The article provides a comparative analysis of Khurshid

Dostmuhammadʼs “Vasiy” (“The Guardian”) and Ali Smithʼs

“The Child” based on postmodernist theory. The research aims

to identify how postmodernist principles manifest in Uzbek and

English short stories, highlighting their similarities and

differences. Drawing on key theoretical sources of

postmodernism (Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida, Foucault,

Hutcheon, McHale, Nicol, and others), the article substantiates

the analysis of these works from philosophical, aesthetic, and

narratological perspectives.

The study employs comparative-literary, postmodern

theoretical, and discursive analysis methods, examining features

such as intertextuality, metafiction, fragmentation, unreliable

narrator, ironic play, and stream of consciousness in both stories.

In “Vasiy,” the internal division of the female psyche, the

fragmented presentation of events, and the subjective

interpretation of reality form the postmodernist artistry. The

story reveals the motherʼs psychological crisis and the

metaphorical power of maternal love through unreliable

narration, metafictional ambiguity, and stream of consciousness.

In Ali Smithʼs “The Child,” a talking baby unexpectedly

appearing in a supermarket cart in an unnatural state serves as a

critique of gender, cultural, and social stereotypes in modern

society. Through principles of absurdity, ironic play, unreliable

narrator, and open-ended conclusion, the story prompts readers

to discern the boundaries between truth and imagination for

themselves. The childʼs image becomes a symbol of moral

contradictions in society.