Extended Essay English

IB Extended Essay English A1

How is the decadence of the protagonist Darashikoh portrayed in Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke?

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Abstract:

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Table of Contents Introduction The title “Moth Smoke” Mental Decadence Moral Decadence The role of relationships Daru – Crude wine Personal Characteristics Drug Addiction Role of Society Conclusion Bibliography 4 6 6 7 7 10 11 12 12 15 15

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How is the decadence of the protagonist Darashikoh portrayed in Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke? Introduction The consciousness of the fatality of decline brings about restlessness and a need for self examination. In an article Lewis Rice quotes Mohsin Hamid, “It does expose decadence, but it exposes self-criticism." Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid is set in modern day Lahore, Pakistan in the summer of 1998 against a backdrop of nuclear confrontation and a miasma of corruption, is a “portrait of contemporary young people in Pakistan”. However, if read critically it probes the social inequality in Pakistani society and the antagonism of the less fortunate in a society where the upper classes are thoroughly corrupt and lurk beneath a surface of material comfort and effortlessness , immune from the socioeconomic conditions. Although the theme of decadence has been portrayed by Hamid at different levels, the decadence of the anti-hero, Darashikoh is the most transformative aspect of the novel. The research question is how is the decadence of the protagonist Darashikoh portrayed in Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke? This essay will discuss how the development of the novel is coupled with Darashikoh‟s subsequent downfall which could be linked to Darashikoh‟s‟ gradual transformation into a Byronic Hero and which techniques the writer has utilized to portray this. The aspects of personality in which Darashikoh has disintegrated and the importance of the decadence to the writer‟s intention of “self criticism” will then be analysed. The factors that contribute towards Darashikoh‟s tragic end will be...