The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Full Title: The Reluctant Fundamentalist

When Written: 2001-2006

Where Written: London and Lahore

When Published: 2007

Literary Period: Post-modernism

Genre: Bildungsroman

Setting: Lahore and New York City

Climax: Changeiz and the Stranger's confrontation (which may not

be a confrontation at all) outside the Stranger's hotel

Antagonist: Underwood Samson, the United States, possibly the

Stranger

Point of View: First person monologue (Changez)

The Reluctant Fundamentalist Themes
Success
A young Pakistani boy, an alumnus of Princeton University, is
struggling for happiness. He came alone to a new country and is doing
his best to become the best. He never thought he could get a prestigious
job and have a name, because America was not his country, and he
didn’t like it. However, he soon understood that his doubtful success and
social position in America mean nothing to him. This land is the enemy
of his homeland and he doesn’t stay there any longer. He had begun to
see himself as a “servant of American empire” and it was unbearable for
him. In the end, success has its price and sometimes it isn’t worth it.

Love
The theme of love is quite special in the story. It doesn’t play the most
important role although it helps to investigate the protagonist’s
individuality deeper. Changez, the main character, goes on vacation with
his Princeton friends to Greece, where he meets Erica, “an aspiring
author.” He falls in love with her, but there is an issue – Erica is still in
love with her childhood boyfriend Chris, who died from lung cancer.
She can't forget about him and it stops her from having sex with
Changez. When he convinces Erica to imagine him as Chris, they do
have sex. However, it spoils their relationship as well. Erica becomes
mentally ill and she begins treatment in a mental institution, from which
she escapes soon. We don’t know exactly whether Erica really loves
Chagnez and his real feelings are also unclear, because the narrator
doesn’t emphasize this. However, it may be called love in some way.

Man and Society

Chagnez is alone and lonely in America. He is from Pakistan and that is
why it is pretty hard for him to find friends and socialize. As a rule, the
representatives of his homeland are not treated well. So, he has to prove
that he is just like everyone else, that he has exactly the same rights and
he also can make his American Dream come true by himself, without
any help. And he does that, after studying hard, he gets a good job and
his employer is satisfied with him. But still there is something missing.
America is not his country, he doesn’t feel comfortable there, he even
hates it, as the reader may conclude from the fact that the events of the
9/11 attacks make him smile: "Yes, despicable as it may sound, my
initial reaction was to be remarkably pleased." Later, he leaves America
and becomes a leader of anti-American movements in Lahore and finally
he finds himself in the right time and place, doing what he likes and
what he has to.

Reliability of the Narrator

Throughout the story, which is told entirely as one side of a conversation
between Changez and an unnamed American man, Changez tries to
assure his seemingly distrustful and anxious companion that he,
Changez, is trustworthy both as a storyteller speaking about his
experiences in America and as a host evaluating the different people
around them in the Lahore marketplace. Although we never hear what
the other man says, Changez's remarks and descriptions of the
American's expressions and movements make it apparent that the man
begins to place some confidence in Changez but eventually becomes
highly suspicious. It makes it all the more confusing to decide on
whether Changez is telling the truth or lying about his being a friend and
no threat.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist Character

List
Changez
Changez is the Pakistani protagonist of the novel, who attended
Princeton University and narrates the story of his time in the States (and
his subsequent disillusionment) to the Stranger. At first, Changez loves
America, has many friends, works hard for a New York financial firm,
and even has a girlfriend, Erica. However, in the aftermath of 9/11, he
experiences discrimination and racism from his adopted country, and
becomes soured toward the United States, viewing it as a threat to the
world. His girlfriend Erica is unable to fully get over the death of her
previous boyfriend and has a tendency to see Changez as something of
an exotic foreigner, further hardening his heart. He eventually returns to
Pakistan as an anti-American teacher, but it is never fully clear just how
radical his feelings have become. To say his feelings on the United
States are complicated is an understatement.

The Stranger
Changez’s conversation with the Stranger serves as a framing device for
his story of living in America and becoming the main he is today. The
Stranger is unnamed and never speaks, so it is left to the reader to judge
whether he can be trusted. Thus, each reader must decide whether the
Stranger is a simple tourist, an American spy sent to apprehend or kill
Changez, or something even more sinister.

Erica
Changez’s girlfriend during his time in the States, Erica herself is
representative of his tumultuous relationship with America. She is
beautiful, popular, and smart. Though she loves Changez, her inability to
move on from her previous boyfriend Chris (who died a year before she
and Changez met) puts a heavy strain on their relationship. After 9/11,
she falls victim to depression and obsession, and it is unclear whether or
not she later took her own life. Changez clearly still holds affection for
her memory, and sometimes imagines that she might seek him out,
though he knows this is likely impossible.
Jim
Jim is the Executive VP at the financial firm Underwood Samson, and
serves as a mentor to Changez for much of his time at the firm. His is a
classic rags-to-riches story, and he identifies with Changez because of
their similar financial backgrounds. Unfortunately, Jim’s view of
Changez is colored by his inability to truly comprehend Changez’s
culture and racial background, much as Erica's view is colored.

Wainwright
Wainwright is Changez' only friend at Underwood Samson and the only
other colored person in his class.

Juan-Bautista
The old CEO of a publishing company in Valparaiso, he advises
Changez to not just be a mercenary for the Americans.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist Symbols,

Allegory and Motifs
Beards (Symbol)
Changez's beard symbolizes his connection to his homeland and his
Pakistani cultural background. During his youth in America, he was
clean-shaven and did his very best to look the part of the young
corporate American, abandoning this aspect of himself. After 9/11,
beards were to many a symbol of radical Islam, and thus undesirable.
Changez's reclamation of his beard is also a reclamation of his cultural
identity.
Underwood and Samson (Symbol)
Underwood Samson appears at first to be the perfect place to work. It
encapsulates the American Dream, the idea that if one works hard, one
will be rewarded. The glitz and glamour of it further emphasizes just
how, like Erica, it symbolizes aspects of the United States. As
Changez’s time there goes on he comes to realize that there is a dark
undercurrent of prejudice in the workplace, which becomes glaringly
obvious when he grows out his beard, causing many of his coworkers to
become uncomfortable.
Bats (Symbol)

"But bats have survived here. They are successful urban dwellers,
like you and I, swift enough to escape detection and canny enough to
hunt among a crowd."
Changez tells his American interlocutor an allegory of different animals
and how they have or have not adapted to the man-made environment of
the city. For someone like Changez who did not come from a Western
metropolis, living in New York was a difficult experience of finding his
way practically and morally in a world that isolated him while providing
him with many more opportunities.

Fall of the Twin Towers (Symbol)

For Changez, the images of 9/11 make him feel that America has
received a comeuppance that it has long deserved after bombing so
many other countries. Though he recognizes that many innocent lives
were lost, he is also highly aware of how the World Trade Center stands
as a symbol for American domination.

COMPOSED BY: M MAZHAR RAFIQUE.

BS ENGLISH LITERATURE (7TH SEM).

DATED 10\10\2022.