INEQUALITY OF POWER AND DOMINANCE IN MOHSIN HAMID’S THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST: A NEW HISTORICISM PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

New Historicism (NH) emerged in the practice of criticism by Stephen Greeblatt in 1990. The theory describes the constituents of the history and regards the history as the while entity rather than the series of incidents. The present study is conducted in the perspectives of NH employed on The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid. The novel comparatively analyzed the core values of native and USA culture and intention soon after 9/11 incident. The elements of NH are described in the present study to highlight the presence of core values of the theory for the purpose of manipulation of power relations between powerful nations to marginalized nations, attitude of capitalist society and the system of marginalizing the values through systematic intentions. The findings of the study have suggested that there is existence of NH elements in the novel based on the personal experiences of Mohsin Hamid.