Literature has served as one of the most convincing tools for developing emancipatory thinking among Americans, particularly the colored people in the antebellum period. The current research paper is an attempt to study and explore how emancipatory thinking was developed through literature which is, generally considered to be more fictional than factual. Through the close reading of the selected narratives written during the period, the researcher has attempted to unearth various aspects and relate them with the factual accounts of the time in order to investigate their closer relationship with each other. This required a theoretical framework that would enable us to juxtapose the literary and non-literary texts to have an actual picture of the situation; therefore, the non-literary journalistic writings during that period have been studied parallel to the literary narratives. The findings and discussion developed in this study also suggest that further studies may also be conducted in order to dispel the misconception ascribed to narratives of the antebellum period that narratives are imaginary scattered accounts of the authors which are much exaggerated than to have elements of realism.

The present paper is a New Historicist analysis of Mumtaz Shahnawaz's novel The Heart Divided (1957). Keeping in view the theoretical postulates of Stephen Greenblatt, the paper analyzes the literary text in conjunction with the author's life and time to evaluate how the different prevailing political discourses impacted the text. During the turbulent times of the Partition of the Subcontinent, the significance of the social and political forces that prompted the author to write the novel cannot be denied. Shahnawaz herself was a political activist during the Independence Movement so she closely witnessed the process of nation building and the emergence of the concept of Two Nation Theory so she incorporates these details in her fictional work. As a New Historicist study, this paper assumes that the selected fictional text has been shaped by the time and place in which it was produced and that it reflects the time and place it is set so the study explores the cultural forces surrounding the text and infusing meaning to it.

The current study examines the historical and social elements of 14th century England, through Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem, Prologue to theCanterbury Tales. the study also unfolds the analogy of the current situation
of developing countries with Chaucer's era. The research is carried out, using the lens of New Historicism as a framework. New Historicism is a postmodern critical theory presented by Stephen Greenblatt (1943). The purposive sampling technique is used to proceed with the study because the research is descriptive in nature. Geoffrey Chaucer is considered as a father of the art of characterization. He placed his characters in the prologue from almost every walk of life, the characters reflect the historical and cultural background of 14th-century England. The history of Medieval England is traced down by analyzing the writings of Chaucer. Chaucer picked coomon characters from various fields to give an accurate picture of 14th-century England.