Global Capitalism as a Metanarrative: Debunking the Structuring Force of World Capitalist Societies in Mohsin Hamid’s Postmodern Fiction

Abstract

The purpose of the present research is to develop the postmodern theoretical understanding of Mohsin Hamid’s novels to debunk the filthy face of global capitalism. This study adopts qualitative research approach. The findings reveal that Hamid’s novels are in accordance with Lyotard who shows skepticism towards the metanarrative of global capitalism i.e. capital circulates globally. And through global capitalism each country has an equal chance of becoming rich. The integration of Waller Stein’s World System Theory in analyzing the texts further proves helpful. The findings reveal that Moth Smoke deconstructs the capitalist tactics of American capitalism at the national level. The text depicts Pakistani society as a society where power and sovereignty are granted only to those who have accumulated USA dollars. The Reluctant Fundamentalist challenges the dirty face of American capitalism at transnational level and the way it disrupts the lives of people in other countries through its capitalist traps. There is a potential exchange of capitalism from USA to Asia in How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. This is Hamid’s only novel which represents capitalism directly. In the fourth novel Exit West, there is a mass migration of people from underdeveloped countries to core countries which are economically stable. The findings suggest that global capitalism results in subjugating the peripheral and semi-peripheral countries.