Representations of the Other in Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
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Abstract
The Reluctant Fundamentalist offers a more recent and contemporary portrayal of 9/11 fiction. This thesis uses postcolonial theory to analyze Mohsin Hamid’s novel, published in 2007. The novel chronicles the protagonist Changez’s life before, during, and after the 9/11 and how his view of America’s capitalism and imperialism-centered society and his identity shifts in the wake of the attacks. It is allegories to display identity and has frequently been used in post-colonial discourse to mean simply cross-cultural 'exchange' to the Pakistani immigrant named Changez Khan in the novel. The novel stands out because it is told from the point of view of a Pakistani immigrant to an American looking for a job to fulfill his dream. The postcolonial tropes allow for an acute interrogation of the historicizing of 9/11 and what role fiction has in creating and re-imagining history. The novel allows us to see how postcolonial tropes have evolved and remained after September 11 attacks. Also, the features of trauma fiction are briefly introduced to determine those featured in Hamid’s text, which exposes identity problems and searches for the answers to existential queries. Such issues as the deterioration of the American dream, the fight against American imperialism and the relationship between East and West, prejudices that rule the American society, and inward transformation are the main ones that feature in this study. Key words: Identity diaspora, Mohsin Hamid, War on Terror, Islamphobia.