Affirmative Sabotage or Confirmation Bias: A Comparative Study of Forster and Manto

Author: Ayesha Omar Marghoob.

Colonial ideology has always presented the East as the unknown, inconceivable, and irreconcilable other, with pioneer post-colonial theorist Edward Said giving a name to such representation – orientalism. According to Said, orientalism refers to discourse that creates the image of a mysterious and exotic other, fueled by imperialist and colonial matrixes of power. This discourse then, be it political, biological, historical, economic, or literary in nature, becomes the lens through which the West perceives the world around it, particularly the East, and also the lens through which the East at times perceives itself.

In response to such discourse, post-colonial theorists and theories begun to emerge, with Rushdie’s iconic term “the empire writes back”, later expanded by Ashcroft et al., becoming the driving force behind post-colonial literature. Thus, native writers started working to correct and recreate their representations and reintroduce themselves, using what Gayatri Spivak termed as affirmative sabotage, which entails making use of the master’s tools to bring down the master’s house from within, by instrumentalizing their language, medium, and mode of ideological dissemination. In spite of such endeavours, however, post-colonial writings at times fall into a trap of their own making and end up centralizing the very West, and rephrasing and reiterating the very stereotypes, they set out to challenge.

In this essay, through a brief comparative analysis of E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India and some of Saadat Hassan Manto’s selected short stories, such as “Das Rupaye”, “Kali Shalwar”, “Naya Qanoon”, and “Matami Jalsa” I will attempt to show the difference a change in perspective brings, of how native literature claims to paint a truer, more accurate picture of society, and how, at times, the same literature ends up confirming the orientalist bias.

Forster’s A Passage to India encompasses all the basic tenets of an orientalist text – it depicts India as a confusing and chaotic place, overrun with religious fanatism and intercultural divides, full of people emotional and irrational in nature, and inherently discriminatory towards and unsafe for women. The fictional travelogue’s central theme revolved around the irreconcilable nature of Anglo-Indian relations, as seen in the breakdown of Fielding and Aziz’s friendship, the cause of which is shown to be Aziz’s emotional and reactionary temperament, his pride, irrationality, and stubbornness in holding a grudge. Despite his education and medical profession, Aziz is shown to be lacking maturity, emotional or otherwise, and the other Indian characters, especially the masses during Aziz’s trial, suffer the same one-dimensional characterization.

Within Aziz exists also the orientalist depiction of the Eastern man, especially a Muslim man, as a sex-crazed lunatic. From Adela Quested asking Aziz if he had “one wife or more than one” (Forster 180), to her hallucination of Aziz assaulting her in the Malabar caves, to even Aziz’s photograph of his wife being taken as evidence of his lecherous ways, alongside the comment “Wife indeed, I know those wives!” (Forster 200), A Passage to India abides by the orientalist ideology fuelling it in its characterization of Muslim men being sensuous and lust-driven.

Another point of contention with Forster’s novel is his depiction of the female Indian characters, whose roles are minor and utterly insignificant to the plot’s development. Through their infrequent appearances, they are described as "not highly educated … or even beautiful” (Foster 141), derogatorily referred to as “those purdah women” (Forster 65), and generally unconfident, downtrodden, and unintelligent, as seen in “all the ladies were uncertain, cowering, recovering, giggling, making tiny gestures of atonement or despair…” (Forster 67).

Where A Passage to India depicted intellectual, emotional, and religious problems, all the while embroiled in its own racist and sexist ideologies, Saadat Hasan Manto’s works inclined towards political and moral issues and themes. Although Manto’s writing career continued after the subcontinent’s partition, the short stories selected for this essay have all been published in the earlier half of the 20^th century and depict the same pre-partition Indian society as Forster’s novel. His characterization, while not the most positive representation of the Indian subcontinent and its cultures, is still more complex and intricate, with nuances going far beyond the lack of intelligence or maturity displayed by A Passage to India.

