THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST

Analysis of the chapters and their functions

By Mohsin Hamid

The novel and the novelist

“The Reluctant Fundamentalist” is a novel written by the Pakistani Mohsin Hamid in 2007. In 2012 Mira Nair directed the film with the collaboration of the novelist.

The story is about a young Pakistani named Changez and his life, his changings and reflections before and after the attack on the Twin Towers.

This novel is dived into 12 chapters and each one of them has a specific function.

Before studying the whole book we have to introduce and to understands some concepts :

Fundamentalism: a movement emphasizing the literally interpreted the holy scriptures as fundamental life and teaching

• the beliefs of this movement

• adherence to such beliefs

Reluctant: somebody not inclined to do something or who doesn’t believe in some values.

Here is the most important question: why a fundamentalist should be reluctant? Through the studying and the analyze of the book we will find out the reasons of this title. The experience of living in a different culture, working with new values and the stereotypes will bring the young Changez to big crisis of identity and moral changes . Changez will find him self divided between two cultures and divided between two totally different fundamentals: the capitalism of America and the Islamic religion and believes of Pakistan.

In this book the novelist Mohsin Hamid underlines many themes that are still present today as:

• Difference between cultures and multiculturalism • Globalization and modernization • Difference of economical systems• Difference between religions, Christianity and Islam• Difference between different social classes• How the word can change and influence our personality and our values.

CHAPTER 1

1. The author uses the dramatic monologue for different reasons:

1.In this way he utters the entire book, Changez is the only one who speaks and tells the story from his point of view

2.He interacts with an interlocutor that we can’t see or hear but that we know is present. We know what he does or says only thanks to the clues that the speaker gives to us.

3.The speaker reveals us his feelings and his ideas and his character.

2. In this way we see the things through the eyes of a Pakistani and not from the American’s one. We have to create an personal vision of what is happening.

3.The speaker is a good observer and can see through the lines. He immediately deduces that the interlocutor is an American because of his body language. All the cultures are different and unique and Changez has experienced two of them, one the opposite of the other.

The main function of the first chapter is to introduce the protagonist, Changez, and his life in New York. The protagonist is sitting in a tea bar in Lahore, Pakistan, with an unknown men. The narrative technique is a dramatic monologue where the protagonist utters the entire book, we see the story from the eyes of a young Pakistani.

4. Changez uses also a formal language. English is not his mother tangue language but he uses word like “sir” “may I …” . We can deduce that the protagonist is taking some distances from the interlocutor but being polite.

5.America represented for Changez a “dream come true”, the perfect life. The young Pakistani was very attracted by the American way of living and he describes him as a “lover of America”.

CHAPTER 2

The main function of the chapter is to introduce Erica’s character, the women Changez loved

1. He is attracted because Erica is different form the girls that Changez was used to see.

2. There is a comparison between the Pakistani and American girls. In Pakistan women follow the tradition and are more modest , in America women follow their own rules.

3. Changez analyses the attitude of the Americans in front of the others: they are arrogant and disrespectful .

4. There is a game between the names:

• Changez reminds us the world «change» and presents the protagonist’s position during the story.

• Erica remind us the world «America». Both of them are powerful and they represent a reality that Changez will never reach.

• Chris, Erica’s ex boyfriend, reminds us the world «Christianity», America’s religion and the main opponent of Changez and Islam religion.

CHAPTER 3

Changez returns to New York where he starts working for the “Underwood Samson” company. In this chapter Changez underlines the differences between America and Pakistan.

1. He feels at home because he hears speaking Urdu, he smells and testes typical food…The novelist introduces us New York as a multicultural and cosmopolitan city, there is a fusion of different cultures and the feeling of being “at home”

2. But there is also a cultural shock, he gradually tries to adapt himself to the new “home” and to the values and ideas of America

3. New York is seen as a city of chances and opportunities.

4.Comparison between America and Pakistan: once Pakistan was a great and civilized state , America instead was dominated by barbarians. Now America has great Universities, big cities and Pakistan doesn’t have an adequate state development.

5. The American motto is “Make as much money as possible and as far as you can”

CHAPTER 4

In this chapter Changez tells us his relationship with Erica.

