Surveillance and Resistance: Examining Mechanisms of Control in The Ten Percent Thief

Abstract

This paper examines the intersecting themes of surveillance, power, and resistance in Fatima Khan’s dystopian narrative, The Ten Percent Thief. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s conceptualization of panopticism and biopower, the study examines how digital and social surveillance structures influence individual and collective agency within the fictional society of Aurora. The protagonist, Hasrath, along with other marginalized characters, navigates a highly monitored and controlled world where surveillance functions not only as a tool of authoritarian regulation but as an insidious mechanism of self-regulation and discipline. The analysis identifies three modes: vertical, horizontal, and self-surveillance, revealing how resistance emerges through dialogism, mimicry, non-compliance, and the subversion of surveillance systems. By integrating insights from surveillance studies, postcolonial theory, and Bakhtinian carnivalesque discourse, the paper demonstrates how surveillance in literature reflects broader sociotechnical structures and ethical dilemmas faced in contemporary digital societies. The story’s layered critique of state control, datafication, and algorithmic governance illuminates how narratives can serve as frameworks for contesting authoritarian surveillance regimes. Ultimately, this research emphasizes the role of literature in foregrounding marginalized voices, resisting algorithmic oppression, and proposing alternate modalities of freedom and subjectivity in the face of pervasive control.