RADICALIZATION IN MULTIPOLAR WORLD:A STUDY OF THE RUNAWAYS ( 1st part )

            TOPIC 

      " Factors and Perils of Radicalization in Multipolar World: A Study of The Runaways "

M.PHIL IN ENGLISH (Literature)   

 RADICALIZATION IN MULTIPOLAR WORLD:A STUDY OF THE RUNAWAYS 

Synopsis submitted to Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan in partial 

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M.PHIL IN ENGLISH (Literature)   

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M.PHIL IN ENGLISH (Literature)   

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DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

ABDUL WALI KHAN UNIVERSITY MARDAN

SESSION (2018 – 20)

Factors and Perils of Radicalization in Multipolar World: A Study of The Runaways

Introduction

Fatima Bhutto’s (2018) The Runaways is a latest novel that narrates various dimensions of radicalization in multipolar world. There are manifold circumstances and facts that cause radicalization. Some people are easily radicalized; they just need little struggle to be radicalized. The novel under study narrates a journey of how major characters are radicalized, and how the radicals are, then, de-radicalized. This novel is unique in many ways as it addresses the unexplored factors of radicalization. Many researchers have linked religious fundamentalism and extremism with radicalization, but the novel under study depicts cognitive, personal, social, economic and political aspects of radicalization. This study is qualitative, and within the qualitative paradigm it applies textual analysis as a research method for analysis of the selected data. Textual analysis is widely practiced in literary studies. It puts a text at the centre of analysis, and addresses the textual and literary features of the text, thus leading to thematic analysis as a whole.

Fatima Bhutto is a Pakistani writer who was born in 1982 in Kabul. She is the niece of Benazir Bhutto and the daughter of Murtaza Bhutto. She has written several works, most recently Songs of Blood and Sword, The Shadow of the Crescent Moon, Democracy and latest powerful novel The Runaways.

Fatima Bhutto’s novel The Runaways is about the story of three young people who belong to different social backgrounds. These three protagonists are Sunny, Monty and Anita Rose-the three runaways. The book begins in Karachi where Anita and Monty are living two contrasting lives. Monty and Anita Rose both live in Pakistan and belong to completely different family backgrounds. Anita Rose is a poor girl whose mother is a malishwali and lives with her family in the city’s largest slump, Machar Colony. The writer has portrayed the character of Anita Rose as a brave girl who

 is passionate about her dreams. She grows up looking to the lifestyles of the rich families in Clifton and wants to be accepted by them but she finds herself invisible in the grand homes her mother works at. On the other hand the life of Monty is the other extreme of Karachi. He is the son of Scion and lives a luxurious life. He attends the American school and spends his holidays in London. The novel’s third character is the most complex character whose name is Sunny. Sunny is the first generation British born to Indian migrant parents. While growing in Portsmouth he has so many complexities about his own sexualities, his father’s approval and his identity. His father Suleman Jameel wants him to achieve every possible luxury in life. “All his life”, Bhutto writes “Sunny never felt he belonged in Portsmouth.” He is so depressed about his lost significance but when Oz appears in his life he begins to see meaning in life. 

Radicalization in modern literature has been a very prominent and recurring theme and much has been written about it by writers, critics, psychologists and academicians alike. Fatima Bhutto’s The Runaways discusses the theme of radicalization in a very beautiful manner. Through the lives of her characters Fatima Bhutto highlights the factors behind young people that drive them to join terrorist organizations.  She addresses such questions which people mostly avoid in today’s world. According to her, this book is filled with secrets mostly about radicalism, identity issues, social media and about the survival of young people in this world on fire.

Radicalization as discussed earlier is “What goes on before the bomb goes off” (Neumann). " Radicalization " is a process by which people develop extremist ideologies and beliefs (Borum, 2011). It means a pathway towards terrorism which gradually slides into extremism, fundamentalism or generally towards justifying violence. By discussing the theme of radicalization the author wants to point out the excruciating pain that an extremist goes through when he has to leave all his loved ones and choose loneliness. She further says that loneliness plays a major role in making the mind set for radicalism and it is very easy to beguile youth from the right path when they are deeply affected by the injustices of the society and people around. At last she argues that when youth are not offered by his country with clear vision they will adopt any vision that is offered to them.

M.PHIL IN ENGLISH (Literature)   

M.PHIL IN ENGLISH (Literature)   

M.PHIL IN ENGLISH (Literature)   

M.PHIL IN ENGLISH (Literature)   

M.PHIL IN ENGLISH (Literature)   

Factors and Perils of Radicalization in Multipolar World: A Study of The Runaways

M.PHIL IN ENGLISH (Literature)