Struggle for Nomadic Identity in Jamil Ahmad’s The Wandering Falcon

Abstract

It is the study of characters' shifting and moving in the novel The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad. The central character, Tor Baz goes through physical and mental hindrances. Physical suffering makes him move from one area to another with survival problems whereas mentally he is hooked to assimilate others culture. He suffers due to the impact of modern norms and values because nomadic identity excludes typical cultural, religious and social identity. He wants to be free from any cultural bound and identify himself as a nomad. To study these issues the research takes help of the theory of nomadism developed by Deleuze and Guattari, Ronald Bouge and J. K Noyes. This research attempts to depict the identity of nomadic people who have been affected from modernization, capitalism and commercialization. The nomadic life of tribal people described in the novel relevant with the modern process of acculturation where a majority culture dominants the other minority or marginalized culture. As a result, modern people are struggling for their own cultural existence and identity as Tor Baz's struggling throughout the novel for his nomadic identity.