Dehumanization and Trauma: A Study of Sajjad Zaheer's "Dulari" and Sa'adat Hasan Manto's "Naked Voices"

This paper analyses two short stories, “Dulari”by Sajjad Zaheer and “Naked Voices” by Sa’adat Hasan Manto. These stories project characters who unknowingly violate people they believe they love and are their protectors. The analysis is an attempt to make one aware of the numerous ways through which one violates others both knowingly and unknowingly. The paper tries to elaborate the ways in which it becomes difficult for characters to question their own positions because they are unable to look within their own selves. One way to recognize a person as an individual is to understand or empathise with the conditions in which they have lived and suffered. The paper highlights the characters of the two stories who are subjugated and not understood by people close to them and as a result are left with no one to empathise with. The people who are close to the subjugated characters are not capable of introspection as they take away the dignity of the characters by dehumanising or objectifying them. The paper tries to argue that these characters are not capable of establishing an intersubjective relationship, as they are unable to affirm the subjectivity of another human being. They are also unable to reflect on their own inner processes that lead to such violations.