The goals and discourses of Diana Abu-Jaber's crescent and John Updidke's' terrorist

الملخص EN

The Arab community in the United States and the Arabs and Muslims in general all over the world have become the subject of many literary works in the West especially in the aftermath of the Gulf War and the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

Diana Abu- Jaber's novel Crescent (2003) and John Updidke's novel Terrorist (200) are two good examples of such works.

Despite the fact that the two writers deal almost with the same subject, i.e.

the situation of Arab-Americans and other ethnic minorities in the U.

S., they draw two contrasting images of the lives, aspirations and concerns of these minorities. While Updike depicts his Arab-American characters and the black community in a negative manner, Abu-Jaber presents a positive picture of these characters and those drawn from other ethnic minorities.

The researcher argues that while Abu-Jaber utilizes the questions of identity, hybridity and multiculturalism to promote a greater degree of racial integration and coexistence, Updike uses these motifs to further deepen the conflict between ethnic minorities and the mainstream American culture.

Abu-Jaber's approach is basically cultural and open-minded towards all humans while that of Updike is predominantly political and prejudiced against the Arabs, the Muslims and Islam.

The writer concludes that the two writers use different discourses and have different aims and that America is in need for a better and a true understanding of the Arabs, Islam and the Muslims.