The story Toba Tek Singh was written by Saadat Hasan Manto and is deeply rooted on the ‘Partition’ event that was faced by India and Pakistan. The story itself is a satire of the famous partition and the bitter indictment of that entire political process that saw the repatriation of many people. The story tells more about the behaviors of some lunatics who lived in an insane asylum in Lahore. Through this fiction piece, history is written and through the title of the story, there is a hidden reality that is seen through the story and happenings of Toba Tek Singh. A name can give a deep meaning of a place and an event or a person with reference to important happenings in history. In this case, Manto may have used the title Toba Tek Singh to bring out the confusion that arises with nation splitting because places and things will change therefore in a way or another affecting the lives of the people in that particular society.
Everything happens to be changing from one position or thing to another. Not even the names of the people are spared. New places and new names come up as a result of dislocation. When a new place comes up, it is given a new name and therefore it has o be located. That is why the Lunatics do not have the slightest idea where Pakistan or India is located. Toba Tek Singh and the other inmates are subjected to a kind of dislocation that is quite literal but still, this dislocation is in a way connected to the overall dislocation of a sense of belonging. In this very same manner, the name of the main character does not remain the same, it is established that Bishan Singh and Toba Tek Singh are one and the same person. Manto may have insinuated that just like the names of persons do not stay fixed, just like in the case of Bishan Singh, the same can be said about the names of places or even the places themselves as a result of partition and repatriation.
The title of this story is quite significant and there are a number of reasons why Manto may have chosen it for the story. To begin with, he chooses to show the nature of places and people in his society. Nothing seems to stay fixed, not people, places and even countries. He may have chosen Toba Tek Singh, as a metaphor that insinuates how naming places in times of tribulation and violence is equivalent to naming of people in times such as these, when there is mass dislocation. Toba Tek Singh is a name of a place where Bishan Singh comes from. This is a village that everyone does not know where it belongs and does no one really know where he is from.
Essay On The Meaning And Significance Of The Title Toba Tek Singh
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Essay On The Meaning And Significance Of The Title Toba Tek Singh. Free Essay Examples - WowEssays.com. https://www.wowessays.com/free-samples/essay-on-the-meaning-and-significance-of-the-title-toba-tek-singh/. Published Feb 21, 2020. Accessed October 28, 2024.
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