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Title Interpellation & National Politics: A Study of Markus Zusak's The Book Thief & John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Author(s) MUHAMMA HAMZA

Abstract This research study examines the interplay of ideology and interpellation in contemporary war fiction. Selected texts i.e. The Book Thief (2005) by Markus Zusak and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2006) by John Boyne are analyzed in the light of Louis Althusser‘s concept of interpellation expounded in Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays (1971). Benedict Anderson‘s views on nationalism are used as a secondary lens to conduct this study. The study focuses on highlighting the function of various institutions i.e., the military, politics, family, and education, and their effects on the characters in shaping their ideology in the favor of nationalist stance. Firstly, the texts are analyzed to see how the characters are interpellated through nationalist ideology and then the researcher has examined how inversely these characters contest the idea of nationalism, building a counter-discourse. Anderson‘s criticism of nationalism is significant because it throws light on the fact that the nation is an imagined political community and still people sacrifice their lives for it. It serves the state‘s purposes in times of social, political, and economic crisis. In World War II, Hitler‘s use of interpellation affected a large number of native German populations in a way that people started to lose control over their personal choices. In the novels, Hitler‘s forceful execution of nationalist ideology is portrayed by the novelists. Both novels deal with various institutions promoting the ideology of nationalism. This study aims to highlight the dangers imposed by the growing use of nationalist ideology and how characters get motivated to contest this ideology, building new spaces for countering interpellation. This whole investigation of interpellation and nationalism is significant to highlight that besides the display of revulsions of war, war fiction cannot be void of certain ideological schemas which explain the impact of warfare on the sociological existence and endurance of humans.

Type Thesis/Dissertation

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Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2023-06-05

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