Juxtaposing the Victim and the Perpetrator in Sadat Hasan Manto’s ‘Open It’ and ‘Cold Meat’

Abstract

In the compass of partition literature depiction of violence and its consequent trauma has been at the centre/ heart and in such delineation of violence – both physical and psychological- there is the unmistakable presence of a sense of being lost in a world of incommunicable experience on the part of the victims/ protagonist. The violence and the consequent trauma they experienced was a life-changing one and the haunting incident corroded them within. Often such nightmarish experiences seize their volition and sensibility to such an extent that they lose their sanity and equilibrium and become altogether different entity. People of all walks of life were its victims; however, needless to say that the worst and most ill-fated were the women on either side of the border. At the same time, on the other hand there are occasions, though rare, when the perpetrator of the violence himself has become the victim- a prey to his own bestiality and inhuman barbarity. In this paper my objective is to present this duality with reference to two short stories of Sadat Hassan Manto – ‘Open It’ and ‘Cold Meat’ and to light on the presentation of violence that overtly unlocks the gruesome exercise of atrocity and inhumanity.