Dahan e Zakhm [Mouth of the wound]: Man as a person in Patriarchal society

"دہانِ زخم" :پدرسری معاشرے میں مرد بطور فرد

Abstract

This research article discusses Khalida Hussain’s short story “Dahan e Zakhm” [mouth of the wound] using the theoretical lens of trauma theory, intersectionality and patriarchy. The protagonist of the story is elderly, unmarried and childless, economically dependent, and emotionally weak man named Meeda, who is staying at his brother’s home after retiring from work. Meeda performed futile tasks like bringing flowers from the garden, which are symptomatic of trauma. The lens of theory of patriarchy is important in the context that patriarchy rules over women and subordinate, powerless men as well. He did not fulfil any of the patriarchal gendered expectations, so he was marginalized in the household. The intersectionality of age, unmarried status, economic vulnerability and his interaction with people of lower class, removed all patriarchal privilege that the men of this society usually enjoy. It was patriarchy that made him move from the city he spent his working years in and come to the house of his brother in the city he did not relate with. His friends and the familiar roads and houses were also left behind and that aggravated his trauma. The title of the play “mouth of the wound” is symbolically very rich as the existential crisis of Meeda is an open wound which kept on opening and closing as his trauma revisited him again and again.