Tainted Through Transfer: Dis/connective Residues in Mohsin Hamid's Contaminated Fiction

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Diana Elisse Ocheltree (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: Given the profusion of negative terminology ascribed to non-Western migrants generally , coupled with Mohsin Hamid's extensive and recurring implementation of ecological and biological collapse in his first three published novels , this thesis will foreground scientific concepts which undermine Eastern representation. I argue that while Hamid illustrates real-world ecological , biological , political , and ideological contamination , he does so by employing an historic use of metaphors and imagery which highlight an inevitably poisoned , infected , or contagious Pakistani people. This emotionally inciting device ultimately reduces his characters' vitality and agency , thereby transferring a tainted impression onto his Western readers , one which denies visions of cultural and political equality between the East and West. His work problematically rearticulates a disconnected , ethnically subordinate image of Pakistani society at a time when cultural sensitivity and global connectivity is paramount to peaceful multicultural and international relations.

Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Language: English

Date: 2017

Keywords

Pakistani literary representation, cultural permeability

Subjects

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