Towards a Culture of Peace A Comparative Study of Some Selected Novels

Abstract

This study aims to compare significant factors of conflict in four select newlinenovels, namely The Handsome Jew (2009) by Ali Al-Muqri, Riot by Shashi Tharoor newline(2001), Birds Without Wings (2004) by Louis de Bernieres, and Purple Hibiscus newline(2003) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The writers chosen for the study do not newlineshare the same cultural, ideological or locational backgrounds. The study seeks to newlineaddress the role of novelists in disseminating the culture of peace through literature. newlineThus, it shows the importance of novels in promoting the culture of peace and nonviolence newlineand how novelists can tackle the issue of conflict from various standpoints. newlineThe study traces the nature and reasons of various types of conflict, which are newlineevident in these four novels. It explores physical and symbolic violence. The factors newlineof conflict explored in this study are fanaticism, nationalism, imperialism and taboo newlineculture. This study incorporates analytical and critical methods to achieve its newlineobjectives. Analysis of the factors of conflict in these novels is based on the culture newlineof peace approach. The phenomena of war, conflict and violence have increased newlineconsiderably, leading many scholars to explore this field from various standpoints. newlineFocus in several literary works is on religious conflicts or fanaticism. However, newlinethere are cultural, ideological and imperial reasons for the conflict and it is essential newlineto explore how such issues are dealt with in the fiction written across the world. newlineThe study is divided into six chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to newlinethe concepts of peace and conflict. It sheds light on the clash of ideologies. It newlinediscusses the relationship between the culture of peace and literature as well as newlinebetween religion and conflict. It gives a critical overview of the selected novels and newlinethe theory of comparative literature. It highlights the factors of conflicts to be newlineaddressed in the four novels. It, furthermore, mentions the problem under study, newlinehypothesis, objectives of the study, importance of the study, theoretic