International Journal of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies

ISSN: 2202-9451
www.ijclts.aiac.org.au

Existential Strain in Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers

Muhammad Nawaz1* & Muhammad Mehboob Ul Hassan2
1English Department, University of Lahore, Chenab Campus, Pakistan
2University of Lahore, Chenab Campus, Pakistan
Corresponding Author: Muhammad Nawaz, E-mail: [email protected]

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Article history Pursuit of essence is the topic and it is a comparative study of the existential elements in Nadeem
Received: August 28, 2018 Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers. To look out the meanings of the nature is something about the
Accepted: October 18, 2018 pursuit of essence. Meaning from nature means to know about the nature and to know about the
Published: October 31, 2018 facts and figures of the nature by man’s own effort and for himself. Comparison is of existential
Volume: 6 Issue: 4 elements in both pieces of literature. The study examines the Existential elements in Nadeem
Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers. This study is comparative and of Qualitative in nature. Different
schools of Existentialism like Christian Existentialism are also part and parcel of research.
Conflicts of interest: None Primary Data was collected from the text. The analysis of data showed that existential elements
Funding: None were rife in both of the pieces of Literature.

Keywords:
Existential Elements,
Qualitative,
Maps for Lost Lovers,
Christian Existentialism,
Primary Data,
Rife

INTRODUCTION Pakistan. He moved to UK when he was a teenager. His fam-

Existentialism is concerned with the aspects of human exis- ily migrated from Pakistan. He was a student of Bio-chemis-
tence and their struggles. It is a philosophy that emphasizes try in Manchester but later he left the University and wanted
individual existence. Different but very simple questions are to become a writer. Season of Rain Birds which he wrote in
asked in it like “why I am? What I am doing? Why I exist?” 1993 is his first novel that won the award for him. Different
Existentialism is that is something where an individual is authors are having different point of views about Nadeem
free to think and to make its decisions by himself but one Aslam and his Maps for Lost Lovers is considered as a good
should remember that such decisions are taken for immedi- piece of fiction which is
ate purposes so the individual is responsible for his the ac- “Heartbreaking... A must read... The characters are so real
tions and reactions. In existentialism individual tries to make the reader wants to speak with them... Aslam is a very
rational decisions despite existing in an irrational universe. skilled and talented writer. He gives us a window into a
Different theorists have also used this theory in their work community we don’t often see. (The Decatur Daily)
to have the taste of existentialism. Jean Paul Sartre is the Maps for Lost Lovers is a story in which characters
major figure and Kierkegaard is known as the father of exis- are following norms of existentialism in different ways
tentialism other than, James Joyce, Ezra pound and Samuel through their actions and dialogues. This novel is divided
Becket, who are the big names in the field of modernism and into different sections which are named as seasons. Maps
whenever modernism is talked about, existentialism should for Lost Lovers is a novel about the struggle of the individ-
be automatically considered as a part of study. There are ual versus society, about the dislocation and about the bru-
some key factors which are to be explored with reference to tality as well. One of the characters in the novel is Suraya
the concept of Existentialism: and Suraya is divorced by her husband in Pakistan in a fit
(I) Absurdity (II) Anxiety (III) Meaninglessness of drunkenness and, according to Islamic law, has to get
(IV) Non-existence of God (V) Free will married to and divorced from another man in order to be
Researcher has taken Nadeem Aslam as the author whose reunited with her first husband and their child. Desperate,
works essentially show the above mentioned perspective. she starts an affair with Shamas, hoping he is going to be
Nadeem Aslam was born on June 11, 1966, in Gujranwala, the route out of all this but this does not work as she thinks.

Published by Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD.

