HYBRIDITY AND AMBIVALENCE IN SAADAT HASAN MANTO’S TOBA TEK SINGH: A POSTCOLONIAL ANALYSIS OF PARTITION IDENTITY

Abstract

The article uses Homi K Bhabha's hybridity and ambivalence concepts to study Saadat Hasan Manto's Toba Tek Singh because these concepts show how the story fits into present-day postcolonial discussions about national boundaries and identity development. The text has been treated by Partition scholarship as political satire and historical trauma depiction but this study shows that Manto presents a more radical critique which questions the knowledge basis of nationalist identity. The article uses textual analysis and critical analysis to show how the asylum functions as a Third Space which leads to the disintegration of territorial boundaries and the destruction of nationalist cultural claims through linguistic disintegration and Bishan Singh's final body paralysis which shows the hidden violence within sovereign mapping systems. The story uses hybridity to create a disruptive force which breaks down territorial boundaries while ambivalence demonstrates the fundamental instability which exists in postcolonial government structures. The article shows how Toba Tek Singh uses spatial and linguistic and psychological dislocation to create modern border politics and national essentialism critiques which extend Partition literature theoretical understanding beyond its historical context.