Identity Crisis and Critique of Terrorism in Mohsin Hamid‘s The Reluctant Fundamentalist

• Main Authors: Zi-rong Chen, 陳咨蓉
• Other Authors: Shao-ming Kung
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/25676518263229549245

碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 外國語文研究所 === 101 === After September 11, we have seen how public terror can be manipulated by the media and the social context. Post-9/11 fiction often reinforces such terror by applying the structure of trauma narrative, reproducing the psychological process of dealing fright and distress, and then exploring the mental reconstruction after the event. Mohsin Hamid’s controversial novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist is distinct in that it declaims against prevailing patterns which intensifies ethnic antagonism, challenges the American dream in contemporary diasporic fictions, and shows a critique on the public rhetoric of xenophobia in an age of anti-terrorism. This thesis aims to examine the identity conflicts of the protagonist Changez before and after the 9/11 attacks, and see how the post-9/11 terror exacerbates inter-ethnic tension both in the story and in the frame narrative. My concern is to focus on Changez’s identity transformation in the wake of 9/11 and explore the novel’s critique of terrorism and anti-terrorism. Chapter One will first address Changez’s complex reasons for achieving his American dream of wealth and success, and his constant shame and confusion towards his origin during his struggle. Chapter Two will then focus on the commemoration of mourning and nostalgia in America after 9/11. Drawing upon Cathy Caruth’s trauma theory, my study will investigate the nostalgia and traumatic memories of Changez’s lover, Erica, and see how they influence Changez’s own identity and sense of belonging. Chapter Three will inspect how the war on terror and the international relations among Pakistan, India, and the United States intensify Changez’s identity conflicts and his final identity—becoming or awakening as a reluctant fundamentalist. More specially, I argue that horrifying elements in the frame narrative work as a reflection of readers’ own imaginary terror and preconception of terrorism.