WEAPONIZING IRONY: A POST-COLONIAL ANALYSIS OF KAMILA SHAMSIE’S HOME FIRE (2017)

Elsa Amelia; Hasnul Insani Djohat

doi:10.21274/ls.2026.18.2.267-285

Authors

Elsa Amelia Department of English Literature, Faculty of Adab and Humanities, UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta
Hasnul Insani Djohat Department of English Literature, Faculty of Adab and Humanities, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21274/ls.2026.18.2.267-285

Keywords:

Home Fire, Kamila Shamsie, Irony, Post-colonial, Neocolonialis

Abstract

This paper examines the use of verbal and situational irony in Kamila Shamsie’s novel Home Fire (2017) to uncover the exclusion experienced by the Muslim immigrant communities in the United Kingdom. The novel points out the contradiction between the state's glorification of equality, multiculturalism, and citizenship with the harsh reality of exclusion experienced by the Muslim community. Through an analysis of irony as a main literary strategy and strengthened using postcolonial concepts such as Othering, Mimicry, and Neocolonialism, this study examines how Shamsie reveals these contradictions. The findings reveal that verbal and situational irony expose how Muslim identity is constructed as “the Other” and forced to adjust to dominant cultural standards. Furthermore, the findings indicate that modern neocolonial power operates not through physical colonial violence, but more through legal systems, governmental authority, and cultural expectations that determine who is accepted as part of society. Therefore, this study implies that Shamsie’s use of irony in Home Fire serves as a poignant critique of the postcolonial conditions experienced by Muslim immigrants, exposing how institutional power continues to shape identity, a sense of belonging, and exclusion in contemporary British society.

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