Volume 18, No. 5, 2021
Alienation, Jealousy And Betrayal: A Marxist Study Of Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke (2000)
Sadia Nazeer , Mohammad Muazzam Sharif , Mutuahira Yousaf , Spugmay Ali , Gul e Rana
Abstract
This study explores alienation, jealousy, and betrayal in the major characters of Hamid’s novel Moth Smoke. These factors are identified and highlighted through Karl Marx’s theory of alienation. Moth Smoke (2000) depicts the reality of Pakistani society by pointing out this society’s flaws and imperfections. Though all societies in the world are imperfect in one or the other sense, the prevailing class distinction in Pakistani society, which generates instability in its citizens, gives rise to conflict in its citizens and leads to the destruction of the whole society. The inferiors consider themselves a minority group under constant pressure from the oppressive class, which eventually instigates anger, violence, and jealousy in them. Through his theory, Marx has explained the dependency of the lower class on the elite class. Those belonging to the higher class always suppress the less privileged. The other two facets described by Marx are selfalienation and specie-alienation. He believes that a socio-economically divided society results in the self-alienation of an individual as well as alienation from humanity. This study attempts to examine these aspects of alienation in Daru’s and Mumtaz’s lives as they live in a stratified society.
Pages: 2363-2374
Keywords: Alienation, Betrayal, Jealousy, Suppression, Pakistani Society.