Reimagining Social Darwinism through Partition Trauma: A Critical Study of Manto’s Khol Do and Thanda Gosht

Abstract

Saddat Hasan Manto, through the disturbing glimpses of Partition as depicted in his short stories Khol Do (2008) and Thanda Gosht (2015) challenges, and interrogates the ideological framework of Social Darwinism which promotes the idea of survival of the fittest and justifies the suffering of the weak, is critically examined in the context of communal violence and moral, ethical, societal collapse during the 1947 Partition of India. Through the psychological disintegration of Eshar Singh and the violated innocence of Sakina, Manto dismantles the glorification of power, aggression, and domination. His stories reveal that violence and competition do not mark strength or progress but lead to profound human and societal failure. By portraying emotionally and morally broken characters who survive but are not truly ‘fit’ Manto resists the dehumanizing implications of Social Darwinism and underlines the necessity of compassion, accountability, and the moral dimensions of survival. This study highlights Manto’s use of literature as a counter-narrative to oppressive ideologies of religion and a voice for the silenced victims of history.