My Son The Fanatic

Who is the Fanatic now?
My Son the Fanatic is a short story written by Hanif Kureishi. The story is about a person called Parvez who have migrated to England with his son Ali. My son the Fanatic was published in 1997. In the story we are following Parvez where we are introduced to a worker class area with taxi drivers and a prostitute called Bettina. The story occupies with genres such as drama, religion, father and son relationship and adaption.
The main character Parvez is a long time working taxi driver living in England. He is living in England with his son Ali who is taking an education as accountant. Parvez is proud of his son and is always speaking nice about him in front of the other taxi drivers. Parvez is enjoying living in England. He has already set his future plans for his son about getting a nice job, marry a girl and start a family.
Parvez is not a real Muslim. He eats pork, which is forbidden in the Koran. He is speaking well with a prostitute called Bettina, he likes to drink, and he doesn’t have a beard. Parvez is a Punjabis like most of the other taxi drivers. Parvez prefer to work at night just to avoid his wife, and because the money is much better.
It means a lot for Parvez that his son Ali gets a good future and that’s why he helps him buying all the stuff for his education. He is scared of that Ali maybe is taking drugs. Parvez is a father that cares a lot about his son.
Ali is son of Parvez. He is taking an education as accountant. He has always been a boy taking his education seriously. He had some good friends and a girlfriend. But some day he starts living after the Koran. His throws all his stuff out and follows all the rules in the Koran. He goes to the mosque to pray. Ali doesn’t eat pork and drink alcohol because it is not allowed in the Koran. He can’t stand that his father has a nice relationship with the prostitute Bettina because in the Koran its very bad if a woman sells her body. Ali seeks his future in the Koran and it upsets his father.
In the story we are taking place primarily at home and in the taxi. At home it’s like a regular worker class environment. The mood at home is getting more depressed and sad. Everybody is trying to avoid each other. Parvez don’t want to be together with his wife. Ali is trying to avoid Parvez.
When we are following Parvez in the taxi the mood is much more loose. There is no awkward or depressed atmosphere. When Bettina is in the taxi with Parvez it’s more likeable. Parvez opens up for his thought and Bettina is trying to help him.
The languages are very simple and easy to understand. The language is very informal example form the text when Ali speaks to Parvez at the restaurant “Don´t you know it´s wrong to drink alcohol”. The tone between the most of the different conversations is kept on a normal tone of voice. There is one moment when Ali speaks badly about Bettina in the taxi. The sentences are standard length.
The composition in the story isn’t building up from an introduction. It’s a very messy start in the story because we are not introduced to anything. The story starts out by Parvez sneaking around in Ali’s room. The ending is also very open. You don’t know what is going to happen next. Is Parvez kicking Ali out of the family or will Ali goes back to be an English boy and drop being a Muslim? In the story we also see a flashback. Parvez is at a restaurant talking with his son Ali and suddenly Parvez is looking back on a conversation he had with Bettina in the taxi.
The narration in the story is a 3rd person narrator. We are following Parvez and we see everything out for his point of view. The effect about using 3rd person narrator is that we are getting a feeling of sympathy for Parvez. We don’t know what Ali is thinking and that is way we are taking Parvez side because we only hear the story from his side. When Parvez is talking to Ali we see the whole situation from his head. We can’t know for sure that Parvez is right in all situations in the story. “My son the Fanatic” can be related to the text “UK immigration intro”. The text UK immigration intro talks about a huge population of a Muslim community living in London. The text talks about the Muslim people coming to UK having a lot of problems getting completely integrated in the community. The Muslim community seems unwilling or unable to fully integrate into the British way of life. Instead many of the Muslim people can’t let go on the Koran and their religion. In some way can this compares to the text my son the Fanatic. Ali in the text is a boy that believes in his religion even though his dad isn’t a perfect example of a Muslim person who is taking his religion serious. Ali is one of the Muslim people that won’t integrate fully into the British community. Ali even says to his dad Parvez that he is too implicated in western civilisation.
The story ”My son the Fanatic” deals a lot with the genre father and son relationship. The plot in story is that it can be hard for a parent not having control over their child and choose how the child should be living. As we see in the ending of the story Ali and Parvez is so divided just because of their religion. Parvez and Ali are both fanatics. Ali will do anything to live after his religion and he will not be a part of the British community. Parvez is trying anything to fit in the British community. It is just too much for Parvez in the very ending of the story. He just can’t prevent Ali not to live as a Muslim and that’s why Parvez ending up hitting him. Parvez and Ali just want to live their lives different. They are both trying to convince each other that they are living the wrong life.