Dominance And Imbalance Of Power In The Reluctant Fundamentalist: A New Historicist Critical Study

Abstract

New Historicism (NH) has emerged in the practice of criticism since 1990s with Stephen Greenblatt’s introduction of the term in 1982 (Nasrullah Mambrol, 2017). The theory describes the constituents of the history and says that history is the self-contained and whole entity rather than the series of incidents. Present study is also being conducted in the perspective of NH being employed on The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) of Mohsin Hamid. The novel comparatively analyzes the core values of native and USA culture and intention soon after 9/11 incident. The elements of NH are being 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 and marginalized nations, attitude of capitalist society and the system of marginalizing the values through systematic intentions. The findings of the study describe that New Historicist elements are present in the novel under study.