Exploring Identity Fragmentation, Victimization and Othering in HM Naqvi's Home Boy

Abstract

The catastrophic incident of 9/11 split the world into two halves, Muslims and non- Muslims. The Muslim identity came under the clouds of suspicion and caught global attention. Soon after 9/11, the Western self-concocted narrative portrays Muslims as terrorists, barbaric and uncivilized. However, Naqvi's novel deconstructs this stereotypical narrative. Home Boy is a counter-narrative against the horrendous narrative of Muslim victimization, fragmentation and Othering. Indubitably, this dominant stance influenced world literature and legitimized the war on terror which sabotaged Muslim identity worldwide. But the narrative of Pakistani writers in the form of 'Home Boy', 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' etc. exposed Western so-called dominancy explicitly. The present study analyzes that Chuck the protagonist of 'Home Boy' was civilized and progressive before the fall of the Twin Towers but after 9/11 he was labelled negatively though he was not involved directly or indirectly in any terrorist activity. The current paper undertakes textual analysis as the main research method under the conceptual framework of Homi. K. Bhabha and Edward Said’s concepts for the analysis of the primary text.