TRANSCENDING BEYOND HUMAN: ANALYZING COMPROMISED HUMAN IDENTITY AND POWER DYNAMICS IN HANIF’S RED BIRDS

Abstract

Since post-humanism is a way of thinking about literature that seeks to move beyond anthropocentrism or the practice of placing humans at the center of everything. It is possible to use the post-humanism analytical lens for the work of the author Mohammed Hanif, particularly the book Red Birds. Hanif provides a new way to view the impact of war not only on humans but also on animals, machinery, and the environment. There is an interesting narrative choice of the author that the narrator of the story is a dog called Momo. By using an animal to narrate the story, the author challenges the assumption that only humans can think, reason, and have a voice. Moreover, Hanif's work shows the dehumanization that is caused by modern warfare, especially the use of drones that make war and the observation of humans an automated process. While the characters in the work tend to be passive, incompetent, and confused, the miltary and systemic structures are aggressive, purposeful, and organized. Using satire and dark humor, Hanif provides a critique of modern warfare and the role of so-called humanitarian agencies that are supposed to assist the victims of war, but often, create additional problems. Thus, the novel constructs a world wherein the intricate relationships between humans, animals, technology, and the environment, demonstrate the intersubjectivity of suffering, including the devastation of war, which affects all forms of life and non-life.