THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST By Mohsin Hamid STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS

THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST By Mohsin Hamid STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS

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, his life, his changings and reflections before and after the attack to the Twin Towers. The novel is organized into 12 chapters. Each chapter has a specific function in the economy of the novel.

Relevant concepts to understand the novel Fundamentalism: a movement emphasizing the literal interpretation of the holy scriptures as fundamental life and teaching • • the beliefs of the movement adherence to such beliefs Reluctant: somebody not inclined to do something or who does not believe in some values. Most important question: why should a fundamentalist be reluctant? The study and the analysis of the novel will help find out apossible reason The experience of living in a different culture, meeting with new values and stereotypes will bring the young Changez to a deep identity crisis and moral change. Changez will find him self divided between two cultures and two totally different fundamentals: America’s capitalism and the Islamic religion and Pakistan’s values. Mohsin Hamid invites reflection several themes: • • • Difference between cultures and multiculturalism Globalization and modernization Difference of economical systems Religious Difference (Christianity and Islam) Difference between different social classes The way the surrounding word can change and influence our personality and values.

CHAPTER 1 The main function of the first chapter is to introduce the protagonist: Changez, and his life in New York. He is sitting in a tea bar in Lahore, Pakistan, with an unknown man. The narrative technique is a dramatic monologue where the protagonist utters the entire story. The reader can only see the story from the eyes of a young Pakistani NARRATIVE STRATEGY. REASONS 1. The voice of the protagonist utters the entire story: Changez is the only one who speaks and tells the story from his point of view. 2. He interacts with an interlocutor the reader cannot see or hear but knows is present. The reader knows what he does or says only thanks to the clues the speaker gives her/him 3. The speaker reveals his feelings, ideas and character. The reader can see what happens ONLY through the eyes of a Pakistani and not from the American’s one. .

3. The speaker is a good observer: he immediately understands the silent interlocutor is American because of his body language. All cultures are different and unique. Changez has experienced two of them, one the opposite of the other. 4. Changez uses highly formal language. English is not his mother toungue: he uses word like “sir” “may I …”. The reader see the protagonist is taking some distances from the interlocutor and all the same he is polite. 5. America represented Changez’s “dream come true”, the perfect life. The young Pakistani is really attracted by American life style and he describes him as a “lover of America”.

CHAPTER 2 The main function of the chapter is to introduce Erica, the women Changez loved 1. He is attracted because Erica is different form the girls Changez used to see. 2. There is a comparison between Pakistani and American girls. In Pakistan women follow the tradition and are modest, in America women follow their own rules. 3. Changez analyses the attitude of the Americans in front of others: they are arrogant and disrespectful. 4. There is a game between the names chosen: • Changez reminds the word «change» and presents the protagonist’s position during the story. • Erica reminds the word «America» . Both powerful and represent a reality Changez will never reach. • Chris, Erica’s ex boyfriend, reminds the word «Christianity» , America’s religion and the main opponent of Changez and Islam religion.

CHAPTER 3 Changez lives in New York where he starts working for “Underwood Samson” company. In this chapter Changez underlines the differences between America and Pakistan. 1. He feels at home because he hears a taxi driver speak Urdu, he smells and tastes Asian typical food. The novelist introduces New York as a multicultural and cosmopolitan city. There is a mixture of different cultures and all the same he feels “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 chance and opportunities. 4. Comparison between America and Pakistan: once Pakistan was a great and civilized country, America instead was dominated by barbarians. Now America has great Universities and big cities WHILE Pakistan does not 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 about his relationship with Erica. 1. After their holydays in Greece the two have kept contact. Erica helps Changez to get integrated showing him the traditional way of living of a New Yorker. 2. Again you can clearly see that Changez is a good and keen observer. Speaking with Erica he distinguishes a “crack”. Indeed the young girl 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 in the chapter is the protagonist’s meeting of Erica’s family, especially with her father. Erica’s father lives and sees the world through stereotyped lenses 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 5 Changez analyses and underlines the difference between Philippine, America and Pakistan. He has been sent to the Philippines for work. There he discovers a different and totally unexpected reality. 1. In the airplane he is well treated, he has a seat in first class and drinks champagne. He feels part of the company and America but, arrived in Manila, he becomes aware of another world. 2. In the Philippine people have taken the American system of living, even the city is full of high skyscrapers and superhighways. It is more modern, technological and even richer than Pakistan. 3. There is another significant comparison with Pakistan, America and Philippine. Changez is a little upset because even the Philippine are in a better position than his motherland. 4. He starts acting like a real American businessman, . 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 Philippine driver, he wants to be respected and maybe feared. His slow moral and interior change is coming to surface.

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 have similar backgrounds, different from the others, that’s why they are “not mart of this world”. 6. Later the climatic 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. Changez’ s inner and conflict comes to surface: he 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 selfconscious” 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 under suspect and seen as a possible terrorist.

