Terrorism & US Daily Life: Reflections from Chuck Palahniuks Pygmy - Essay Example

Terrorism & US Daily Life: Reflections from Chuck Palahniuk’s Pygmy “We are going to make an America out of you…or I sweat to our Lord almighty Goadwe are gonna die trying.” ~ Mrs. Cedar As any other Chuck Palahniuk works, Pygmy is an amalgamation of a number of sociological, psychological, historical and cultural conflicts. With ethnocentrism as its dominant leitmotif, the book shares experiences of teenage terrorists sent to the US on a mission, Operation Havoc, as they live with average American families as foreign exchange students.

The central protagonist/antagonist is Pygmy, a 13-year old kid from a “Totalitarian state” who has grown up hating America and its culture (Palahniuk). At the onset of teenage hood, Pygmy is an embryonic rebel with strong opinions about America, an enemy of his existence. As time goes by, Pygmy becomes a part of “Team Cedar”, his American family, experiencing the Mid-western (American) way of living: enrolling in a public school, visiting church and hanging out at the shopping malls or the Wal-Mart.

In the initial dispatches, Pygmy analyzes everything in a violent manner. A dialogue with his host mother is followed by a Chinese violent stunt description in his head, indicating the dichotomy in his presence of mind and body. Terrorism and daily US life go hand in hand in Pygmy’s life. As he plans to execute Operation Havoc, an attempt of mass destruction in the guise of a science project, Pygmy also mingles in the day-to-day activities of his host family, often supporting them. In one incident at Wal-Mart, Pygmy aggressively fights for his younger “Pig Dog Brother” who is a victim of pre-teen bullying.

Standing up against the bully (“Trevor Bitch”) leads to disastrous circumstances of a school shootout where Pigmy again gruesomely shoots “Trevor Bitch” in order to save the lives of other children. The hero identity that Pygmy creates for himself from the shootout is ironically the anti of what he thinks he is. Time and again there are fascists quotes in the story of Pygmy emphasizing his terrorist past that polarized his vision of America. The daily life that he sees here does have certain US stereotypes he had in mind: Americans are fat, Americans are sex-crazy, America is a Christian nation etc.

Through “Team Cedar”, he understands (whether he likes or dislikes) American customs as choir classes, school dances or Thanksgiving dinner. However, there are certain things he never expected to happen that transit him towards the beginning of the end of Operation Havoc. One of the foremost factors is the family bond that exists in his host’s family especially his relationship with “Pig Sister” which makes him acquainted with “human emotions”. There is an organic growth both towards his self-awareness and understanding the normal American daily-life.

As a terrorist, he was told that his parents were murdered by Americans, so he never felt the real family warmth. In his Operative training, he learnt to exert sexual dominance over the weak or to torture as a lesson on the necessary cruelty of the state. But when he was given a separate set of circumstances in America, his conscience led him to change his mind and abort his mission. In other words, Pygmy self-realizes the value of real world and real experiences, and finally considers himself a full American and a Pig-ster in the end.

Works Cited Palahniuk, Chuck. Pygmy. New York: Random House, 2009.