Uncovering The Un-Melting Pot

As a prominent contemporary writer of America,John Updike has produced a large number of literary works with rich subjects.The 9/11 terrorist attacks have shocked the United States and the world,and an atmosphere of fear and tension has been overlaid in American society for a long time.Some people cannot help asking:why do these terrorists want to destroy the United States? It is against this background that Updike,who has a keen insight into the social affairs,wrote the novel Terrorist.The novel focuses on Arab American teenager Ahmad and tells how he becomes a terrorist.As an American high school student of Egyptian and Irish ancestry,Ahmad is supposed to continue his study in college for a bright future but becomes a jihadist.It is under the influence of complex family,campus and religious factors that Ahmad chooses such a way.Fortunately,in the course of implementing bomb attacks,the teenager is prevented by the high school counselor Jack Levy.In Updike’s view,the 9/11 terrorist attack implies a power that hates the United States,and he was trying to explore why the power existed through this work.Updike tried to trace the root causes of repeated terrorist attacks in the United States from the perspective of native American terrorist Ahmad.This novel not only reflects Updike’s observation on the present situation of American society,but also criticizes the collapse of the belief system of American modern society and people’s indulgence in secular life.In addition to focusing on the root causes of the spread of terrorism,the problem of racial integration in the United States is also the focus of the novel.Faith,secular culture and ethnic antagonism suggest that the melting pot of the United States has been difficult to integrate.From the perspective of Community Theory,the thesis intends to explore communities of Ahmad and other characters,namely Islamic community,the faithless community and American community.By analyzing the characteristics of these communities,we can not only further understand the motive that Ahmad chooses to be a terrorist,but also reveal comprehensively that after 9/11,the United States has shown a tendency of suspense on integration of different communities.In addition,racial problems and religious secularization in American society are also the focus of this thesis.