Representation and identity in the wake of 9/11 : Khaled Hosseini's The kite runner, Mohsin Hamid's The reluctant fundamentalist, Frédéric Beigbeder's Windows on the world and Don DeLillo's Falling man

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores the themes of representation and identity in four post-9/11 novels: KhaledHosseini's The Kite Runner, Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, FrédéricBeigbeder's Windows on the World and Don DeLillo's Falling Man.The novels of Hosseini and Hamid represent the experience of two Muslim protagonists fromAfghanistan and Pakistan who immigrate to the US. The protagonists offer two contrastingunderstandings of fundamentalism, using this lens to understand the terrorist figure andAmerican society respectively. The construction of power for both the American society and theterrorist is argued to be located in images which are linked to masculinity: money, sport,militancy, sex and religious devotion. The personal experiences of these protagonists reflect thepolitical circumstances which they encounter, and both characters identify with nationalidentities in ways which relate to their readings of representations of identity and news media.Beigbeder and DeLillo's novels are discussed using the theme of trauma. The novels portray theexperiences of American characters who are confronted with 9/11 and suffer from disorientationand loss. The negotiation of this loss takes place in relation to entanglements with the terroristfigure, who penetrates the physical and psychological spaces of these characters. Images ofmasculinity are evoked in order to signify this loss of power, where the destabilising of thepaternal role is linked to the pervasive sense of vulnerability which the characters experienceafter the attacks. Memorials and rituals become ways of dealing with disorientation. The twonovels unsettle the distinction between terrorist and terrorised in order to negotiate a newAmerican identity after 9/11.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University