Psychoanalysis and Transformation of Heroes in Mohsin Hamid’s Novels “Moth Smoke” and “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”

Abstract

Mohsin Hamid is an exponent of postcolonial characterization and possesses a specific touch of today’s hero in local Asian context. His pen is fluent on social fiction portraying Indo-Pak culture. Few writers could rise to the height of fame right with only a couple of preliminary works. Hamid secured it through his first novel Moth Smoke and the second one The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Both these novels depict contemporary Pakistani mindset with a fine transparency of reflection. His treatment of characters, especially the heroes, in these novels is masterful. The objective of this study is to explore the character of both heroes (Darashikoh in Moth Smoke and Changez in The Reluctant Fundamentalist). Both heroes undergo critical scheme of events and transform into non-heroic pitiable men.This study encircles the outer incidents that happen to the heroes and their inner responses to those situations. This study also attempts to uncover those complexes which are ensnaring the youth of the country and turning them into a generation pressed under complexes. With too few exceptions, there is widespread infatuation for wealth, vehicles, and women in developing societies of postcolonial frames; and Pakistan is also one.

Keywords: Postcolonial, Hero, Psychoanalysis, , Power, Wealth, Women