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Identity In The Reluctant Fundamentalist

1834 Words8 Pages

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.
Key words: Identity, Fundamentalism, Culture, Stereotyping, Resistance.
Identity as it has unfolded in diaspora writings has changed our perception about this seminal issue that has for times immemorial been a central focus of academic circles across the world. More than an issue itself, identity has become a prism through which other aspects of life and culture are viewed. Whiteness, blackness, ethnicity, racial background, geographical locations, religion, distinct

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