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Vol.8 , No. 1, Publication Date: May 15, 2021, Page: 1-10
| [1] | Muhammad Abdullah Jamil, Department of English Language and Linguistics, University of Management and Technology, Sialkot, Pakistan. |
Since the attacks of 9-11, many writers have put their pens to write about this horrible incident, with different writers responding differently to this event. Many works published during this period echo imperialist thinking and depict Muslims, especially Arabs, who were the perpetrators of these terrible attacks, in a stereotypical way. Crucially, these works assert the superiority of western values over their non-western counterpart and help reinforce and legitimize the imperial discourse. Most of the works on this topic show the perspective of the American victims but John Updike’s Terrorist tells the story from the point of view of the Muslims. This paper intends to explore Terrorist as an imperialist text to show that, despite its nuances, this novel is reproducing and reinforcing an imperialist discourse, supporting the stance that western intervention is necessary for the betterment of the undeveloped, unstable and dangerous world. This exploration will be aided by a discussion on the process of radicalization of Muslim youth, and its relation to post 9-11 western foreign policy decisions. This task is accomplished by using Kenan Malik’s thesis of radicalization and Pankaj Mishra’s critique of imperialism placed in a larger theoretical framework embodied in Edward Said’s Culture and Imperialism and it will have educational implications.
Keywords
Imperialism, Muslims, Radicalization, Terrorism, Updike
Reference
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| [11] | Mishra, Pankaj. “LRB • Pankaj Mishra • Watch This Man: Niall Ferguson's Burden.” London Review of Books, London Review of Books, 3 Nov. 2011, www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n21/pankaj-mishra/watch-this-man. |
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