Things We Can’t Say by M.

Hanif
ARW Response Paper

Elisha Amra
FP 4 ARW II Group B
Date: 7.10.2022
 ‘Things We Can’t Say’ is a personal essay written by M. Hanif, commissioned by the
Manchester Literature Festival and Karachi Literature Festival, in February 2017. This essay
highlights the journey of life through Hanif’s perspective. It also reveals a great deal about our
society, in the way that we percieve and choose to act on the uncertanties and the ups and downs
of life. The author structures the essay in a way where his tone is quite straightforward and lacks
any sugar coating. Multiple themes are also discussed, but in the jist of it all, Hanif showcases
his experiences as a writer. He constantly recontextualizes terms and in turn, this
contextualization is how he really captures the spirit of this essay. From the themes he has talked
about, the ones that stood out to me are, life and death, power and corruption, and man vs
society.
In the first paragraph, he shares an anecdote about his dearest departed friend. As he went
to visit his grave, he read a couplet which was written on his gravestone, “Life was like a dark
sky, but my pen illuminated the darkness of the night.” This quote talks about the times when
there was so much darkness in his life, but as a writer, his words are what could sometimes
illuminate or impact the world. There is a duality to this statement though, due to the heavy
censorship in Pakistan and the fear that writers may have to live in, due to the way they use their
pen to share stories. In a country such as Pakistan, reporting on certain controversial topics
means having a 1target on your back and if not “surely whatever you are writing is not worth it,”
as stated in the text.
The way that Pakistani society views writers needs to change. Writers face so much
pressure to not talk about controversial topics and when they do, it’s a life of suffering at the
hands of powerful and corrupt people, like Hanif said in an interview with 2The Guardian, “To
write about politics in Pakistan, you have to go abroad.” If I was put in the writer's position, it
would be such a tough decision to choose not to write about controversial topics that could
potentially be a threat to mine and my family’s life. On one hand, in order to illuminate the dark
sky I would feel it would be my responsibility to talk about these things. But, on ther other hand,
I wouldn’t want anything happening to my family or myself. I would probably leave the country
too.
“When we ask each other these things we are not scared of each other, we talk in riddles
because we are just being polite to each other.” When I read this statement, it almost sounds like
he’s being polite to the people who are threatening him. As if it would just make everyone’s life
easier if he didn’t blatantly say he got threats, and maybe in turn, that would stop the threats. I
1
1 ANI. “Rising Attack on Journalists in Pakistan Reminds Old Fact of Their Insecurity in Country: Report.” ANI
News. ANI, January 26, 2022.
https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/rising-attack-on-journalists-in-pakistan-reminds-old-fact-of-their-insecurity
-incountry-
report20220126182117/.
2
Armitstead, Claire. “Mohammed Hanif: 'to Write about Politics in Pakistan, You Have to Go Abroad'.” The
Guardian. Guardian News and Media, October 19, 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/19/mohammed-hanif-interview-red-birds-pakistan.
believe that he’s making the reader realize that the people threatening him are human too.
Sometimes he could be the darkness in their life because they have to do bad things due to his
writings as well. He also emphasizes on the fact that these people we percieve as our enemies,
the guardians of this dark sky above us, are also citizens like us. And more than that, I don’t
think he’s empathizing or sympathizing so much as he’s just stating a fact, that they also have to
be people to do this. At some level people must come to a realization, that the same fears that
come to him can actually translate to his tormentors. It’s a cycle that somehow ensures his
longevity while also assuring the mutual destruction of people who do this.
Another quote that stood out to me which focuses on words Hanif thinks you should not
be calling writers, “Let’s not call them brave even if we really believe they are brave.” Looking
at our society, people just doing their jobs are considered brave while writers are considered
dumb for being brave. When he says the word brave, the pen might have been the sword and all
the responsibilities that come to being. And then even if you are brave and smart at the same
time, then you're questioned, “Are you doing this for the attention? Are you okay?” But people
will think that to themselves or on the worse end of things, they'll turn them into an icon, but
sometimes people disappear to run away from it. Other times people disappear because they are
dead or something happened to them. But in both cases, do people really care? So, yes, you're
putting up these memorials and everything, but have you tried to look for me or tried to find out
the easy answer as I fell on hard times? The hard one is that I'm gone, but in either situation,
what's the real benefit, Do I ever see it? Probably not. And, this is where he's throwing a very
important truth out there.
In conclusion, as I reached the end of this essay, I started to think about how much he's
been through as a writer with responsibility and how he basically has to lose himself just to tell a
story every single time, but, it's also an active choice of his, because he cools up everything
around him. So, when he talks about burning down a field in that anecdote, what he's trying to
say, is that everything else is put aside in the name of the story, of the moral of the lesson you
want to impart. I think the lesson that he's imparted here is one of self-sacrifice, but also one
where he finally recontextualizes everything in one big scoop, saying that all I'm trying to do
here, is for you to understand that I have a responsibility. Maybe sometimes he’d be brave,
foolish, full hearty, smart, insightful; be the light. When the bigger truth is, that on this journey as
a writer, journalist, storyteller, and as a person with who has just lost his friend, he’s never going
to come out as all light or all dark. But more or less, he’s going to come out as something that at
least sometimes illuminates. He gives a positive euphemism for not just his own life as a writer,
but life in general.
 Bibliography

1. Hanif, Mohammed. “Things We Can't Say .” Karachi Literature Festival.

Manchester Literature Festival, February 2017.
https://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/pages/mohammed-hanif---things-
we-cant-say-37682.

2. 1 ANI. “Rising Attack on Journalists in Pakistan Reminds Old Fact of Their

Insecurity in Country: Report.” ANI News. ANI, January 26, 2022.
https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/rising-attack-on-journalists-in-pakistan-reminds-
old-fact-of-their-insecurity-incountry-

3. Armitstead, Claire. “Mohammed Hanif: 'to Write about Politics in Pakistan, You
Have to Go Abroad'.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, October 19,
2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/19/mohammed-hanif-interview-red-
birds-pakistan.