Spiral of Fear and Silence in Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke and The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Abstract

This article examines the concept of silence and
aggression in Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke and his The Reluctant
Fundamentalist in relation to Noelle Neumann’s theory of spiral of
silence. Various ideological, socio-economic, and psychological divisive
forces at work in a coercive society trigger the downward spiral
movement of silence. The article also discusses Hamid’s concept of fear
and silence in the light of his news article titled “Fear and Silence.” His
article explores how the coercive structures of fear and silence work in
such a society to build a pressure on and around individuals and
eventually silence their deviant voices. Consequently, the pressure
people feel to conceal their views when they believe they are in minority
creates a climate of fear and prejudice that eventually triggers
aggression. Feelings of fear and consequent silence also evoke a
diseased psychological behavior in the intellectuals, who in the absence
of a just outlet for their creative energies turn to intoxication and crime.
Furthermore, the article explores the criminal psyche of the characters
in the light of John Dollard’s frustration aggression theory as an
outcome of such silence. The hierarchy of suppression and division
becomes more intensified in the modern oppressive societies where
initiative and self-confidence are paralyzed by fear and silence.