Train to Pakistan Symbolism

Trains (Symbol)
From the title alone, it’s clear that trains play a key role in Train to Pakistan. A form of quick
public transportation, trains connect Mano Majra to the rest of the world. The two trains that
regularly stop serve as a type of clock for the largely illiterate Mano Majra villagers. As the mail
train rushes through on its way to Lahore, this signals to the village that it’s time to get up and
start the day. And when the final goods train comes in at night, everyone knows it’s time for bed.
Thus, from early on, the train symbolizes technology, order, and structure.
This changes drastically when the first train of dead Sikhs rolls into Mano Majra. Until then, the
chaos affecting the rest of the country were only rumors. It’s fitting that a train makes the distant
tales of violence a harsh reality in Mano Majra. Sadly, these death trains are not anomalies, but
semi-regular occurrences. Even Hukum Chand recounts a story he heard about Sunder Singh, a
colleague who fled Pakistan via train with his family. The conditions on the train were so horrific
that Sunder ended up executing his family to spare them from continued suffering. Suddenly,
trains become symbolic of the horrors of religious persecution, government instability, and mob
violence. Rather than being a vehicle that brings fleeing Sikhs and Muslims to safety, trains are a
death trap.
Bangles (Symbol)
Typically worn by young women, bangles make an early appearance in the novel. Malli and his
dacoit gang throw a package of bangles into Jugga’s yard to taunt him after they murder Lala
Ram Lal. Jugga’s mother finds the bangles before Jugga does, and attempts to use them to clear
his name of Lal’s murder, but to no avail. Later on in the novel, when Sundari is raped by a
Muslim mob four days after her marriage, she is wearing red lacquer bangles. Her friend has told
Sundari that taking off the bangles would bring bad luck, and that it’s good luck for her husband
to break them as he makes love to her. All the bangles break when the mob rapes her. The
narrator ironically points out that this should have brought her tons of luck, which is the contrary
of what happens. Rather, the broken bangles symbolize Sundari’s loss of sexual autonomy and
the sexualized nature of the violence meted out during the Partition of India. Women were raped,
and men were circumcised by having their entire penises cut off. Something that typically
represents young womanhood and the possibilities of marriage comes to represent death and
sexual violence.
Railway Bridge (Symbol)
About a mile from Mano Majra is a railway bridge that spans the Sutlej River. The trains in and
out of Mano Majra must cross this bridge, so it has an integral function. Similar to the trains, it
connects Mano Majra to the outside world, and facilitates the movement of people and goods to,
from, and through the tiny town. In the later stages of the book, the bridge becomes the rallying
point of the Muslim murder plot. There’s a rope tied across the bridge that’s designed to kill the
Muslim refugees sitting on top of the train. Once that happens, the mob stationed around the
bridge are to begin attacking the Muslims inside of the train. At this point, the bridge is no longer
a symbol of connectivity and a means of possible salvation for the fleeing Muslims, but a symbol
of impending doom. Thankfully, Jugga climbs the bridge and cuts the rope, effectively
sabotaging the mob’s plot. Tragically, Jugga is shot and falls to his death in the process of saving
his Muslim neighbors and the other refugees. Thus, the bridge becomes symbolic of him, his
bravery, and his sacrifice.

Themes in Train to Pakistan

Theme is an idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature.

The famous novel under the title Train to Pakistan by Khuswant Singh is not exactly the real
page from history dealing with the politics prevailing in those days. Rather it is the graphic
description of the chain of unfortunate events that led to unprecedented enmity and communal
clashes and massacre of innocent people who became victims of the communal frenzy incited by
the self seeking politicians who became the villains of peace at that time.His writing aims to
educate readers about the happenings that made sworn enemies out of the age old friends and
turned the event to become the bloodiest and most shameful in the history of world in general
and India, in particular.

Love and sacrifice

The imaginary love characters Jugga Singh and Nooran in Mano Majra where the people of all
castes and creed live in love and harmony only reflects the social commitment of the author in
his inimitable style.

The characters portrayed in the novel who profusely love each other are writhing with pain at the
time of forced separation reassuring good times for each other. And this is what only a unique
novelist like Khushwant Singh could write. Khushwant singh’s revelation of a train packed with
corpses, the pathetic massacre of the Hindus in Pakistan, the vengeance of Sikhs, and finally the
sacrifice of Jugga to save the beloved is directly or indirectly a message and an example to save
the humanity and the nation. There is no doubt therefore that Train to Pakistan presents a
remarkable example of love, sacrifice, togetherness and humanity which essentially the highlight
of this research.

Morality

The characters of Train to Pakistan grapple with questions of morality throughout the novel.
Early in the novel, Meet Singh argues that because Europeans don’t care much for religion, they
have no morals. Clearly, he sees a direct link between religion and morality, but ironically he
would have no qualms lying on Jugga’s behalf if Jugga murdered someone from another village.
This is just one example of morality’s shaky status in the novel. In Mano Majra, being moral
means being loyal “to one’s salt, to one’s friends, and fellow villagers” (Singh 63). This takes
precedence over truth, honor, and financial integrity. Though this code of morals is baffling to
outsiders like Iqbal, it makes perfect sense to villagers like Meet Singh and Jugga. This code is
one of the reasons why it’s Jugga, not Iqbal, who sacrifices himself to save Mano Majra’s
Muslims, even though Iqbal seems morally superior to Jugga for most of the novel.

Hukum Chand is another key character when considering morality in Train to Pakistan. At every
turn, he seems to wrestle internally with the decisions he makes. For example, after Haseena
spends the night at his house, he wakes up and feels “old and unclean” (Singh 133). He compares
her to his daughter, and feels remorseful about his actions, but realizes once he drinks again his
remorse will fade away. When Chand releases Jugga and Iqbal, hoping that they will save the
train of Muslims from the mob, the morality of his decision haunts him again. He is effectively
sending two civilian men of questionable intentions to save a group of refugees from certain
death, and it’s a mission that should have been his responsibility as magistrate of Mano Majra.
Chand knows this and feels uneasy about his choice, but does nothing to fix it. Instead he sits,
cries, and prays, turning to religion in his hour of moral ineptitude.

Religious Persecution

Religious persecution is one of the driving forces in Train to Pakistan, and in the Partition of
India as a whole. The Partition of India was the division of Muslim Pakistan from Sikh India.
With this division, approximately 10 million people were suddenly in the “wrong” country, and
people who had lived together for generations in the same villages became enemies overnight.
Muslims fleeing India met rape, pillaging, and death, and Sikhs fleeing Pakistan faced the same
adversities. Though the differences between the religions are mentioned briefly in the novel,
most of the strife between the two groups stems from acts of violence, both past and present,
each side commits against the other.

Singh never discusses in the novel what caused the political climate and violence between Sikhs
and Muslims, or even what precipitated a need for the partition in the first place. All we know
are the various prejudices various characters harbor against members of the opposite religion.
For example, a young Sikh man from Mano Majra accuses Mano Majra’s Muslims of “stealing
their salt” for generations. These words suggest that some Sikhs view Muslims as intruders and
as freeloaders. Meanwhile, some Muslims view Sikhs as “barbarous infidels with ill intent”
because of their long hair, beards, and kirpans. Here, we can see that the basis of the religious
animosity isn’t the religions themselves but the characteristics of the people who practice each
religion. Though Sikhs and Muslims have been able to bear with these characteristics for
generations, by the start of Train to Pakistan this is no longer true.