SHATTERED SELVES, BORROWED CAUSES: PASTICHE, AUTHENTICITY, AND THE FRAGMENTED POSTMODERN IDENTITY IN FATIMA BHUTTO’S THE RUNAWAYS

Abstract

This research paper investigates the representation of the postmodern identity crisis in Fatima Bhutto’s novel, The Runaways. It argues that the novel’s two major protagonists, Monty and Sunny, are emblematic of ‘shattered selves,’ individuals whose identities are fragmented, unstable, and decentered by the cultural logic of late capitalism and the collapse of traditional metanarratives. The study posits that their turn to radical extremism is not a product of pure ideological conviction but rather a desperate attempt to assemble a coherent self through ‘borrowed causes.’ Employing a theoretical framework grounded in the work of Fredric Jameson, Zygmunt Bauman and Jean Baudrillard, the paper analyzes this phenomenon through the concepts of pastiche and simulacra. The methodology involves a qualitative textual analysis of purposively selected passages from the novel. The analysis reveals how the characters construct pastiche identities, stylistic imitations devoid of historical depth, and are seduced by the hyperreal simulacrum of a virtual ideological movement. Key findings indicate that the novel portrays the search for authenticity as a paradoxical journey that leads to profound inauthenticity, mediated entirely through digital screens and borrowed rhetoric. The paper concludes that The Runaways serves as a powerful literary diagnosis of a contemporary condition where the absence of a stable inner self creates a vacuum filled by the most readily available and aesthetically potent ideologies, regardless of their substance. This research contributes to the literary scholarship on contemporary South Asian fiction by offering a synthesized theoretical reading that connects the postmodern crisis of self to the specific socio-political pressures of the post 9/11 era  and the humanistic understanding of radicalization.