Deciphering The British Pakistani Novelist’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist in The Light of Jean Baudrillard’s Assertion-Singularity Avenges Singular Cultures

Szuhan Wang
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Szuhan Wang: National United University, Taiwan

European Journal of Language and Culture Studies, 2023, vol. 2, issue 1, 21-27

Abstract: This paper aims to explore how the Pakistani protagonist in The Reluctant Fundamentalist took the initiative to thwart the predominant global power by manipulating the characteristic of “singularity” of Islam culture. As a Middle Easterner surviving in the Western world, Changez suffered from ubiquitous biased treatment especially after September 11 events and it awakened him to penetrate the disguise and dominancy of global power worldwide. Accordingly, how the protagonist intentionally flaunted his characteristic of singularity to protest against the hegemonic power and simultaneously strengthened self-identification in the novel will be interpreted in the light of Jean Baudrillard’s assertion- “singularities are not necessarily violent, and there are some subtle ones, such as those of language, art, the body or culture.” Concerning immanent power sought from the idiosyncrasy of singularity, how the first-person narrator subverted and flipped the single-track route of hegemonic global power will be discussed by analyzing the cultural and ethnic portrayal of singularity flipping the stereotyped image of Islam appearance as the symbol for self-identification strengthening.

Keywords: global power; Jean Baudrillard; Mohsin Hamid; singularity; singular cultures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:epw:ejlang:v:2:y:2023:i:1:id:4066

DOI: 10.24018/ejlang.2023.2.1.66

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