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Name: Usama Murad

ID: 1620844630

Course: ENG115

Section: 13

Faculty: NSB

Semester: Summer 2020

Exam: Final assignment

Analyzing the short story “LICENSE”

Sadat hasan manto’s license story shows up the views of people of our society about girls

and how they just look like a product towards a girl. Sadat hasan manto write about the dark

side of the society which people don’t want to change or don’t even want to talk or hear about

them. Here in this story the writer talks about this with a very simple language like talking

with everyday people. This story told that in every stages of a women’s life, men always try

to control a women and in their view women is a having thing nothing more than that. It is

also clear from the story that women’s don’t have the power to protect them from men. Their

choice is also not accepted in the society as well as in their own family.

Here in this story the two main character is Abu and Nesti. Abu is a coachman and Nesti is a

girl whose age is 17/18 and daughter of a cobbler. Abu is a very good coachman and he don’t

take every passenger and he don’t drink and always care about his fashion and style. Means

he is very selective and different from others. All other coachman were jealous of his and
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wish bad for him but it never affect him. His bonding with his horse is like they were one.

This prove that he is loving person too. On the other hand Nesti is from Gujrat and came to

the town with her family. At the time of leaving the town Nesti met Abu when she was hiring

him for a ride to station. Nesti is a very beautiful girl as described by the writer and beautiful

enough that Abu started flirting with her when he first saw her. Despite being a gentle man he

keep flirting with her and keeps roaming here and there. When Nesti asked her about this and

how long it will take to reach, Abu said that both of their station is same. Abu started saying

him about his feeling after seeing her first time and how he fall in love with her and tried to

convince her. By hearing that she adjust her shawl on head doesn’t look like she feel bad.

That seems like Nesti also liked Abu but can’t say it directly to him. But she was I dilemma

that could he keep his promises that he is making. Abu stopped by and grabbed her around

and told her that he will sell his horse and carriage for her and will give her gold earrings. He

also added that he will die if she didn’t accept him. But suddenly he moved and said sorry

and told her that he is going to station to leave her. But she refused. She said that you touched

me. Now you have to keep your promises. It seems challenge to Abu and they got married.

They were living happily but after one month Abu got arrested for kidnapping Nesti as her

father file a complaint. Abu get 2 years of punishment and Nesti started to get rent for Abu’s

carriage which Abu gave to his friend. Nesti spend all her savings including her earrings. Abu

become ill because of TB and died like his father and brother. After his death Abu’s friend

gave proposal to marry Nesti but she refused and take back her carriage and gave it to Abu’s

other friend but this time that friend try to force her. Then she decided that she will ride the

carriage but all the passenger was there only to see her even they start to fight with each other

to get a ride. They passes bad comments and she feel like they buy her even she refuse to sell

her. One day her license was provoked and reason was women cannot drive coach. She asked
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the committee that how she will survive. The committee suggest her to start prostitution.

Then she sell her coach and applied for license to sell her body and get the license.

From this story we can see that the main theme of the story is women are like a product in the

society and even the higher officials are also the same. There is no respect for their work and

choices. After their husbands death the only option shown by the story is to sell her body.

When a girl want to do something on her own, the men of the society drag her down. Instead

of encouragement they get insults. They were dragged down and men didn’t want them to get

up.

At the begging of the story Nesti was a girl like other girls. Who accepts the facts and

position that society put them into. When Nesti fall in love with Abu she couldn’t say him

because they cannot chose their partner. When Abu touched him she said that I cannot go

now because you touched me. By this we can get that Nesti believe the superstations which

was made by the society. When she met Abu she challenged the norms that her life partner

will be chosen by her parents. This does not change her view but after the death of Abu when

Abu’s friend were helping her but actually wanted to score her and keep giving her proposal,

her view changed. She realized that she had to make her own money. She must drive the

coach and earn money. She began to believe that women can work and earn too. There is no

bad in working. When Abu touches her for the first time she thought that she is no longer a

chaste women but after Abu’s death she didn’t feel the same way as before as other man

touch her.
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Abu was not like the other men in the story but there are some similarities between them.

Abu started flirting when she first saw Nesti. She forced her and grab her and try to score her

at first. But suddenly he realized that what he is doing is wrong and apologies to her. Because

he was not like the others who just want to score her but he also loved her and ready to give

everything he love in exchange of Nestie’s love. But the other man encountered by Nesti

only want to take advantage of her weakness instead of loving her.

Nestie’s father also have the same kind of belief system and that’s why he file a complaint

about kidnapping her daughter because it hurt his ego that her daughter choose her partner on

her own. His father tried to separate them and take her daughter away. The court also didn’t

listen to Nesti and give Abu punishment because the court didn’t give importance what a girl

have to say. Despite being a happy family Nesti father didn’t want her daughter to live with

Abu. And not for leaving Abu she didn’t get any help after his death from her parents.

After Abu’s death his own friend offered Nesti to marry her just because she was helpless and

Abu’s friend only want to score her. Abu’s another friend also do the same thing. Then she

give the coach to an unknown man but he cross all the boundaries and one day grab her. By

this incident we can get that all the men in this story treated Nesti as property and try to own

her. When she started to drive the coach, men didn’t ride the coach for their need, need ride

it to see Nesti and pass dirty jokes and trying to score her. All of their intension was bad.

Nesti was a very obedient wife and was loyal to Abu. That’s why she was hard to score after

Abu’s death. Nesti spend all her savings while Abu was in jail. She even sold her gold
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earrings to give Abu comfort in jail. Nesti gave in to Abu so easily because she fall in love

with Abu.

When Nesti try to earn money on her own, the people of the society didn’t let her to do that.

The society didn’t let her do good work instead they proposed her to sell her body in the

market. They revoked her license because women cannot drive coach. It is seen almost every

society that women’s don’t get the respect for their work. They always kept away from doing

outside work. The society didn’t want them to stand on their own feet. In the story when

Nesti’s license was revoked, she went to the office but the authority told that if she want to

earn hen livelihood, then she should sell her body. By this we can understand that the

authority of there is also have the same belief as others and they also see Nesti as a product

only and that’s why told her to sell her body for money. They didn’t appreciate her hard work

instead they one kind of forcing her do a bad work for her living. And they also gave her the

license to sell her body the next day as she applied for it. Because all the men forced her to do

so. There were no option left her except doing this. This is how society keeps dragging a girl

down she they try to make a better life for them.

Here in this story we can find this things which are discussed above. The name of the story is

also suitable according to the story because in the story we can get that what license a women

have to do and what she cannot do. Women is just a product in the eyes of the society and

society didn’t give a women the “License” to make their life better and doing work like a

man.