ABSTRACT
The fourth chapter of the book is a discussion about the representation of precariousness in Mohsin Hamid's novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist and H. M. Naqvi's first published work, Home Boy. Against the grain of dominant discussions of precariousness and precarity, this chapter offers to read precarity as a systemic production of vulnerable people, described by Marx as “the reserve army of capital.” This chapter offers a close reading of Home Boy to illustrate how Naqvi's novel offers a window into the economic crises, affording the readers a peek into the processes through which capitalism tosses workers both in and out of work, forcing upon them a state of vulnerability. In its third section, this chapter looks into The Reluctant Fundamentalist's presentation of what it describes as “the empire of finance,” illuminating how empire and finance work together to produce precarity around the world—a vast army of unemployed workers ready to pounce on any job. Such processes, this chapter further argues, fetishistically conceal the potential for creating a more equal society—negating young protagonists like Shehzad and Changez the hope for a non-capitalist future.