1. After the holydays in Greece the two have kept contact .She helps Changez to get integrated showing him the traditional way of living of a New Yorker .

2. Again we can clearly see that Changez is a good and keen observer. Speaking with Erica he distinguishes a “crack”, the young girl in fact is still in love with her ex-boyfriend and she is still suffering for him. Changez comprehends that Erica will never take part of his life.

3.An interesting part of this chapter is the meeting of Erica’s family, especially with her father. The father lives and sees the world through stereotypes . During the dinner he continues annoying Changez with questions about his country and his culture. “Economy is falling apart though,no? Corruption, dictatorship, the rich living like princes while everyone suffers[…]And fundamentalism. You guys have got some serious problems with fundamentalism” pag.61

CHAPTER 5In the 5rd chapter Changez analyses and underlines the difference between Philippine, America and Pakistan. The protagonist in fact is sent to Philippine for work and he discovers a different and totally unexpected reality.

1.In the airplane he is well treated, ha has a seat in first class and drink champagne. He feels like part of the company and America but, arrived in Manila, he realizes totally other things.

2.Philippine have taken the American system of living, even the city is full of high skyscrapers and superhighways. It is more modern, technological and even more richer than Pakistan.

3. There is another big comparison with Pakistan, America and Philippine. Changez is a little upset because even Philippine are in a better position than his motherland

4.He starts acting like a real American businessman, he gives orders and wants probably to appear bigger and more powerful. He wants to show that he is very proud of his job and position in the company. For example he maintains the eye contact till the end with a Philippino driver, he wants to be respected and maybe feared. in this way we see the slowly moral and interior changing of the protagonist who starts to believe in some of the America’s values.

5.Jim, Changez’ boss reveals his ideas: Changez is like a shark. He is determinate and “never stops swimming”, he is constantly working to reach the top. Both of them have similar backgrounds, different from the others, that’s why they are “not mart of this world”.

6.Then there is the clue moment of the whole chapter: Changez sees the attack on the Twin Towers and smiles. “ And then I smiled”. He is not a psychopathic, he doesn’t like the idea of hundred dead people, but he likes the idea that someone has put America on her knees and that has affected America’s pride and arrogance.

7. There starts to be a contrast and interior conflict where the protagonist feels American but Pakistani too. “I felt guilty, I tried therefore to be as nonchalant as possible, this naturally led to my becoming stiff and self-conscious”

8.The consequences unfortunately are terrible . America’s security started taking several and hostile attitude against immigrants, above all those of Arab origins. In the airport, for example he is several times escorted by armed guards, he is all the time under suspect and seen as a possible terrorist.

CHAPTER 6In this chapter the novelist underlines all the changes in the protagonist’s life:

1.After the attack on the Twin Towers in America grows a big and exaggerated sense of nationalism. Everywhere, in bars , restaurants, shops and especially in Grand Zero people raise flags and flowers. “We are America the mightiest civilization the world has ever known; you have slighted us; beware our wrath” .

2.Changez’ position also changes. He starts feeling out of place and the people start to have different perceptions about him. The young men is a little confused and starts to think what is actually right and what are all the faults of his acting.

3.Erica’s character also changes. The attack on the Twin Towers brings her some memories about Chris and she starts to be depressed again.

4.One day Changez and Erica sleep together but they fail, Erica in fact is still thinking about Chris and she feels like she is cheating him. Her body rejects any type of physical contact .

5.When he speaks to the interlocutor he adds “ what I would not give for a bucjet of American popcorn shrimp –fried in batter until a delicious golden-brown and served with a sachet of tomato sauce!” . We deduce that he misses some of the things of America and he wonders to have something of it. He is far from a country he loved and feels a little bit nostalgic.

CHAPTER 7

Here we start seeing the interior changes of the protagonist and his interior conflicts. We see a clear crisis of identity and his difficult positions between the two worlds.

1.Changez notices the drastically changes of America’s attitude against the Muslims and the ethnic minority. All the Muslims start to be persecuted . “Pakistani cabdrivers were being beaten to within an inch of their lives; the FBI was raiding mosques ; Muslim men were disappearing “.

