Department of English
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Item Devouring Mother Reinventing: The Stereotype of The Archetypal Mother in Burnt Sugar(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2025) Javeria Ahmed; FA23-REL-014; Dr. Memoona Idris; LHR TP 9742This thesis explores the reinvention of the archetypal Mother in Avni Doshi's novel Burnt Sugar, a novel that challenges classical depictions of mother figures in South Asian literature. The book presents a complex and emotionally charged mother-daughter relationship that challenges the idealised image of the self-sacrificing mother. The overall goal of this research is to examine how Doshi reinvents the mother archetype based on Cathy Caruth's trauma theory of Unclaimed Experience, and also examines intergenerational trauma transmission, emotional neglect, and the search for identity. The research finds an interest in the lack of South Asian literary studies, where mother figures are depicted in binary terms, wholesome or monstrous, without any concern for their psychological complexity. The research is significant because it contributes to feminist and postcolonial studies of literature by offering a sophisticated reading of motherhood based on trauma and memory. Through Braun and Clarke's six-step thematic analysis, this research systematically examines recurring themes of abandonment, fragmentation of identity, and unresolved trauma. The study's research findings reveal that Burnt Sugar challenges the conventional maternal stereotype, depicting motherhood as complicated, conflicted, and constructed by personal and societal forces. This thesis, briefly, contends for a bigger, more realistic representation of maternal identity in contemporary fiction.Item Institutional Racism and Reform Failures: A Thematic Analysis of The Nickle Boys in Relation to U.S. Juvenile Justice Policies(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2025) Faiza Ali Azam; FA23-REL-006; Dr. Memoona Idris; LHR TP 9736The thesis explores the fictional depiction of institutional racism alongside reform deficiencies in The Nickle Boys as portrayed in the U.S. juvenile justice system. The research uses Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Institutional Betrayal Theory (IBT) to analyze thematic elements of The Nickle Boys by Colson Whitehead, which were developed from Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys. The study demonstrates how, despite the Juvenile Delinquency Act and numerous policy reforms throughout decades, Black youth encounter higher detention rates and more severe treatment than their white juvenile counterparts in minority-based institutions. The author discovered major themes throughout Whitehead's novel that match with documented shortfalls in actual corrections systems for young offenders. This thesis shows through literary analysis that Whitehead's novel functions as a historical review and today's juvenile justice system conditions diagnostics. Meaningful changes to juvenile justice need to tackle racial discrimination that coexists deeply within both institutions and their policies. The study defines how literary representations present social justice matters effectively for urging institutional reforms.Item A Psychological Study of Morality in Jodi Picoult’s The Storyteller Novel in Light of Just War Theory(Library Information Services, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, 2025) Muhammad Fahad; FA22-REL-005; Dr. Memoona Idris; LHR TP 9730This thesis explores themes related to morality, including moral and legal responsibility and justice, in Jodi Picoult’s novel, The Storyteller (2013). The novel presents moral conundrums through detailed accounts narrated by Josef, a former Nazi and perpetrator; Minka, a Holocaust survivor; and Sage, the granddaughter of Minka, each offering a distinct narrative viewpoint. The presence of detailed accounts, especially that of a perpetrator, gives rise to a tangle of conflicting moral responses and leaves readers with a sense of moral ambivalence. The objective of the thesis is to examine whether and to what extent the ordinary individuals, as depicted in the novel, who perpetrated Holocaust atrocities under the influence of Nazi ideologies were culpable within the framework of Revisionist Just War theory by Alejandro Chehtman (2017). Furthermore, this study draws on James Waller’s model, which is grounded in Evolutionary Psychology, to examine the portrayal of evil in the novel and to explore the psychological conditions that the characters of Josef and Franz were subjected to while growing up in Nazi Germany. This thesis suggests that the conditions under which individuals can come to commit acts of cruelty, when examined through the lens of Revisionist Just War theory as a part of the broader Just War tradition, do not absolve the perpetrator of moral and legal culpability. This thesis explores the factors that contribute to the transformation of ordinary individuals into perpetrators of violence, suggesting that such understanding may serve as a safeguard against the influence of propaganda.