Writings Of Ismat Chughtai: A Document Analysis Through Symbolic Interaction Paradigm

Abstract

Ismat Chughtai is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in Urdu Literature. The following research paper intends to analyse the appearance of social issues such as informal social control over women in a patriarchal structure, portrayal of a female body in the advertisement, relationship pattern of men and women, notions of women as inferior being of society, in the selected writings of Ismat Chughtai, in relation to symbolic-interaction paradigm. The core idea of Symbolic-interaction is that social realities are based on the social experiences, cognition and perception of an individual. The social understanding of an individual varies from situation to situation and depends on his/her experiences. Ismat Chughtai experienced society in her own way, which is portrayed in her fictional works, “Dil Ki Dunya”, a novel, “Khareed Lo”, “Paisha”, “Baykaar” and “Tera Haath”, the short stories and a non-fictional essay, “Aurat” which are chosen for the analysis of above-mentioned social issues in relation with the theory. It is concluded that Ismat’s writings are valuable, meaning full and relevant in as well in Sociology as in Psychology or Philosophy, in relation to Symbolic Interaction. Documents for analysis were chosen through Purposive sampling, the nature of research is inductive.