Jagg Beeti

Date of Award

12-2024

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

English

First Advisor

Thisbe Nissen, M.F.A.

Second Advisor

Todd Kuchta, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Jil Larson, Ph.D.

Fourth Advisor

Hannah Assadi, M.F.A.

Keywords

Family, marriage, Pakistan, short stories, social norms, traditions

Abstract

Jagg Beeti is a collection of eleven short stories set in middle class, rural and urban Pakistan, revolving around characters who are driven—at times willingly and sometimes forcefully—by the norms and customs of their environments, both geographic and emotional: cities, villages, families, marriages, traditions, and their own moral codes. The word “Jagg Beeti” is Punjabi. It means “tales of other people.” Individual titles in the collection are a mix of English, Urdu, and Punjabi words.

These stories can be classified as realist fiction and provide a fresh perspective on how average middle-class families navigate their lives in realistic settings with believable characters and situations. Although each of these stories revolves around clear themes, the events are primarily character driven. The situations, settings, characters, and interactions in these stories depict everyday life in contemporary Pakistan as the author has experienced it—and which gets little representation in English texts.

These stories mainly concern themselves with interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships. Family life in Pakistan, with its ups and downs, is the central theme. Some stories— “Ki Khateya”, “Rizq”, “Maazrat”—portray marriages, while others such as “Congestion” and “Will You Come”, concern relationships between parents and children.

Although these stories share common settings and similar characters, most are stand-alone pieces, however, the three stories, “Between Deewan and Jahan”, “A Family of Jinn”, and “600 Rupees” are connected pieces that offer glimpses into the life of the same family. These three stories and “In Her Innocence” are told in the past tense while all the other stories in the collection are in the present tense. Additionally, while most of the stories in the collection are told in a close third person point of view, two stories, “Rafiq Ahmed”, and “Of Half Cut Lemons”, are narrated in the first person.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Abstract Only

Restricted to Campus until

12-1-2034

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