Name :- Gohil Devangiba AniruddhsinhRoll No. :- 14Email Id :- devangibagohil786@gmail.comPaper No. :- 11 (The Postcolonial Literature)Topic :- Themes Of “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” Submitted To :- Department Of English M.K.B.University

Mohsin Hamid 

Born in 1971He lived half his life, on and off,

in Lahore. came back to go to Princeton

Worked for Mckinsley & Company

Wrote first book "Moth Smoke“6 awards for The reluctant Funda-

mentalistincluding: The 

Ambassador Book Award,Index on citizenship T RFyvel Award

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The titlereluctan

tfundamentalis

t

has no intentionto be as he is described

to be

a very traditional person

(here: very religious)

Story: Dramatic monologue between main character Changez and an American

stranger.Tells his life story about his work at Underwood Samson, Pakistan, his love

for America, Erica etc.Many important questions and themes.

Identity

Defined as: Confident, smart and soft spoken

A poor immigrant from a colorful family abandons his roots to dive head first into the

American Dream. he only dream of his life is to live the life

of the Westerns at its high peakCollege: Princeton

Foreigner vs AcceptedAmerica: "Everything is possible“

9/11“I Lacked a Stable core. I was not cwrtain

whre I belonged.” P.168

How does Changez view himself and others around him?

NOSTALGIA

Erica wants to return to her time with Chris - living in the past and cannot feel much for the present.

Suggests she is not in touch with the 'real' world.‘Think about how Erica says that Changez feels like home to her. She maybe means the past -

because he acts in a sort of old-fashioned way. Polite, respectful of elders etc. Through Erica, nostalgia is shown as a kind of sickness of something unhealthy.

Erica cannot be in the real world. She ends up in an institution and eventually iy appears she has taken her own life.

Changez feels nostalgia for what Pakistan used to be. Valpairaso also looks back to a wonderful past.

Changez wants to return home to a place that fits his own values. He no longer feels that he fits in in America. Doesn't feel that New York is as multi-cultural as

it was. In the novel, nostalgia is presented as something that is not really healthy - that it causes

people to feel stuck in the past and they are not open to change.

Defined as: a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past.

PASSION

Changez arrives in the US with great professional ambitions. And he accomplishes much before the planes hit the World Trade

Center, a crisis that challenges his materialism, leading him to step back from the many

passionate choices he's made, in his capitalist career and his personal life.

Yes, he is humiliated by every type of law enforcement. Customs officials, Police officers

arrest him for being the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now this is the time

when his passion gives him a lesson for life time.In may ways he feels like an outsider when

with Americans, even when he is on holiday in Greece. Everyone behaves differently to him,

after 9/11.

Defined as: passionate about living his life like an American. But......

Loyalty

Changez feels loyal to Underwood Samson at first but you can see when he no longer cares.

Tension happens in the novel when there is conflict between his different loyalties - America, Erica, Pakistan, Underwood Samson, Jim

This makes Changez question which sense of duty really matters to him; which is the most important.

After 9/11 Changez becomes aware that he is questioning his own loyalties.This can be seen in his growing lack of interest of concern for his work.

"America had to be stopped in the interest... of the rest of humanity," p. 190.This quote shows how he feels that America is selfish and doesn't really care

about the interests of the rest of the world.Loyalty is also connected to the idea of a sense of belonging and identity.

Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism is understood today as sticking to a basic set of principles and often showing no tolerance for other views.

It is usually associated with religion - in The Reluctant Fundamentalist it refers more to economic and cultural aspects of society.

With hardly any mention of religion, the novel seems to suggest that the US is guilty of economic and political fundamentalism.

This economic fundamentalism is represented through Underwood Samson and its narrow-minded focus on financial gain.

POLITICAL FUNDAMENTALISMChangez implies that the US is guilty of political fundamentalism.

There is military language use in the novel such as 'dressed in battle fatigues' (p. 43), 'the officer class of global business' (p. 74), 'the officers of the empire'

(p. 173). Changez criticises American military presence in other countries but is also

critical of the fact that they are apparently friends of Pakistan, but nothing when India is threatening, suggesting that America is only interested when

they have something to lose of gain.

Works cited

http://thereluctantfundamentalist.wikispaces.com/Chapter+summaries

http://www.tickingmind.com.au/uploads/40084/ufiles/The_Reluctant_Fundamentalist__

Study_Notes.pdf

www.wikipedia.com

http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/225057.html

Thank

You