Terrorizing Islam: Building American Identity in the 9/11 Novel

Abstract

In the years after 9/11, a number of novels appeared that purported to examine the perspectives of both Islamic fundamentalist terrorists and American Muslims . While ostensibly giving their American audiences an insight into an Islamic perspective, what these novels are actually unconsciously doing is using their Muslim characters to create a new sense of American identity in the post-9/11world where older conceptions of American identity have been disrupted by the violent intrusion of an alien presence . Drawing upon the work of Edward Said and Toni Morrison, this thesis will examine the ways John Updike's Terrorist, Amy Waldman's, The Submission, and Don DeliIIo's Falling Man, construct a Muslim Other in order to create an American identity. The presence of the Muslims in these novels serves as an occasion for the Americans to explore their new identities after 9/11,where American exceptionalism and such American qualities once constructed as intrinsic and essential as freedom, inviolability, and tolerance are called into question