EXPLORING HYBRIDITY: AN ANALYSIS OF BAPSI SIDHWA’S AN AMIRICAN BRAT AND MOHSIN HAMID’S THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST

Abstract

The current paper investigates hybridity in two Pakistani narratives The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid and An American Brat (1993) by Bapsi Sidhwa. The Pakistani diaspora has been depicted as exposed to a mental war with the Western culture. In a multi-cultural society, they left with few choices; they are either required to accept the hegemony of American culture and forget about their indigenous culture, religion and social customs etc, or they are supposed to adopt a medieval space which Bhabha termed as the “third space”. Or they should get back to their home land as reactionary subjects. Changez who revolted against the hegemony of Euro-America and turned back to his indigenous rootedness. While, on the other hand, Feroza bowed down in front of American hegemony by deciding to live there and never return to her country. Bhabha’s hybridity has been applied as a main theoretical framework for the analysis of text. The protagonists were seem to be assimilating with the American culture but at the end they decided their destiny. The current paper helps the readers to know about the major problems of Pakistani community residing in Euro-America.