Re-complicating identity in Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist
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Date
2015
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Publisher
Public Knowledge Project
Abstract
At the heart of a person's life lies the struggle to define his self, to make sense of who
he is? Diaspora represents the settling as well as unsettling process. While redesigning the
geopolitical boundaries, cultural patterns, it has also reshaped the identities of the immigrants
with new challenges confronting the immigrant in negotiating his identity. Diaspora becomes
a site where past is given a new meaning and is preserved out of intense nostalgia and
longing. The novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid is significant in its
treatment of the issues faced by immigrants in the diaspora. Mohsin Hamid has grounded his
resistance narrative in the identity narrative and through the prism of identity offers a deep
insight into the American society and its ideals. The novel exposes the ugly side of the
American society with its fundamentalist institutions and dislodges the narratives of
fundamentalism as a Muslim monopoly and inverts the myths and discourses on identity to
produce a counter narrative
Description
Keywords
Fundamentalism, Culture, Stereotyping, Resistance
Citation
Bhat, Shafayat Hussain (2015) Re-complicating identity in Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist. International Journal of English Language, Literature in Humanities. Vol. 3(7)