In spite of the vile themes and actions, which Manto claimed to be an accurate representation of the Indian society, his characters possessed wit, intellect, confidence, and a socio-political awareness despite formal education. Mangu from “Naya Qanoon”, despite being a cart driver, was shown to be an intelligent man who “possessed knowledge about all world things” (Manto, “Naya Qanoon”). He was constantly seen engaging in socio-political discourse with his passengers and kept up to date on current events. Similarly, in “Kali Shalwar” the character Shankar embedded wit, charm, and cunningness in both his trickery and his chosen profession. Through Shankar and Sultana, Manto highlighted the moral problems of his society, of how popular and rampant the prostitution business was, with their numbers exceeding “thousands” (“Kali Shalwar”), and no matter their twisted morals and unethical behavior, it cannot be said that Manto’s characters lacked wit or shrewdness.

Cognizant of the socio-cultural, religious, and moral problems around them, Manto's characters, despite their negative traits, negate A Passage to India’s racist and orientalist narrative. It can be argued that it is this very depiction of unflattering attributes that lends credibility to Manto’s works, and supports his claim of depicting society in its actuality. However, even within this acclaimed accuracy exists problems of emulation and confirmation bias. In his portrayal of the actualities of the subcontinent’s society, Manto ended up rephrasing and confirming some aspects of the orientalist narrative, specifically of the East as a place unsafe for women, with the men being perverted and subjecting them to their lustful gazes and licentious actions.

In the short story “Das Rupaye” Manto once again spun a tale of prostitution, but where “Kali Shalwar” depicted willing and consensual prostitution, “Das Rupaye” told the tale of sexual and economic exploitation, with a decidedly unwilling character. From the pimp mediating Sarita’s violations to her own mother selling her off, Manto painted the image of a society inherently hostile and cruel towards women, and with said hostility taking the form of sexual abuse, Manto’s representation ended up paraphrasing and adding credibility to the old colonial discourse.

Similarly, in “Mahatma Jalsa” Manto’s characters displayed religious fanatism and nationalist pride alongside political awareness, with Indian Muslims being portrayed as rebellious and quick to anger. Alongside this, the mass gathering taking place in remembrance of Ataturk’s death exhibited a radical hatred for the British, with any un-Islamic or difference of opinion regarded as unacceptable or even tolerable. His characters possessed enough mental capacities to be aware of current events, and of their ramifications, and yet still were quick to react and take action.

Thus, through both “Das Rupaye” and “Mahatma Jalsa”, Manto echoes Forster’s illustrations of the pre-partition Indian society, of a place full of social and political upheavals, social predators, and irrational and emotional people. His other stories, like “Kali Shalwar” and “Naya Qanoon” challenge the image of the Indian man as uneducated, unintelligent, or irrational. However, just through the brief comparison conducted above, it is obvious that despite the realization and acknowledgement of colonial bias and representation, the orientalist narrative still found itself permeating into post-colonial writings. It is here then that the questions arise – are affirmative sabotage and confirmation bias writings really so different? Where and how do we draw the line between accurate representation, and exaggeration? How does one differ between a true, unbiased image, and one that rephrases or reasserts the colonial stereotypes? Is it at all possible to write something without one’s socio-political background and ideologies permeating through?

Works Cited

Forster, E. M. A Passage To India. Famous Products, 1924.

Manto, Saadat Hasan. “Das Rupaye.” Manto Ke Afsanay, 1940,      https://www.rekhta.org/stories/das-rupey-saadat-hasan-manto-stories?lang=ur

Manto, Saadat Hasan. “Kali Shalwar.” Dhuan, Saqi Book Depot, 1941,             https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/kali-shalwar-saadat-hasan-manto-ebooks.

Manto, Saadat Hasan. “Matami Jalsa.” Dhuan, Saqi Book Depot, 1941,             https://www.rekhta.org/stories/maatmi-jalsa-saadat-hasan-manto-stories?lang=ur Manto, Saadat Hasan. “Naya Qanoon.” Manto Ke Afsanay, 1940,   https://www.rekhta.org/stories/nayaa-qanoon-saadat-hasan-manto-stories?lang=ur.