A Comparative Ideational Analysis of "The Shadow of the Crescent Moon" and "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" in Contemporary Pakistani Literature

Abstract

This study conducts a comparative transitivity analysis of Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Fatima Bhutto's The Shadow of the Crescent Moon using the UAM corpus tool for qualitative and quantitative analysis. The analysis highlights similarities and differences in story structures, emphasizing character development, narrative dynamics, and thematic exploration. Both novels focus on character study, with high percentages of participants in their grammatical ranks, indicating the centrality of character development in their narratives. Bhutto’s novel shows 28.94% and Hamid’s 27.78%. The number of processes in both novels is significant (25.16% for Bhutto and 25.30% for Hamid), suggesting dynamic, event-driven plots. Circumstances in each novel provide unique contextual frameworks: cultural landscapes in The Reluctant Fundamentalist (17.33%) and sociopolitical instability in The Shadow of the Crescent Moon (17.18%). A key difference lies in the clause categories: Bhutto's novel has a higher proportion of material clauses (14.02%), indicating a focus on external conflicts, whereas Hamid’s novel features more verbal clauses (2.26%), emphasizing dialogue and character interactions. Both novels utilize mental clauses to explore characters' inner thoughts, fostering reader empathy. Relational clauses depict connections and dependencies, with Hamid’s novel focusing more on these dynamics (3.76% vs. 2.74% in Bhutto's). This comparative analysis offers insights into the narrative styles, thematic focuses, and linguistic expressions of both novels, enriching the understanding of their narrative structures and stylistic variations.