THE NARRATIVE OF CLASS CONFLICT AND EXPLOITATION IN MODERN URDU SHORT STORY

Abstract

Class conflict and exploitation have emerged as an important and influential theme in Urdu Short story. Especially under the influence of the progressive movement, Short story writers made the class inequality, economic exploitation and social injustice existing in society the center of their creations. According to them, many evils of society were the result of class division and the exploitative system, so they presented the life and problems of the deprived and downtrodden classes in their fiction in a realistic manner. Issues like the supremacy of the capitalist and feudal classes, exploitation of workers and peasants, poverty, unemployment and unfair distribution of resources became important themes of progressive fiction. Fiction writers showed how a privileged class, on the basis of its power and wealth, deprives the weaker classes of their rights and deprives them of basic human facilities. Short story writers like Krishna Chandra, Rajendra Singh Bedi, Saadat Hasan Manto and Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi presented class contradictions in a prominent manner in their fiction. Krishan Chandra's stories convey a deep sense of the deprivations of the peasants, laborers and the lower classes, while Bedi effectively highlighted the exploitation present in the daily lives of the middle and lower classes. Manto also exposed various aspects of social injustice and class division through his characters. Stories based on class struggle do not only identify problems but also express the desire for a better and fairer society. This is why the subject of class exploitation in Urdu stories is not just a literary expression but has also become an effective means of social consciousness, protest and social.