A Postcolonial Ecocritical Approach to The Reluctant Fundamentalist Written by Mohsin Hamid

Abstract

This study aims to analyze The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012) written by Mohsin Hamid in the context of postcolonial ecocriticism. Unlike ecocriticism, postcolonial ecocriticism deals with ecological issues from both an eco-centered and a particularly human-centered perspective. The study consists of three parts apart from the introduction and conclusion parts. In the first part, the emergence and development of ecocriticism and its relation with other theories are discussed. In the second part, the relationship between Social Ecology and Postcolonial ecocritical discourse is analyzed, and in the last part, the novel is scrutinized from a postcolonial ecocritical perspective. It is possible to dwell on the novel through postcolonial ecocriticism due to the fact that the protagonist of the story, Cengiz, is faced with both racial discrimination and social oppression. He is a very talented young man who was graduated from the University of Princeton University; Department of Business Administration and goes to study in America. While his success and determination at school helps him to gain a respectable place in society, it also takes Cengiz one step closer to the American dream he has always dreamed of, and thus he is accepted to a very prestigious American company that just a few business graduate students can realize. Moreover, Cengiz falls in love with an American young girl named Erica and then events get more complicated with the blend of this love and captivity to capitalism. This tension and conflict between the west and the east, which is the main theme of the novel, blends with the relationship of these two and gains a tragic dimension towards the end. Cengiz from Pakistan, whose eastern self was overshadowed by his American identity, experiences profound changes in him in terms of identity and personality, especially after September 11 terrorist attacks.