybe because of equating men to a prostitute or using a religious symbol and equating it to a prostitute. However, it is not written anywhere that by wearing a false perception of beard, a man is free to do what he wants and he cannot be tagged as an evil being.
2) “We consider “woman” that belongs to our house, the others are not women for us, it is like a meat shop and we are like dogs standing outside of that shop whose lusty eyes are always fixed on meat” (Manto)
Every one knows that this is a reality, a large number of men while stepping outside of their homes forget to respect a woman and it does not matter whether they are on streets on in some educational institutions.
3) “Our society allows a woman to open a brothel but not allow her to ride a Tonga” (Manto)
Our society cannot see if a woman is earning and they abuse her, call her with different names but they are ready to pay a woman for her sexual services. It is hard for a woman to do a respectable earning than running a brothel.
4) “The whores of my city knows better than anyone else about the respectable men of my city” (Manto)
It is another controversial saying of Manto but it is just a truth. Many men hide their true self under the mask of piousness while in the darkness of night, they go to brothels or in modern times hire women to satisfy their needs.
5) “Writers are not prophets. We see one thing, one problem in different conditions and from different angles, and whatever we understand, we present to the world and we never force it to accept it” (Manto)
6) “I am that part of the society where we only use a mirror to see our faces” (Manto)
Self- Reflection is necessary to avoid injustice and look into our own deeds, however hardly anyone is there who try to look inside and always ready to point out others misdeeds and faults.
7) “I wondered why people consider escapism so bad, even the escapism on display right then. At first, it might appear unseemly, but in the end, its lack of pretension gives it its own sort of beauty” (Manto)
8) “But love, whether in Multan or on Siberia’s icy tundra, whether in the winter or the summer, whether among the rich or the poor, whether among the beautiful or the ugly, whether among the crude or refined, love is always just love. There’s no difference” (Manto)
9) “For me, remembrance of things past has always been a waste of time, and what’s the point of tears? I don’t know. I’ve always been focussed on today. Yesterday and tomorrow hold no interest for me. What had to happen, did, and what will happen, will”. (Manto)
10) “If a woman in my neighbourhood beaten by her husband daily and then clean his shoes I do not feel any sympathy for her, but if a woman in my neighbourhood quarrel with her husband threaten him of suicide and then go to the cinema, and I see her husband in worry then I feel weird kind of sympathy for them”. (Manto)
No one can be genius than Manto who is highlighting this social behavior towards woman and get used to of violence on women and is not affected by these kind of incidents but if a woman choose a different kind of response other than crying then this society hold a grudge against her.
Saadat Hasan Manto with his sayings not only expose the society’ behaviour and attitude towards women but also criticizes and highlight social injustices and class difference.
Writings of Saadat Hasan Manto:
Here is the collection of Saadat Hasan Manto writings:
- Atish Paray (Nuggets of Fire)
Atish Paray is the collection of short stories and there are eight stories in it, Khooni Thook, Inqalab Pasand, Qasim, Mahi Ghair, Tamasha, Taqat ka Imtehan, Deewana Shayr and Chori.
- Chugad – (foolish) (A small kind of owl)
- Manto Ke Afsanay (Stories of Manto) – 1940
- Dhuan (Smoke) – 1941
- Afsane Aur Dramay (Fiction and Drama) – 1943
- Khol Do (Open It) – 1948
- Lazzat-e-Sang – 1948
- Siyah Hashiye – 1948 (Black Borders)
- Badshahat Ka Khatimah (The End of Kingship) – 1950
- Khali Botlein (Empty Bottles) – 1950
- Loud Speaker (Sketches)
- Ganjey Farishtey (Bald Angels) (Sketches)
- Manto ke Mazameen (Essays of Manto) (1997)
- Nimrud Ki Khudai (Nimrod The God) – 1950
- Thanda Gosht (Cold Meat or dead Meat) – 1950
- Yazid – 1951
- Pardey Ke Peechhey (Behind The Curtains) – 1953
- Sarak Ke Kinarey (By the Roadside) – 1953
- Baghair Unwan Ke (Without a Title) – 1954
- Baghair Ijazit (Without Permission) – 1955
- Toba Tek Singh – 1955
- Burquey – (Gowns) 1955
- Phunduney (Tassles) – 1955
- Sarkandon Ke Peechhey (Behind The Reeds) – 1955
- Shaiytan (Satan) – 1955
- Shikari Auratein (Women Hunters) – 1955
- Ratti, Masha, Tolah – 1956
- Kaali Shalwar (Black Pants) – 1961
- Manto Ki Behtareen Kahanian (Best Stories of Manto) – 1963
- Tahira Se Tahir (From Tahira to Tahir) – 1971
(All writings of Manto are Available on Rekhta)
Stories you should watch and read apart from Manto own writings:
Anwarnama-Episode 6-Manto Ka Khat
Manto– Movie by Sarmad Khoosat
Manto -Movie by Nandata Das
The Pity of Partition by Ayesha Jalal
Naked Voices by Rakhshanda Jalal
Manto: Selected Stories by Aatish Taseer
It is true that Saadat Hasan Manto in his life faced lots of controversies due to his writings, people in this modern age still find his writings vulgar and immoral and at that time it was more like a crime.
It is a fact that Saadat Hasan Manto just wrote about those things that were real and if people point fingers to his writings, it means that either they are unable to see the real face of society or they like to close their eyes on reality.
It is also true that Manto can never die, as he said that “it is possible, that Saadat Hasan dies, but Manto remains alive” and he is alive in the form of his writings that are as relevant today as it was in his time. We can conclude that people who find Manto’s writings vulgar and immoral like to run away from reality and close their eyes to the evils.
