Islamophobia as an Antithesis of Western Hegemony in John Updike’s Terrorist

Abstract

Abstract: This paper examines islamophobia in John Updike’s Terrorist. The study will mainly focus on the ideological confrontation between the East and The West. The traditional relationship between the East and the West is based in the Western perception of the East as the subordinate other. The West itself is the dominant self. However, the East rejects the Western hegemony. It begins to affirm its identity to emulate the Western dominance. The study is going to analyze the East’s response to the West through resistant violence. They Eastern, or oriental, fanatics try to prove their existence in the world, especially the United States of America. As a result, the practice extreme actions in the American societies. The study will identify this religious extremism as the main cause of islamophobia that started to be present in the American societies at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Therefore, Edward Said’s concept of self-other relationship will be applied to interpret the ideological confrontation between the East and the West. Such confrontation is going to be analyzed to explore neo-orientalism depicted in the novel. That is, the Eastern refusal of the Western hegemony results in parallel power. This power sustains the extremists’ opposition of the West. Thus, the study will unravel neo-orientalism as the result of the opposing powers of the West and the East.