Neoliberal Economy: Violence of Economic Deregulation in Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke

Abstract

This Study explores Mohsin Hamid’s “Moth Smoke” and reveals the relationship between economic deregulation and capital accumulation on the one hand and class-based violence and crime on the other. The narrative suggests that late capitalism creates the conditions for poverty and violence, all of which are intensified by class division and conflict, and further exacerbated by economic deregulation and privatization promoted by global neoliberal institutions. The novel aims to construct a vivid narrative representation of the conflicts between the material reality of violence and the imposition of repressive neoliberal policies on Lahore, and to suggest that violence masked as society’s destruction is central to the logic of global capitalism. Furthermore, the novel exposes the ideological contradictions between the utopian promises of neoliberalism promoted by the international financial institutions and the material inequities that it produces. Finally, Mohsin Hamid introduces a female resistant figure who is able to write and publish pieces about injustice and violence inherent in global economic processes and hence raising consciousness and mobilizing community to act collectively.