Social and Psychic Prisons: An Intergenerational Reading of Krishna Sobti's Dil-o-Danish

This paper offers a reading of Krishna Sobti’s novel Dil-o-Danish.  It highlights the psychic complexity of characters who are imprisoned in social and psychic prisons; whether these are prisons of love, marriage or deep down of patriarchy.  The paper in particular focuses on the intergenerational trauma that the three generations of women in the novel carry and depicts the manner in which despite this acute trauma Mehak Bano, the protagonist is finally able to redeem herself. Delving deep into the psyche of the characters, the paper analysis the inner and outer walls in which the characters are trapped. It depicts the manner in which these women, who are treated as mere objects, finally come into being as persons through understanding maternal anguish and internalising maternal love.