Depicting the Grotesque Characters and Settings in Khushwant Singh’s “Kusum” and “The Great Difference” Short Stories

Abstract

Khushwant Singh is a well-known Indian English writer with a distinct voice in creative writing and one of the most dynamic authors in the Indian English Literature canon. He pointed aggressively at diverse social, political, administrative, and religious conflicts through his writings. He described the affairs of the common people in a sardonic style that causes readers to grin at their actions. He has the enormous potential to draw these problems out. The writer Singh's fictional works are obnoxious, charming, nostalgic, and bitter at first glance, but after a deep reading into the text and context of this writer, the reader will realise that the author Singh was never hesitant to highlight society's foolishness, idiocy, and unorthodox habits, as well as bureaucratic blunders of various dimensions. The purpose of this study is to examine the grotesque in this situation. This paper looks at "Kusum" and "The Great Difference" by Khushwant Singh. It looks at the bizarre characters, themes, settings, and symbols that are associated with the grotesque and its related aspects. It also looks at the characters' motivations and the messages behind their actions and the use of strange settings.