Copyright (c) the author(s). This is an open access article under CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijclts.v.6n.4p.22
Existential Strain in Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers 23

Maps for Lost Lovers starts with poetic expressions as the LITERATURE REVIEW
main character Shams is standing at the terrace in a cold Nadeem Aslam was born on June 11, 1966, in Gujranwala,
snowy evening. Pakistan. He moved to UK when he was a teenager. His fam-
ily migrated from Pakistan. He was a student of Bio-Chemis-
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM try in Manchester but later he left the University and wanted
to become a writer. Season of Rain birds which he wrote in
Statement of problem is this that “Existence precedes es-
1993 is his first novel who won the award for him. Maps for
sence” and how we can relate Existential aspects from Maps Lost Lovers his second famous work and it was completed
for lost lovers. Nadeem Aslam used metaphors in his writ- in 11 years. Aslam mentioned in an interview that the first
ings and promotes individualism. Through this power in his chapter took six years to complete. Maps for Lost Lovers is
writing he strongly banished the Pakistani culture in Maps a story of the Pakistani Immigrants in England, story of the
for lost lovers which shows nothingness in his writing. There struggle of individual versus society. In this novel character
is uncertainty in the novel but there is a plot and story in the of Chanda is killed in the name of honor by her brother. And
novel; presents certain conflicts and elements to be absurd. in this novel it is seen the author criticizing religion and Pa-
These things are leading towards Existentialism which is kistani Society.
discussed in form of characters. Existentialism is a movement and literary theory in which
human free will is discussed. Existentialism is concerned
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY with the aspects of human existence and their struggle. It is
a chain of meaninglessness and absurdity. Existentialism is
The research will help to establish a new perspective of the mixture of human’s free will, meaninglessness, absence
looking at the novel Maps for Lost Lovers. It is helpful of God and absurdity. As the previous studies explained ex-
to understand the human behavior, human choices and the istentialism in different texts such as “We are aware of who
consequences of these choices. The study scrutinizes the we are and fully responsible for our existence” (Jean Paul
existential aspects of Aslam’s writings and also finds out Sartre, Existentialism and human emotions, Phill vasello,
the behavior of migrants with their own country when they 2002). Existentialism is a philosophy that brought up greatly
found nothingness. And the readers will understand more in the 20th century after World War II.
clearly about the Existentialism through this research. Re- Existence precedes Essence. And Jean Paul stated this as:
searcher’s study will help in future other researchers as “Human project is to create by a free choice a life that is
well because doing research on Asian writers is not an noble and beautiful self-construction” (Gutek, 109). Existen-
easy task. tialism is all about what a man wants to become he should
go for it because there is no interference of God in human’s
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY life. Soren Kierkegaard also presented the same idea “Man
has total freedom and he is free to choose and become what
This research work is having different objectives in it, and he wills himself to become” (Wingo, 397).
they are discussed in the upcoming chapters. These objec- The individual turns into himself immediately after the
tives are as follows: World Wars which bring about depression and anxiety. The
• To find out the usage of Existential aspects in Maps for ideology of existentialism concentrates on the discordance
Lost Lovers. between the individual and the world he occupies. A clear-
• To show human behavior through different characters in cut definition of existentialism cannot easily be made as the
Maps for Lost Lovers philosophers who are considered to be existentialist deny
• To evaluate the concept of existentialism in both pieces that they belong to the existentialist ideology and claim that
of literature. their thoughts differ from each other in every angle. On the
contrary, the emphasis is on the utmost individualism. There
RESEARCH QUESTIONS is not a concordant and systematic Consciousness of the uni-
verse. Everything is random and purposeless. Human beings
The research questions for present study are observe themselves in a chaos. Therefore, it is impossible to
• What kind of Existentialism is portrayed by writers produce logical explanations about the world. The only thing
through different characters in both pieces of literature that a human being does know is his existence.
included in Study? The feature of the existence is not predetermined. The
• Why the characters in Maps for Lost Lovers are banish- human being acts according to his qualifications and realizes
ing their typical Pakistani Culture which is one of symp- himself. (Şener, 298). Many of previous studies, research-
tom of appearance of Existentialism shown through the es about existentialism clear the concept of its chains. As
text? many articles suggests that existentialism is an important
• Why do characters in Maps for Lost Lovers fall down in phenomenon of human’s life. An article named as “You are
existential strain? your life. And nothing else” shows (Antonia Case, 2014)
Research questions are as important for a research as a in this article she mentioned that” we alone are responsible
soul in body. So the above mentioned questions will elabo- for creating a meaningful life in an absurd and meaningless
rate the study and research in the upcoming chapters. world”. Soren Kierkegaard defined Existentialism as a series
24 IJCLTS 6(4):22-27

