Abstract
This dissertation by establishing the epochal connection between postcolonialism and post-9/11,
examines the social and psychological impact of the two eras on youth and children’s characters
as reflected in Pakistani literature. Through a close reading of the texts, their contexts, and
receptions i.e.; Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking of India, Tariq Ali and Howard Brenton’s Iranian
Nights, H. M. Naqvi’s Home Boy, Wajahat Ali’s The Domestic Crusaders, Nadeem Aslam’s The
Blind Man’s Garden, and Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire, this thesis determines that after the fall
of the Twin Towers, the new developments in the shape of post-9/11 and the ‘war on terror’ and
America’s hardline policies of neo-imperialism and neo-colonialism mark a new epoch
analogous to postcolonialism. Due to identity crises, othering, and resistance, immigrants
specifically young Muslims from the Third World living in the USA and Europe encounter sociopsychological
issues in their new homeland. The specific focus of this research on youth and
children characters ascertains that, when victimized for their identities, these characters face
socio-psychological vicissitudes, then they resist and resent, which sometimes bring dire
consequences for themselves, their loved ones, and the rest of the society. Also, in the 9/11
aftermath, with the rise of islamophobia, the main targets are the stereotyped Muslims, who are
‘othered’ like people in the colonial and postcolonial eras. The study determines that social and
psychological effects in both epochs have comparative features, i.e., issues of identity, othering,
and resistance, and hence the post-9/11 era is the resurgence or new version of postcolonialism.
Qualitative method, i.e., close-reading technique of data collection, has been used. For the
conceptual framework, the research examines the social and psychological dimensions of
postcolonial literary theory in light of the concepts of Homi. K. Bhabha, and other eminent
theorists. In the field of social psychology, the study utilizes Erik Erikson's concepts outlined in
the book Identity: Youth and Crisis and the parameters developed by Robert T. Carter concerning
PTSIM: a hypothetical psychological theory. In addition, Edward Said’s treatment of the
relationship between “textuality and worldliness” and/or “form and ideology” as co-constitutive;
are the positions that I take and argue in this thesis. This study’s specific focus on the
representation of the socio-psychological impact of postcolonialism and post-9/11 on young
characters and their consequent resistance and reactions add more to the dynamics of
contemporary literature.