Analysis Of Train To Pakistan Essay

People are capable of doing unthinkable events in the name of love, especially in regard to religion. While most devote their religious love and beliefs in practices such as dietary restrictions and holidays, some pay homage to their sacred god or gods in with violent, destructive acts to prove their love. However, is violence in the name of love even morally correct? These are just some of the questions provoked in Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh. His story takes place in a town where the Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims live in harmony until exposed to the cruelty of the outside world. Suddenly, neighbors turned on neighbors and best-friends were plotting each other’s murders solely because of a partition placed before them. Singh uses a

Here is where the reader clearly sees the core differences between Iqbal and Juggut. Defending the train means certain death, and this fear paralyzes Iqbal from acting. Iqbal’s cautious nature restrains him from finding the courage to do what he knows is right, so he does nothing to stop the bloodshed, knowing that his inaction is wrong. He justifies this by saying, “The bullet is neutral. It hits the good and the bad, the important and the insignificant, without distinction. If there were people to see the act of self-immolation, as on a cinema screen, the sacrifice might be worthwhile” (Singh 170). Solely because no one will know his actions, Iqbal does not do the right thing because he feels he will have no impact. However, Juggut does not think like Iqbal. Juggut’s moral compass is right, and his is centered on action. He recognizes the right thing to do and impulsively rushes to action to protect the train, sacrificing himself in the process. Juggut did the right thing, regardless of the repercussions that caused him his life. One might assume that the educated man would be smarter and more inclined to do the right thing, but the strong sense morality that was deeply within Juggut proved to be worth more than fear. Fear paralyzed Iqbal and most others from resisting, but without some resistance like that of Juggut’s no change will ever come. Inner morality and the innate urge to do the right thing, especially when society is telling the opposite, were seldom found when the partition