Islamophobic Irony in American Fiction: a Critical Analysis of Lorraine Adams’ Harbor and John Updike’s Terrorist
Riyad Abdurahman Manqoush, Noraini Md. Yusof, Ruzy Suliza Hashim

Abstract
In this paper, we intend to examine two contemporary American novels, Lorraine Adams’ Harbor (2004) and John Updike’s Terrorist (2006) with the aim of investigating the Islamophobic irony in their descriptions of characters, views and incidents that are relevant to the Middle East. Our analysis of these novels is framed based on the modes of irony as discussed by Edwin Barton, Glenda Hudson, Claire Colebrook, Ellen O’Gorman, J. Jorgensen, Herbert Colston, Henry Conserva, Ross Murfin and Supriyia Ray. Through our discussions of the employment of verbal irony, situational irony and dramatic irony, we conclude that the two writers make fun of the Muslim fanatics who view the wearer of hijab as a good Muslim. They also imply that the Muslim worldview is one-dimensional. In addition to that, they criticise the US employment of Muslim minorities in places which require high security because the loyalty of these workers, according to those authors, are questionable. In the same vein, they ridicule the voices that relate all the problems of the Middle East to the USA. In general, the different types of irony uncover the Islamophobic traits that pervade the two novels.

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