The Exploration of Ambivalence in Dr. Naveed Shah’s Character through the Psychoanalytic Social Context in American Dervish

Abstract

This research aims to use a postcolonial perspective to describe ambivalence in Ayad Akhtar's novel American Dervish. Ayad depicts Dr. Naveed Shah's experiences as a member of the American community. This research examines the interplay of Naveed psyche and ambivalence within the theoretical framework of Karen Horney's psychoanalytic social theory, drawn from her book “The Self Analysis”, is examined through context and cultural norms. In this study, characters are identified and classified based on their status as colonizers or colonized. In various postcolonial literary studies, the relationship between East and West, colonizer and colonized is regarded as a hierarchical relationship in which one side oppresses the other. However, this study does not simply view colonizers and colonized in a hierarchical relationship. This study found that psyche and ambivalence are visible through the depictions of main character who changes his identity, culture, and religion. Ayad Akhtar sought to highlight the difficulties Muslim immigrants face in American society. Ayad Akhtar's design embodies the behavior of immigrants who face problems throughout their lives until they find a way to integrate them into their new society.