By Febriyanti Lestari

Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced (2012) is a provocative play that obviously intends to discomfort both Muslim and non-Muslim audience. Though set in four relatively short scenes, it is full of sharp critique not only to Islam but also subtly to the West yet leaves space for the general audience for self-reflection, on the impossibility of being totally neutral and escaping one’s own biases or preconception over the others. It is interesting that Akhtar uses New York as the setting of place. This city is home to a remarkable ethnic, racial, and religious diversity and is well-known for its progressive community committed to pluralism. In this play, Akhtar seeks the parallel between the modern-day New York and Medieval Al-Andalus. At the beginning of Scene 3, the play displays a beautiful multicultural scene when two intermarriage couples—a white woman married to a brown man; a white man with a black woman—sit at a table for a dinner party. On the surface, such identity markers as race, gender, and ethnicity do not seem to be an issue anymore for these young liberal New Yorkers, but when they are challenged with collective responsibilities in the name of national security, pluralism suddenly becomes a utopian concept. This play is set within the frustration in the aftermath of 9/11 when Islamophobia was on the rise.

Though Amir appears to be the most problematic one in Disgraced, none of the characters in this play is flawless. Amir is indeed suffering from a severe identity crisis, but Emily is too naïve, and Isaac is rather deceitful. Meanwhile, Jory is an opportunist. Amir’s problem is unique to America. Like other immigrants, Amir’s father came to the U.S. to make a “better life” (83), and following his father, Amir grew up as a hard worker South-Asian American. He is chasing his own American Dream. U.S.-born to a Muslim Pakistani-American family, he has multiple identities, but he is determined to pass as an “American.” He changes his Islamic-sound birth name “Abdullah” into a generic Hindu-Indian name “Kapoor.” Renouncing the faith of his Muslim parents, he declares himself an apostate. He eats pork and drinks wine. Things were okay until he went to the hearing and the Times wrote a rather misleading report mentioning his name, and firm, as if supporting the imam. Along with the rise of Islamophobia, the post-9/11 racial profiling has expanded to include people of South-Asian origins in their list of suspects. As for the media, people who look like Amir can be used to make news. At this point, all Amir’s efforts to pass turn out to be futile.

Induced by alcohol, Amir criticizes Islam as a tribal, backward, and violent religion. He quotes a controversial Quranic verse about wife beating (3: 34) and argues that “The Quran is about tribal life in a seventh-century desert… The point isn’t just academic.” (61)  While there is truth in what he says, there is also a more complex interpretation to it. Most Muslims are also aware of these issues and feel disturbed, but they focus on the lessons learned from what is implied in the Quran in order to practice a moral life in their own context. However, for Amir who wants to pass and live up to his American Dream, he finds Islam incompatible with modernity. In the heated discussion with Isaac, Amir is exposing his double consciousness or “the sense of looking at one’s self through the eyes of others” (Du Bois). Unfortunately, however, he cannot escape the fact that his skin is brown, and he looks “Muslim.” In post-9/11, even people who look like Muslims are demonized. This is the irony for Amir. In the first place, Isaac keeps trying to be neutral and sympathetic to Islam, but after Amir mentions about “blush” at the fall of twin tower, he can no longer control his judgment. Isaac accuses Amir as a “fucking closet jihadist” despite the fact he knows Amir is not even a Muslim. He has long denied the religion of his parents. Amir is a confused American. He has spent his adult life working hard trying to fit in, but Islamophobia after 9/11 shatters his American Dream. Being insensitive to the roots of all Amir’s rude statements and behavior, Isaac says to Emily about her portrait of Amir imitating Velazquez’ painting of his former slave Juan de Pareja: “The expression on that face (the painting). Shame. Anger. Pride. The slave finally has the master’s wife.” (69) Also, after Amir spits on his face, he says: “There’s a reason they call you people animals” (72). It resonates the continuation of the Orientalism.

Amir is having an issue with his job after the Times wrote a somewhat “misleading” report that discredits him and his firm. It looks as if he was representing a man who was raising money for terrorist. Steven who is a huge-fund raiser for Netanyahu took this seriously without trying to understand the real context. Instead, he runs a background check on Amir finds another information that Amir has faked his identity. Mort says to Jory that Amir is being “duplicitous” that it is impossible to trust him (72). There is truth in what they say, but the core of the problem actually refers the rhetoric of post 9/11. 9/11 triggers various reactions. Amir himself makes things worse by a sensitive political statement: “If the imam had been a rabbi, Steven wouldn’t have cared” (69). Steven thinks the comment was anti-Semitic, and ironically this political/personal issue affects his professional decision making. The audience is directed to sympathize with Amir when he says that he used to work harder than Jory. He started work earlier and finished later than Jory. He exclaims: “You think you’re the nigger here? I’m the nigger!! Me!!” Compared to Isaac and Emily, Amir and Jory are the marginal here as people of color. Their position is rather unstable and determined by the people of power. It is in some way evidence that American Dream is just a myth.

In short, Amir is indeed a problematic character. Most of the time, his tendency is to pass as an “American.” Most of the time, he dresses like an American, eats pork and drinks wine like an American, works hard and focuses on materialism like an American, be submissive to American law, etc. He rejects the identities as a Muslim and a Pakistani by changing his birth name into generic “Indian.” However, in one occasion during the heated conversation induced by alcohol, he says the tribal pride is still in his blood. Here his loyalty becomes questionable. For this, I think Akhtar gives a clue that he has a reason to it. Emily admits that Amir went to the hearing of the imam for her, but in the end, nobody seems to try to clarify and help Amir get his job back. Emily’s decision to drop the charges is probably part of her redemptive effort for this and for her affairs, but still she finally turns away from Amir. Indeed, the impact of 9/11 is so deep that people in a multicultural city like New York need to thrive harder to preserve their pluralism. Amir is trapped in a liminal space. One of the messages from Disgraced is, I think, while Muslims in the U.S. are expected to be more flexible and sensitive to the public fear, the non-Muslims should also be careful with biases and preconception and instead be more understanding and sensitive to the frustration of the American Muslims/who look like Muslims in the aftermath of 9/11. (FL)

 

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