of choices which brings meanings to our meaningless life Kierkegaard stated that the universe is radically paradoxical;
but he also added that all the choices are up to the man him- its greatest paradox is the ascendant union of God and hu-
self (Antonia, 2014). mans in the person of Jesus Christ.
This research is about the Existentialism and comparison He is also having a personal relationship with God that
of its elements in Maps for Lost Lovers. Maps for Lost Lov- supplants all prescribed moralities, social structures and
ers covered these elements in the text as “She realized how it general norms. He argued that social conventions is essen-
must’ve got there, such accursed practices such godlessness” tially a personal aesthetic choice made by individuals. As
(Maps for Lost Lovers, 30). the previous studies explained existentialism in different
Same thing is discussed in another research and article texts such as “We are aware of who we are and fully respon-
named as “Godlessness in the last days, in the last days there sible for our existence” (Jean Paul Sartre, Existentialism
will come time of difficulty, for people will be lovers of self, and human emotions, Phill vasello, 2002). Existentialism
lovers of money, proud” (bible gateway). Some quotations is a philosophy that brought up greatly in the 20th century
are also presented the same idea of Godlessness such as “I after World War II. Existence precedes Essence. And Jean
have no fear of after death life! Even if there is such thing, it Paul stated this as: “Human project is to create by a free
is God who should be worried. I am sure I have good reasons choice a life that is noble and beautiful self-construction”
to present but I am not sure he might have good excuses for (Gutek 109).
his injustice.” (M.F. Moonzajer, godlessness). Kierkegaard stated that every individual must make inde-
Maps for Lost Lovers also covered the terms of Christian pendent choices, which then construct his existence. Every
Existentialism in it such as in the line “they live in a society individual suffers from the anguish of indecision (whether
named as Dasht-E- Tanhai (loneliness) seemingly godless- knowingly or unknowingly) until he commits to a particu-
ness with white society” (Maps for Lost Lovers, 11). Maps lar choice about the way to live. Kierkegaard also proposed
for Lost Lovers is a story in which two lovers are killed in the three main points with which it becomes easy to understand
name of honor. Chanda is killed by her brother because she the conditions that issue from distinct life choices: the aes-
was living with Jugnu like a couple before marriage. thetic, the ethical, and the religious.
“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown Nadeem Aslam author of Maps for Lost Lovers also used
into the world, he is responsible for everything he does” the term of Christian existentialism because in his writing
(Jean-Paul Sartre). Maps for Lost Lovers presented absurd- characters are having a faith in God but they are also criti-
ist theme of Existentialism as the story of murder of Chan- cizing their faith and fate because of God. Existentialism as
