Language

Style of language

The choice of words  in "The Dutiful Daughter" by Sadaat Hasan Manto helps create the authentic atmosphere of the story. For example, the mention of refugee camps, abductions, and riots help readers better imagine the historical context of the events, the partition of former British India into India and Pakistan. Indian and Pakistani words such as “Sikh” (p. 281, l. 18) or “chaddur” (p. 281, l. 18) give the story an authentic air and help to evoke the setting. The narrators use mostly negative words in connection with the old woman and the effects of the partition: “crazy” (p. 280, l. 16), “ragged” (p. 280, l. 22), “holocaust” (p. 280, l. 37), “asylum” (p. 281, l. 3). 

Dialogue is rarely used, as the focus of the story is more on the inner struggles of the characters, not on their relationships. However, the liaison officer’s story is indicated through quotation marks, hinting that he tells his story directly to the first narrator. 

Towards the end of the story, dialogue is used to show the woman’s grief and the liaison of...