Media as an Exploitative Tool in the Hands of the Powerful: A Critical Study of The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan

Abstract

This thesis is an attempt to show how media is used as a manipulative tool in the novel The Unknown Terrorist that results into victimization of the innocent. The principal objective behind this study is to explore the repercussions of the media exploitation on the main character. The novel is an unceasingly intense masterpiece that paints a bleak picture of a society that believes every word that comes from the media or the government. The author has brought forward the ills of a society that is corrupt and hideous. By orientalising the main character, she is represented as the Unknown Terrorist and every truth of her life is turned into a lie. This study has been undertaken in order to find out how the biases against a specific religion lead to many generalizations which ultimately devastate the peace of individuals and that of nations. Moreover, the study also shows how by distorting facts and by airing false news stories about “other”, for their own social, political and economic ends, the powerful morph every reality of a person’s life to prove him or her guilty. The life of the main character is turned upside down by branding her as the “Unknown Terrorist” just because of an unsubstantiated allegation as she had an ephemeral association with Tariq who was of Middle Eastern descent. The study also shows how the terms Muslims and terrorists are used interchangeably in Western societies, thereby proving the binaries of ‘us’ vs. ‘them’. Orientalism by Edward Said has been taken as an instrument to analyse the text qualitatively. This research has also drawn those aspects from Said’s Covering Islam which reiterate some of the key elements of Orientalism concerning Muslims and the stereotypes associated with them.