The Liquid Self in the Age of Digital Surveillance: Technology and Identity in Leila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel :Analytical Study

Abstract

       In an era defined by digital technology and data collection, contemporary fiction is a crucial source of knowledge about the human implications of surveillance. This paper is based on the ideas of liquid modernity proposed by Zygmunt Bauman and the theory of surveillance in the modern world to discuss how modern technology transforms subjectivity, autonomy, and the capacity to make moral choices. This analytical study examines novel  The Dream Hotel  2025 by Leila Lalami using key theories of surveillance to evaluate the implications of algorithmic governance, predictive surveillance, and institutional control on identity, relationships, and individual agency in the novel. The researcher chose this novel because it vividly portrays the fluid and changing nature of identity , making it suitable for studying the concept of the liquid self. The importance of this research lies in its contribution to understanding the psychological, moral, and social implications of algorithmic control, as indicated in the contemporary literature. This research uses qualitative analysis that relies on textual analysis to examine the experiences of characters, narrative forms, and thematic representations of surveillance. The findings of this research show that identity in the new is constructed from the outside through algorithmic assessment, data mining, and behavioral categorization. The self is "liquid," constantly reshaped and recreated in digital assessment frameworks. This research highlights the effects of surveillance on minority identities and how acts of resistance are attempts to regain autonomy. This research reveals that literary works, when analyzed from the perspective of surveillance discourse, demonstrate the human cost of predictive government and the potential for agency in a technologically regulated world.