da and Jugnu. The same thing is discussed in the article mentioned in a chain of meaninglessness and it can be seen
named as “Little Murders” (Atish Kumar). Maps for Lost in the novel when Chanda was killed. Existentialism is also
Lovers also covered the theme of meaninglessness such as talking about the absence of God and it can be seen with
“We should realize that we are weak and should bow down the starting line “nothing can be done” and in Maps for Lost
before the strong” (Aslam, Maps for Lost Lovers). Kiran a Lovers in form of fight between the individual and society.
character in Maps for Lost Lovers presented free will in her Existentialism is emerged as a critical era against idealism.
character, “Kiran is a Sikh and wanted to marry Kaukab’s Jean Paul states “man is nothing but else his life is”.
brother a Muslim” (Aslam, Maps for Lost Lovers). The same
theme of meaninglessness and Nothingness is discussed in
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
the other writings of Sartre, for example, “I could not think
clearly about my death, but I saw it everywhere” (Sartre, The The mode of this research is qualitative and comparative in
Wall). Meaninglessness and hopelessness are also discussed nature. Qualitative is because nothing is compared statisti-
in the writings of Sartre such as The Wall separates hopes cally in this research and literature mostly presents qualita-
with nothingness. Ibietta is the character in The Wall who tive kind of data to be analysed. Textual material is used by
shows the nothingness, fear, hopelessness and existentialism the researcher for getting primary resources. The material is
in the story because he was not able to differentiate between initially taken from the text of the novel Maps for Lost Lov-
life and death. Maps for Lost Lovers presented godlessness ers secondary sources will also be utilized in form of Criti-
in it when Chanda argues with Shamas “My parents were cal books, journals, online essays and online articles as well.
responsible for marrying me with the godless people, so you This research will be exploratory and explanatory in nature.
should stay a Hindu without any concept of God” (Aslam, The mode of this research is qualitative and comparative in
Maps for Lost Lovers). nature. The material is initially taken from the text of the
novel Maps for lost lovers, secondary sources will also be
utilized in form of Critical books, journals, online essays and
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
online articles as well. This research will be limited to the
Existentialism is now a day rooted mostly with the concept qualitative and explanatory and comparative research.
of existentialism in Christianity. A central investigation in
Kierkegaard’s writings is how the individual human being
can come to talk about their own existence. And only the ex- ANALYSIS OF MAPS FOR LOST LOVERS
istence is the main part of human’s life. Christian existential- Maps for Lost Lovers is basically a story which is in first
ism depends on Kierkegaard’s understanding of Christianity. thought considered as an investigative story but later on it is
Existential Strain in Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers 25

