1. By
TWILIGHT IN DELHI
Mehwish Ali Khan
Lecturer
Sardar Bahadur Khan Women‟s University
Enrolled M.Phil American Studies (Quaid e

2. TITLE
TWILIGHT IN Delhi
 TWILIGHT IN Delhi, the title is symbolical as well as
metaphorical,symbolical in a way that it symbolizes the
downfall or deterioration not only of Delhi but ways of
Delhi as well ,people‟s moral ,religious and social values
all were on the verge of death and metaphorical in a way
that the title not only refers to the twilight of Delhi but
also the Twilight of Mir Nihal
 ( you can elaborate this theme by emphasizing on the
given points)

3. Publication
 Ahmed Ali wrote this book in 1939 and published it in
1940 by Hogarth press in London ,it was not an easy job
,he had to convince the English that this book is not
against anybody ,as many of the publishers were of the
view to eradicate Mir Nihal‟s parts and the parts that
contained anti British material.
 (Elaborate)

4. Genre
 Ttragedy
 psychological novel
 Historical Novel
 Transitional novel
 Social criticism

5.  Novel is Psychological, Ahmed Ali probes into the mind of his
character, bilqueece, when is pregnant says out all her feelings
related to her child
 Asghar,s love for her beloveds is also portrayed psychologically
and writer makes us realize that he is over indulged in self love
and self pity
 Historical in a way that it‟s a post colonial novel it portrays
some events of post colonialism eg George vi‟s coronation
conditions of Delhi in twentieth century
 Transitional novel in a way that it‟s a novel of change , change
in the minds of people, change in the generation change in the
culture of delhi Change in the way of living
 We see family life shifting from the hands of Mir Nihal in the
hands of Asghar.
 Ahmed Ali being a progressive writer uses writing as a tool to
correct his society ,he criticizes the society

6. Plot
 Story carries a well knit plot,story revolves around one
main story that is of Mir Nihal and his family ,there is no
subplot in the story though there are some incidents
mentioned time n again that also due to Ahmed Ali being
nostalgic but Ahmed ali never loses his grip on the story
 Story has a proper beginning ,middle and ending as
mentioned by Aristotle


7. Literary tools
 Similes similes are used in abundance give examples
 Metaphors Mir Nihal‟s character is metaphorical and there are many
other examples
 Symbolism :
 whole novel is symbolical ,writer through incidents and characters
symbolizes different issues like cats symbolize vulgarity ,and dancing
girls ,Dogs as uncultered man looking for offal or dirt ,Mir Nihal „s
paralysis is symbolical to his being immobile in life and loss of power
begum Nihal‟s blindness shows her faliure to see life through her eyes.
 Realism
 novel is based on sheer realist view ,writer has portrayed Delhi , muslim
life ,individuals feelings and emotions in a pure realist view he has not
over done it with his artistic pen nor has he delimited himself in being
connected with facts ,he has liberally discussed what he saw around him.
This is also one of his progressive characteristics that he portrays what
he sees nothing more and nothing less then that

8.  Irony
 Amed Ali uses irony also abundantly as he is criticizing
the society , he uses irony as a tool ,he doesn‟t critisizes
directly all the time but uses irony instead e g when he
describes Nisar ahmed he says he is an excellent
“MOAZZIN” with a deep voice like hazrat bilal and he will
directly go to heaven despite of his being a shady
business man because his “azan” compensates for it

9. Humour
 Ahmed ali,s criticism is not harsh ,its benign it stings
but doesn‟t bite ,he satirizes society in a light manner
,unveiling their dark pictures ,it is not wrong if one says
that the novel is a mirror to society
 Language is clear and lucid ,he doesn‟t use difficult
vocabulary to show his mastery on language but his grip
on the language is visible ,he often translates Urdu
proverbs and sentences directly into English language ,
and he uses some urdu language words to give an Asian
effect to his novel

10. Themes
 Degeneration of family
 family of Mir Nihal withers like petals of roses
 Asghar‟s wife dies
 Mehro lives an un happy life
 Habibuddin dies
 Begum jamal leaves ,destroying the personality of Mir
Nihal
 Mir Nihal becomes paralysed ,gives away his authority
 Begum Nihal also loses position Hence family is broken

11. Downfall
 It is the time when Delhi had lost its grandeur and its position hence
its values
 Ahmed ali portrays only muslim life in Delhi and through muslim life
he shows people loosing their religious values social norms
.humanity was considered an alien word during that modern
period.
 Characters were shallow and empty from inside( examples of
characters and incidents)
 Relations had lost their values, relations were made only to fulfill
social needs ,they were not considered important( asghar and
bilqueece‟s relation Mir nihal and begum Nihals relation
 Loss of religious values could be highlighted by throwing a light on
shroud thieves ,merchants,
 Selling expensive cloth for dead ones .

12.  Social values were lost if one sees ghafoor marriage with a
fourteen year old orphan girl ,she responsibility of society ,
 Delhi had lost its cultural values too ,pigeon flying was
dying, kite flying had ended too, Joint family system had
also lost its importance people had started living in one unit
family system

 Portrayal of Delhi’s culture
 Twilight in Delhi is sheer portrayal of grandeur of Delhi
,Delhi the city of monarchs the city of poets as well as city
of beggars,
 The things that are highlighted ARE
 Delhi,s architecture

13.  Pigeon flying
 Kite flying
 Dancing girls
 Poets & poetry
 Beggars
 Superstitions
 Marriages
 Births
 Deaths

14. Females in the novel
 Females nodoubt hold a subordinate place in Asian
homes but they are nevertheless backbones of Asian
families,men are emotionally
,physically.morally,financially dependent on their women
, this position is partially taken by dancing girls but still
it is always a woman mandatory for a man in Asian
culture and society.

15.  Females are of two types in the n ovel
 House wives and dancing girls
 dancing girls are not only part of Indian culture but also
ventilators for men who need an outlet of their
emotional and physical needs that is fulfilled by these
dancing girls
 House wives like begum nihal are almost blind to the
needs of their husbands or like bilqueece who doesnot
identify the need of her husband n indulges in self pity n
destroys her self.

17. Modernism vs Conservatism
.
 Mir Nihal was a strong personlity entirely displaying
India as a whole and in its composed form but he also
started to break when he started loosing his possessions
and asghar was one of themMir Nihal reluctant to
change and Asgahr eager to change into the modern
British ways of life
 Asghar changes his way of life entirely ,n that influence
of british culture is still seen in the youth of Asia.

18. ARTISTRY OF THE WRITER
 Ahmed Ali s mastery on his pen is evident in this novel
he pictures colourful and elegant Delhi as it is and he
doesn‟t hide anything. Portrays life as it is,
simultaneously highlighting the follies of society and
penetrating into hearts and minds of his characters, he
takes life on a larger scale one can see all the aspects of
life in one novel ,starting from birth ,marriage and
death,thus making the novel universal in its theme


19.  Hope it helps……..