CHAPTER 6 The novelist underlines here all the changes in the protagonist’s life: 1. in America a big and exaggerated sense of nationalism grows after the attack on the Twin Towers. 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 people start to have different perceptions about him. He is really confused and starts to think about what is actually right and about the possible the faults of his acting. 3. Erica 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 is still thinking about Chris and she feels as if she were 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!”. 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 The protagonist’s inner changes and his private conflicts are the focus of the chapter. Changez’s identity crises together his difficult positions between the two worlds is the core of the chapter. 1. Changez notices the drastical change of America’s attitude against 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 really worried for his family and the situation in Pakistan, he thinks about his relatives and his country all day long. 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 not to 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 does not totally agree with that invitation and idea, one of the reasons why he is Reluctant.

4. Changez’s sense of pride and patriotism starts to grow up. He gets emotionally involved when speaking about Pakistan. America is judging his country and he is taking its defenses. 5. Erica also experiences deep inner changes. She is depressed again, stops eating and constantly thinks about Chris. Changez pretends to be Chris and finally the two make love. Initially he does not feel guilty, only afterwards he feels ashamed and selfish.

CHAPTER 8 Changez reveals he decline of his relationship with (Am)Erica. 1. The word Nostalgia plays an important role in the whole chapter: • Erica is nostalgic because she misses Chris. Changez understands Erica is still thinking about Chris and that she will never fall in love with the young Pakistani. The two stop seeing each other. • America is nostalgic because it continues to remind old times. “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 wondering whether has scarified his identity in pursuit of America. 3. Meanwhile he tries to forget all the worries with the work. All the company pursue the fundamentals of business – maximum productivity- and Changez’ popularity seems growing up. 4. Once more, in a car park, Changez is insulted by an American and 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 Changez realizes he has actually changed living in New York. Back to Pakistan 1. The first impression of his Pakistani house is not very positive. He feels a little ashamed, he cannot believe 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 does not like it. 2. Another moment of inner crisis is when in his bed, Changez thinks about his behavior in front of his family, his population and his country. He feels a traitor because he is going to leave 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 wellpaying 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 Change and conflict are here again. Chnagez is sent to Chile where he makes some radical discoveries: 1. Changez is in Chile but he is cannot work because of the problems that torment his mind. He cannot manage with 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. His principle 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. Juan sees the position of Changez in this way, Changez is a young Pakistani who was taken and influenced by America and who was persuaded to fight for its ideas and values. All that invites reflect ion also about ours ideas and values. Are we fighting for our values or for the values of our country? 3. The name Juan Bautista reminds the saint who baptized Jesus. In the same way Bautista leads Changez to the right way of life Finally Changez decides to get fired and returns to New York.

CHAPTER 11 Changez has now reached the top of his crisis. The chapter is the nost hard for the protagonist because his whole world has taken a totally different position and totally different ideologies. 1. Changez analyses the difference between America and Pakistan. 2. Difference are various but it is also true that they have some things in common. Both believe in some fundamentalism and are based on strict ideas. Changez does not agree with any of them and his inner conflict reaches a climax 3. America’s foreign policy is actually a policy made for its interests, based on power and richness. The same happens with Pakistan who is trying to get his own foreign policy also based on personal interest. 4. Changez reflects about the real rights 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 Erica’s.

4. Changez finally realises and accepts his new condition. He has lost Erica and America. Both seemed a possible dream and could become part of his world. Also Changez 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’s exterior thinking and influences drastically change his personality Changing is unavoidable.

CHAPTER 12 Finally the reader goes back to reality, he is are sitting with Changez and the American man at a Lahore’s teaa room. 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 manifestations of Universities’ students. 2. He believes in a possible education and in the progress of a free country governed by a democracy. 2. The reader can finally understand 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 does not 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 cannot guide the state to an ideal progression. The fundamentalist religion can only bring the State to close itself to the world. • • And it’s there that the reader is brought back to the Middle Age where the population was suffocated and oppressed by doctrines.

3. But the final part is written leaving the reader into an atmosphere of suspense: the novelist leaves the reader to create a personal ending. The intelligent reader can wonder whether the American has really got a gun and wants to kill Changez or if the young Pakistani already knows the mission of the American and he is ready to attack him. Hamid leaves interpretation free. He gives readers the chance to create a private vision of the whole story. But, such climate of suspense also reveals Changez’ personality is not formed yet, he is reluctant to everything and doesn’t believe in all the things that surround him.

CONCLUSION The novel gives space to several 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 meeting of two completely different cultures brings to a wider vision of matters and of the world. Some values are in contrast and some ideas are similar and one can see the ways of thinking of a men who is divided between America and Pakistan. There is a constant contrast between the East and the West. The novelist discusses many differences which bring readers to think about multiculturalism all over the world. Mohsin Hamis has also tried to make readers understand that wone should not see the world through stereotypes eyes but, before judging, one should know both versions of the story. Some important themes are also modernization and 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 is really incredible to think how the human mind can be so strong but at the same time so friable. The human 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 to promote discussion about our roles in the world and our really values.