The family system presented in the Urdu novel before partition was the joint family system provided by the agrarian system of life.  This joint family system was convinced of the primacy of family ties and emphasized interdependence.  In this system, love, loyalty and sacrifice were the basic beliefs.  Later, the joint family system became the cause of most of the economic and social problems faced by the subcontinent family system while regressing from the agricultural system to the industrial system.  Therefore, the Urdu novel was both an exponent and a critic of joint family life.  Thus, the Urdu novel, starting with the reform of the family before the establishment of Pakistan, became a reflection of the different situation of the joint families living in the society.