realized or can be understood that there is a story of a couple In the eye of existentialists, finding out meanings for their
who were killed at the very start. The main stream running own benefit and for their own sake is one of the major pri-
through the book is the story of Jugnu and Chanda, they both orities. Same findings are mentioned in the above given ex-
decide to live together, and thus invite the ire of not just their ample where the character is trying to find out the meanings
relatives, but almost all the residents of their town Dasht-E- of his life. Context of the novel shows that people migrated
Tanhai. from Pakistan to United Kingdom and then the murder of
The story begins with Jugnu’s brother Shamas welcom- two characters on the name of honor made it difficult for
ing the first snow of the season and mulling over things. all the other characters to know about the meanings of their
Happenings in the story can be studied through the charac- lives.
ters themselves, but it is always the author telling readers All other characters are also busy in thinking the reason
their story. It is mentioned earlier in the story that there is of the murder and also question that what is the purpose of
a struggle between society and individuals, so none of the their lives? Shams is one of the major characters in the novel
character is having different story. A girl from Sikh society and he stands in the balcony, thinks about the murder and
is prohibited from meeting her lover, the reason is that he is then thinks about the meaning of his own desired life. He
a Muslim. tries to find out meanings of life in the same way like oth-
One mistakenly divorced girl is desperate to find a man er peoples of the story. And existentialism is the finding of
who will agree to marry her and divorce her as Muslim rules meanings in meaningless situations. “Life has no meaning,
prescribe, so that she can go back to Pakistan to live again each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste
with her husband and child. The son, in the story, tries to to be asking the question when you are the answer.” (Joseph
study medical, or at least something related to it, but fails Campbell, Meanings of Life).
and fails again. Then his white girlfriend convinces him to No one can be happy till one finds out his desired mean-
do what he wants to study that is the study of art but he strug- ings of desires. Existentialism is that kind of philosophy in
gled to do it because of limitations. The wife who left her which individuals own choices and desires are of worth im-
husband, but cannot tell to anyone the fact that he has beaten portance. “You will never be happy if you continue to search
her. The charm of the book, for readers at least lies in its for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are
prose, where it describes hundreds of stories. There are so looking for the meaning of life.” (Albert Camus, Happiness:
many examples of existentialism in Maps for Lost Lovers Meanings of Life). Other examples of the same context can
but these examples are defined by both denotative and con- also be found out from the text. For example “He tries to in-
notative meanings. hale but can’t breathe because of undesired situation of life”
“But it is there even when absent, drawing attention to (Aslam, 33). The given example presents the same issue of
its own disappearance” (Aslam, 5) finding meanings in meaningless situation and lives accord-
There are two different ways of understanding the ex- ing to the desired life.
istential element in the above given examples from the Nothingness is a situation when an individual couldn’t
text. Denotatively it means to just find the attention in any leave anything to live. He is left with no purpose, no mean-
surrounding area, while contextually it will be understood ings and no faith left behind in him. Nothingness in existen-
and covers the existential element of creating meanings in tialist plays is very common because it is a major part of the
a meaningless situation. Same thing is described and found philosophy. In the story of Maps for Lost Lovers nothingness
out by the researcher while drawing attention in symbolized can be seen through different lines, for example:
form with the meaninglessness and nothingness situation “He does not know what to do about the knock and in his
of life. “The more the universe seems comprehensible, the life.” (Aslam, 5)
more it also seems pointless.” He “does not know what to do” means that he does not
It was same kind of situation when shamas was standing know about the meanings of his life. He has nothing to do
in the balcony of his house. And he was in great depressed because he thinks that he does not know even what to do
mind of state although it can be seen in the whole novel that in his life. He is meaningless and he is unable to find the
shamas is the only character who knows the traditions and he situational and required meaning. This thing can also cause
knows how to cope up with other people of the society. But anxiety which is also an important part of existentialism. Ex-
after the murder of jugnu and Chanda he was also in depres- cess of anxiety leads towards a rigmarole of existentialism
sion and tries to find out the reason of their murder. and a situation in which a person does not know what to do
Aslam has portrayed this scenario in very poetic words in one’s life.
that is to find attention in their own disappearance. So as it Different lines show different point of views for exam-
is mentioned earlier that finding meanings in meaningless ple “He lay down in a complete paralyzed form because of
situation is the name of existentialism and it is available in the shock of jugnu’s murder” (Aslam, 45). Paralyzed person
Maps for Lost Lovers. Here are different examples of the can represent the elements of anxiety, fear and nothingness.
same point from different pieces of Literature. “We encour- Anxiety is shown in the above lines because the way Aslam
age parents to ignore this meaningless nonsense. (Times, portrayed the situation of Pakistani migrants. It can cause
2009) anxiety for the characters and the readers. And this thing is
”He tries to find out meanings of personally what he well understood that anxiety is clearly in the domain of ex-
desired in his life”. (Aslam, 3) istentialism.
26 IJCLTS 6(4):22-27

