The Psychological Impact of Moral Restrictions in Urdu Short Stories: A Study of Saadat Hasan Manto

Abstract

This research focused on analyze the psychological aspect of societal and moral constraints from the context of Urdu short stories especially the work of Saadat Hasan Manto. The primary data of short stories Swaraj ke Liye and Darpoak used for analysis. Utilized psychoanalysis and psychological literary criticism as the method of data analysis. This work focused on the problems of moral concern and derived psychopathological friction.  Moral Anxiety Disorder is a subtle and profound psychological disorder that arises from the excessive, self-imposed adherence to religion, morality, social laws and regulations, legal punishments, and the values of one's respective regions and generations. This research finds out that Manto’s characters engender intense psychological crisis whenever they are compelled to repress their sexual impulse in order to fit into the prescribed role of the society, thus thereby establishing a new paradigm of the moral anxiety disorder in the context of Urdu literature. Through usually broaching these conflicts, Manto depicts the society’s vices that make it degrade its non-conformists to outcasts. There is no doubt that man's unruly and unrestrained desires often clash with the fabric of society. The experts in psychology and sociology agree that for societal welfare and progress, man must subject his unruly and unrestrained desires to societal boundaries as only through such discipline healthy societies are created. However, moral anxiety disorder does not stem from those desires that mirror animal instincts, but rather from the suppression of natural impulses and desires under the self-imposed notions of religion, morality, and social values. Suppressing natural aspirations and desires under unnecessary adherence to moral values gives birth to moral anxiety disorder. Individuals suffering from this disorder, by subjecting themselves to unnecessary self-torment and repression, drift far from human nature and a balanced way of life, and for them, the normalcy of life becomes distorted. This research deals with the Moral Anxiety through Urdu short stories. From the perceptive of psychological and moral factors in Urdu fiction, this research work has go somewhat into understanding the impact of such moral restrictions on psychological experiences in a better way.