‘I'm Not A Fucking Muslim’ An Attempt to Deserve a Place Called Home Through Denial

Abstract

Denial is a way for a person to build up expectations of themselves that do not align with reality. This research aims to find out how Character M uses the ego defense mechanism denial to eliminate the prejudice of the Islamic identity that he received. This research was conducted using the descriptive qualitative method based on data obtained from the Native Believer (2016) novel. Sigmund Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, precisely the ego defense mechanism, is used to analyze types of denial that arise due to various prejudices received by Character M. As a result, the researchers found three types of denial in the novel that are used as self-defense from various prejudices received and what kinds of self-created identity that Character M would like to keep. Past events in the name of Islam are one of the factors that shaped people's prejudice in judging Character M personally in Ali Eteraz's Native Believer (2016) and become a complex issue in the novel that is interesting to be investigated further by the researchers.