THE INTERNAL CONFLICT OF CHARACTERS IN THE SHORT STORIES OF QURRATUL AIN HAIDER
Abstract
Quratul Ain Haider is a great writer of Urdu fiction whose stories depict human psychology, civilizational crisis, identity issues and internal conflict in a very artistic manner. Her characters are not only victims of external circumstances, but also experience intense anxiety, restlessness and intellectual conflict within themselves.
Internal conflict in Quratul Ain Haider's stories mostly arises as a result of cultural change, migration, loneliness, love, identity and the clash between past and present. She deeply felt the mental crisis that the changing social and cultural conditions faced by man after the partition of India and presented it through her characters.Her characters often appear to be suspended between two civilizations, two eras or two ideologies. On one side are Eastern values and traditions and on the other side is the modern Western way of thinking. This contradiction creates anxiety and intellectual chaos within her characters. Many of her characters seem to be suffering from the fear of losing their identity. The characters of women in the stories are also an important manifestation of internal conflict. His women appear to be entangled between love, freedom, social restrictions and personal desires. Despite being apparently strong and educated, they suffer from loneliness and insecurity from within. In “Aag Ka Darya” and other fictional works, the continuity of time, history and civilization has further deepened the psychological complexity of the characters. His characters are engaged in a continuous mental conflict between the memories of the past and the realities of the present. Quratul Ain Haider has presented the inner state of the characters very effectively through the use of stream of consciousness, symbolic style, internal dialogue and psychological analysis. This is why his stories are not just stories of events but become an in-depth study of the complex world of the human soul and mind. In short, the internal conflict of the characters in Quratul Ain Haider's stories is a symbol of the cultural, psychological and intellectual crisis of modern man, which he has made a part of Urdu literature in a very sensitive and artistic way.
Key Words:
Quratul Ain Haider, psychology, civilizational crisis, identity issues, internal conflict, “Aag Ka Darya”, cultural change, migration, loneliness, love, identity, the clash between past and present.