2.Changez is very worried for his family and the situation in Pakistan, he thinks all the day about his relatives and his country. He is divided between Pakistan and America .

3.Jim tries to comfort him saying that the world always changes and evolves. ”Power comes from being change”. Jim suggests him to not think about personal problems because everything is going to be all right, the important is to continue to gain money: “Focus on the fundamentals” But Changez doesn’t agree completely with that sentence and idea, that’s one of the reasons why he is Reluctant.

4. It is also true that his sense of pride and patriotism starts to grow up. He gets emotional involved when speaking about Pakistan. America is judging his country and he is taking its defenses.

5.Erica also has deep interior changes . She is depressed again, stops eating and thinks constantly about Chris. Changez pretends to be Chris and finally the two make love. Initially he doesn’t feel guilty, only after he feels ashamed and selfish.

CHAPTER 8In this chapter Changez reveals us the decline of his relationship with (Am)Erica.

1.The word Nostalgia has an important role in the whole chapter:

•Erica is nostalgic because she misses Chris .Changez understands that Erica is still thinking about Chris and that she will never fall in love with the young Pakistani. That year the two stopped seeing each other.

• America is nostalgic because continues to remind the old years . “I had always thought of America as a nation that looked forward; for the first time I was struck by its determination to look back. Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film about the Second World War”. America hasn’t forgotten the attack and seems to want a revenge .

• Changez starts missing Pakistan and his family. Sometimes he starts to think if has scarified his identity in pursuit of America.

3.Meanwhile he tries to forget all the worries with the work. All the company pursuits the fundamentals of business – maximum productivity- and Changez’ popularity seems growing up .

4. Then, once more, in a car park, Changez is insulted by an American. The situation starts to be critical, he is constantly persecuted by menaces and insults. Changez is starting to lose patience and control, he constantly thinks about his situation and the situation in Pakistan.

CHAPTER 9

In this chapter Changez find out and realizes how much he has actually changed living in New York.

1.The first impression of his Pakistani house is not very positive . He feels a little ashamed, he couldn’t believe that that was his house his provenance . He sees everything with different eyes, with the eyes of an American “I had changed; I was looking about me with the eyes of a foreigner, and not just any foreigner, but that particular type of entitled and unsympathetic American who so annoyed me when I encountered him in the classrooms and workplaces of your country’s elite”.

Unconsciously he has acquired another type of perception and he doesn’t like it .

2.We can clearly see another moment of interior crisis. In his bed, Changez thinks about his behavior in front of his family, his population and his country. He feels like a traitor because he was to leaving again Pakistan. “Indeed, I would soon be gone, leaving my family and my home behind, and this made me a kind of coward in my own eyes, a traitor. What sort of man abandons his people in such circumstances? And what was I abandoning them for? A well-paying job and a woman whom I longed for but who refused even to see me?”.

3.Changez’ beard has also an important role of the whole story. One of the reasons because Changez has a beard it’s because it represents his culture ,it is a sort of rebellion and a symbol of his identity . His colleagues, instead, are pessimists and the company starts to be subject of whispers.

4. Meanwhile he goes to visit Erica in a clinic. Changez represent for Erica the most real thing in the world and something that makes her loose her balance. She is not clear and have a contorted vision of the world.

5.Jim notices Changez’ strange and anxious behavior and gives him the change to go to Chile not only because the young Pakistani is a great worker but because he hopes that, in that way, Changez will not think about his problems with Erica and Pakistan.

CHAPTER 10

In this chapter we can see another interior changing and conflict. Chnagez is sent to Chile where he makes some radical discoveries:

1.Finally Changez is in Chile but he is not able to work because of the problems that torment all the time his mind. He is not able to do his job and that is the reason why his principle scolds him frequently.

2.One day, during a dinner, his principle deals with Changez and his problems. He introduces the figure of the “Janissaries”. Janissaries were young Christians boys who used to be taken from their families by the Ottoman soldiers. After years of training they used to fight for the country that actually was their kidnapper, the Ottoman Empire . In this way, Juan sees the position of Changez. As well, Changez is a young Pakistani who was taken and influenced by America and who was persuaded to fight for its ideas and values. This exclamation confuses more the young’s position . Who is he fighting for? Which side he is going to take? Is he really an American soldier?

