COLONIAL LEGACY AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN PAKISTANI LITERATURE: A STUDY OF ICE-CANDY MAN AND THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST

Abstract

This study investigates the lasting effect of colonial governance on Pakistani national identity by conducting a literary analysis of Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice-Candy Man and Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Utilizing Homi K. Bhabha's postcolonial theory, the research seeks to explore how concepts of trauma, hybridity, mimicry, and cultural dislocation are interwoven within modern Pakistani English literature. The main aim is to examine how these texts portray the psychological and social challenges faced by individuals navigating their identity in a global context shaped by postcolonialism and post-9/11. This paper explores various research inquiries: (1) In what ways do these novels represent the impacts of Partition and colonial trauma? (2) How do characters represent cultural alienation, broken identity, and defiance? This research addressing a gap in existing scholarship that frequently considers these times in isolation. This  study explore the persistence of postcolonial concerns across different historical periods as reflected in Pakistan literature. The importance of this research is in its focus on literature as an essential counter-narrative to established history, demonstrating how fiction can restore muted voices and transform collective memory. Despite focusing on just two Anglophone works and a defined theoretical framework, the paper significantly adds to the fields of South Asian literary studies and postcolonial discourse. It creates new avenues for further exploration, especially regarding regional language writings, diasporic viewpoints, and gendered representations of postcolonial trauma in Pakistani literature.