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Title Interrogating the Colonial Violence: A Study of Mirza Waheed’s The Book of Gold Leaves and Feroz Rather’s The Night of Broken Glass

Author(s) Asma Kaleem

Abstract This research study has been conducted to discover the dynamics of colonial violence inflicted by the Indian colonizers on the Kashmiris in the novels The Book of Gold Leaves by Mirza Waheed and The Night of Broken Glass by Feroz Rather. I have applied Fanon’s concept of anti-colonialism and his ideas on revolutionary violence to comprehend the psyche of colonizers and that of the agents of colonialism. This project examines different dimensions of colonial violence presented in the novels and the impacts of colonial violence on the natives as well as on the military responsible for the colonial aggression. It examines the hostile relationship between the Kashmiri colonized subjects and the Indian colonizer portrayed in the selected narratives and the metamorphosis of the weak colonial subject into a hero of its people. Moreover, the study holds the casual nexus of the perpetration of colonial violence responsible for the generation of young boys into militants in Kashmir. Furthermore, it illustrates if decolonization has been accomplished through revolutionary violence by the characters of the novels or not. Alan Mckee’s method of textual analysis has been employed to analyze the two novels comprehensively. The novelists have given voice to the colonized Kashmiri people that have been victim to decades of oppression and have illustrated the colonial performance of Indian soldiers and their harsh methods of colonial aggression. They have succeeded in writing back against the colonial mentalities. I have attempted to highlight that both revolutionary violence and colonial violence produce anguish and distress with the aid of Fanon’s psychiatric study of the victims of war and their victimizers. The study is an attempt to hold the Indian government and the Indian soldiers accountable for colonial violence in Kashmir and concludes that revolutionary violence is an aftermath of Indian colonial aggression and it will not cme to an end unless colonial violence itself stops. This research will provide researchers with a unique lens to study the works of Waheed and Rather with a better understanding and stress upon the issue of Kashmir with zeal and urgency.

Type Thesis/Dissertation PhD

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Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2022-08-31

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