“He said, I want to leave this life, but the world won’t let life and which she gets to do is useless for her. “Allah does
me go”, (Aslam, 8) not considered them worthy enough to place them in any
Nothingness and meaninglessness are two interlinked position” (Aslam, Maps for Lost Lovers, Winter)
things in the existential philosophy. If a situation comes In the above given example Nadeem Aslam uses ele-
where meaninglessness becomes the part of human’s life but ments of Christian existentialism. Christianity in existential-
at one point or time this meaninglessness turns into noth- ism means to have faith on God but only as a compulsory
ingness and nothingness creates existentialism. In the above part of religion. Characters in Maps for Lost Lovers are ar-
given example character wants to leave the world because he guing with the God’s nature. Chanda and Shamas are the two
is not living his desired life in the story of the novel therefore main characters behind this statement in the story.
he tried to leave the world and get rid of his life. Life has Nadeem Aslam also explains the reason of faith in God,
become meaningless for him and he has to do nothing in his the contextual history of the story tells the readers that they
life so he selects the way of doing suicide. Conflict is one of were very mentally disturbed by their migration. They were
the major parts of existentialism. As it is mentioned earlier not living a happy life because many of the limitations
in the above mentioned chapters that conflict can be of dif- were also there, when they have migrated from Pakistan
ferent types for example in this novel there are two types of to England. So limitations of religion make it difficult for
conflicts. the migrants to survive with full faith of God. “He is not a
One is Conflict of man Vs society and other is conflict believer, so he knows that the universe is without saviors”.
of man Vs nature it can be seen in the story that when Jugnu (Aslam, 56)
and Chanda were killed in the name of honor. Jugnu and “Because they did not believe in God and did not trust in
change were living in the migrant’s society named as Dasht- his salvation”. (Bible, Psalm, 78:22)
E-Tanhai. They loved each other very strongly and they were From the biblical reference it is clear that Nadeem Aslam
living together without marriage. Existentialism talks only uses the Christianity point of view of Existentialism in the
about individuals life, their choices, freedom and free will story of Maps for Lost Lovers e.g. “after the disappearance
but it also talks about those conflicts which leads towards of character they had denied all kind of knowledge” (A
nothingness and nothingness is the way towards existential- Breakfast of butterfly eggs, Maps for Lost Lovers) means the
ism. Conflict is one of the major themes of the story and in non-believing in the characters of Maps for Lost Lovers is
the theme of conflict existentialism falls. Kiran says, “but I filled by the contextual history of the writer.
was not able to do anything”. (Aslam, 14) “What do you want me to say to you?
Nothingness is one of the major elements of existential- “Nothing
ism and it is a main part of the absurd theater as well. One Who is the one treating the all?
of the research questions of this study (Why does the char- Why are you believing”? (A breakfast of butterfly eggs,
acter in novel fell down in existential strain) is related to Maps for Lost Lovers)
the contextual background of the characters. As in the above Characters of Chanda and Jugnu tried to live together
given example where Kiran says I was not able to do any- without marriage. And the norms and traditions of the soci-
thing, situation makes it difficult for the character to adopt ety do not allow them to do that. Conflict, which is an im-
any situation for selecting ways to survive. Situation is men- portant part of existentialism, can also be seen through the
tioned in the story that Kiran’s father had lost all other family overall story of the novel.
members while migrating from India to Pakistan. Sometimes
situation comes where a person can’t do anything and even
CONCLUSION
don’t have any solution for the survival in tough conditions.
Same is the case with Kiran in the story where she is having Maps for Lost Lovers has been analyzed in existential strain.
no choice to do anything in her life. Existentialism is a kind of movement that discusses the im-
“I don’t want to see them or work next to them to I don’t portance of individual’s identity and questions belief in God.
mind working next if I am forced to, as long as I don’t Nadeem Aslam seems to deal with existentialism in multiple
have to speak to them, as long as I don’t have to talk”. ways. He applies existentialism in different style but from
(Aslam,223) inner meaning he is delivering the same point of view as Ex-
Existentialism is such kind of philosophy which covers istentialism portrays. According to researcher there is reason
the element of meaninglessness in human’s life. Nadeem behind this difference and that reason is of territorial bound-
Aslam uses the word “I” which shows the individual’s im- aries and contextual history. Contextual history tells that
portance in his writings. In the above given example repe- the people of the time when Waiting for Godot was written
tition of the word ‘I’ tells the story that the character is the were greatly depressed by the effects of World War and they
follower of his own choices and free will. “You, my brothers were left with no faith in God rather they started to believe
and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your free- in their own multiple identities. While the contextual history
dom to indulge the flesh, rather serve one another humbly of Maps of Lost Lovers is somehow related with its author’s
in love.” (Bible, Galatians 5; 13). So the usage of the word background history. Maps for Lost Lovers is Existential in
‘I’ explains the meaning of the whole example, and also the strain but it sometimes relates to identity and faith’s point of
element of meaninglessness is there. Everything is meaning- view and the other time it seems to be touching Conflict and
less for the character because she has nothing to do in her free will point of view.
Existential Strain in Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers 27

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