Margins, Ruptures, Lacunae: Minority Identity Development in Joseph Bhatti and Alice Bhatti in Muhammad Hanif’s Our Lady of Alice Bhatti

Abstract

The paper studies Muhammad Hanif’s (1964-) second novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (2012) from a minority identity development perspective. In this regard, the identity development of Alice Bhatti and her father Joseph Bhatti has been compared by bringing into discussion the nature of their ruptures and lacunae as minority individuals. For this purpose, the minority identity development model of Atkinson, Morten and Sue (1998) has been employed as a theoretical framework. The choices of both the characters as intergenerational minority characters are analyzed to throw light on the dis/integration process of minority individuals belonging to a religion different from the majority’s. Alice is at the resolution stage when she chooses to marry a Muslim man, in search of a stable core. However, she is ensnared by her bad fortune. On the other hand, it is her father Joseph Bhatti, who becomes a representative of resilience as he does not get tired of seeking justice for her. He achieves the level of integrative awareness, the last stage of the minority identity model by appealing to the Vatican. The study also recommends future research on the novel as a critique of the contemporary political situation of the world through making a comparison of the national centre-periphery and global centre-periphery representations by focusing on the need to uphold the rights of minorities anywhere in the world.