This pushes us to reflect also about ours ideas and values. Are we fighting for our values or for the values of our country?

3. The name Juan Bautista remind us of the saint who baptized Jesus. In the same way Bautista leads Chnagez to the right way of life

Finally Changez decides to get fired and returns to New York.

CHAPTER 11

Changez has finally reached the bottom of his interior crisis and moral identity. This chapter is for the protagonist the most hard and suffering of all because his whole world has taken a totally different position and totally other ideologies.

1. Changez analyses the difference between America and Pakistan. The difference are various but it’s also true that they have some things in common. Both of them believe in a fundamentalist and are based on strict ideas. Changez doesn’t agree with anyone of them and his interior conflict reaches the bottom.

2. America’s foreign policy is actually a policy made for its interests, based on power and richness. The same is with Pakistan who is trying to get his own foreign policy also based on personal interest.

3. Changez reflects about the real wrights not only of the country but of the human being too. He has lost big part of his ideas and values but he realizes that he has lost everything when he discovers the death of Erica.

4.Changez finally realises and accepts his new condition. He has lost Erica and America. Both of them, at the beginning, seemed a possible dream to become part of his world. As well Chnagez wanted to take part of that reality but in the end, he realizes that his dream will never come true.

5. Changez is now a new men, a young Pakistani with another vision of the world and with other values. Changez demonstrate us how exterior thinking and influences can drastically change the personality and the ideas of someone, how everybody ,every day is under the influence of someone else and how the changing is unavoidable.

CHAPTER 12Finally we return to reality, we are sitting with Changez and the American at a Lahore’s bar.

1.Changez has returned to Pakistan where he has starts a private-social policy . He is fighting for Pakistan’s independence and for the possibility of a better future. That’s why he is suspected for the rebellions and the manifestation of Universities’ students. He believes in a possible education and in the progress of a free country governed by a democracy.

2.We finally understands why Changez is a reluctant fundamentalist:

• He is against the American’s fundamentalist based on capitalism. He is against the values of power and richness where the money is the only reason of living . America’s policy is working and fighting only for its interests and America doesn’t think about the other States and their economic and political situation.

• He is also reluctant about the Islamic fundamentalist based on the ideas written in the Qur’an. Religion can’t guide the policy of one State. The rules are strictly interpreted and can’t guide the state to an ideal progression. The religion fundamentalist can only bring the State to close itself to the world and it’s there that we are brought back to the Middle Age where the population was suffocated and oppressed by the doctrines.

Hamid lives the liberal interpretation and gives us the chance to create a private vision of the whole story. But, this climate of suspense reveals us also that Changez’ personality is not formed yet, he is reluctant to everything and doesn’t believe in all the things that surround him.

3. But the final part is written leaving us into an atmosphere of suspense and the novelist leaves the reader to create a personal ending. The intelligent reader can wander if the American has really got a gun and wants to kill Changez or if the young Pakistani has already known the mission of the American and he is ready to attack him.

CONCLUSIONThe novel has got many interpretations and many important themes . Hamid has tried to find the truth studying the two different point of views. For the first time the story is not told by an American but by a Pakistani who had lived in New York.

The fusion of two completely different cultures brings to a bigger vision of the things and of the world. Some values are in contrast and some idea are similar , we can see the ways of thinking from a men who is divided between America and Pakistan.

There is a constant contrast with the East and the West. The novelist rights many differences witch bring us to think about the multiculturalism of the world.

Mohsin Hamis has also tried to makes us understand that we should not see the word through stereotypes but , before judging, we should know the both versions of the story.

The novelist also underlines some important themes as the modernization and the globalization. Globalization seemed to be a great idea which should have helped the world to be smaller and more sensible with all the States. Unfortunately the idea of tolerance, freedom and independence have been destroyed by the ideals of capitalism brought by great companies and societies .

In the end it’s incredible how human’s mind can be so strong but so friable at the same time. Human’s being is constantly changing because of the exterior influences and how we can become someone that we have never dreamed to be.

The novelist wants us to discuss about our roles in the world and our really values.