Updike's Representation In Terrorism

September 11 is a critical day in the American history. The violent hijacks of 9/11 changed America and the world as well politically, socially, and economically. Since the fall of the Twin Towers, America realized that it has to confront a new furious enemy called terrorism. Stacy Suver, a critic of American literature, affirms that the hijacks of September 11defined terrorism in a direct way as a kind of “communication” that intends to deliver a message about power “between the perpetrator of the act and the audience of the act” (2). Terrorism, as Suver puts it, becomes a reality that destructed the World Trade Center and some parts of the Pentagon and not a mystery or a threat that happened in other countries (1).
The literary critic Martin Randall verifies that 9/11 Commission Report which was represented to the American society in 2004 offers a good start for …show more content…
If not, what are the other reasons that he included? To answer this question, this study is going to concentrate on Updike’s representation of terrorism and Islam as portrayed in Terrorist through examining the story’s plot, characters, and themes. This close examination will help in analyzing the social and political elements that affected the mentality of Updike’s protagonist and led him to be a terrorist. In addition, the study will investigate the protagonist’s psyche to discuss some psychological elements such as fear, anger, frustration, lack of identity, and limitless illusion about martyrdom and heroism and demonstrate their role in creating terrorists. From inspecting the social and political factors that influenced the protagonist as well as his psychological depth, the writer will infer Updike’s attitude toward terrorism: its causes and consequences and his view about Islam as they are dramatized in