Socio-Economic Liberation and Self-Destruction: Post-Structuralist Analysis of Mohsin Hamid's Moth Smoke

Abstract

This research critically examines Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid through a post-structuralist lens, focusing on the interplay between socio-economic liberation and self-destruction. Employing Jacques Derrida’s theory of deconstruction, the study explores the contradictions embedded within Pakistan’s socio-economic structures as depicted in the novel. Moth Smoke portrays the collapse of its protagonist, Daru, a lower-middle-class banker entangled in drug addiction and crime, exposing the stark disparities between the privileged elite and the marginalized poor. By analyzing the novel’s discourse, this study interrogates the instability of meaning in socio-economic narratives, revealing how ideological constructs perpetuate inequality. Through deconstruction, the research highlights how language, as an unstable system of signifiers, both reflects and reinforces power imbalances. The findings illustrate how the novel critiques the illusion of social mobility and the disillusionment that accompanies economic disparity, ultimately demonstrating that liberation and self-destruction are intertwined within Pakistan’s fragmented socio-political landscape.