reluctant fundamentalist
Changez finds his identity throughout his journey. Discuss.
Contention:
Did he have identity to start with?
Did he lose his identity throughout his journey?
Changez does find his identity throughout his journey, however, at time he loses himself and is confused about where he belongs.
Ideas:
Finding his identity: Realisations, moves back to Lahore
Losing his identity: Pretending to be Chris, starts acting like an American (in Philippines)
Confused about his identity: Beard, 9/11 attacks, “Princeton made everything possible…but it did not, could not, make me forget such things as how much I enjoy the tea in this, the city of my birth”
Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist, illustrates the conflicting struggle between the protagonist Changez and his ongoing pursuit to discover his identity throughout his peregrination. Through the duration of the novel, the reader is subjected to Changez’s transitioning character as he endeavours the challenges which are faced by a foreigner in New York during the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Changez battles with the uncertainty which is bestowed up him from being both a New Yorker and a Pakistani man, which puts his identity into question. Through the many events which feature in the novel, the reader is able to deduct that whilst Changez may lose himself and become perplexed about his identity during his time in New York, he ultimately is a man who is entrenched in his heritage.
Changez’s odyssey to New York caused him to become a ‘lover of America,’ however it also resulted in him losing touch with his true character. For Changez, arriving in America was a ‘dream come true,’ and attending Princeton inspired him into feeling that his life was a ‘film in which (he) was the star and everything was possible.’ As novel develops, the reader is able to see a progression from the originally ‘polite’ Changez, who considered the American’s he was travelling around Greece with as ‘devoid of refinement’ due to their
Contention:
Did he have identity to start with?
Did he lose his identity throughout his journey?
Changez does find his identity throughout his journey, however, at time he loses himself and is confused about where he belongs.
Ideas:
Finding his identity: Realisations, moves back to Lahore
Losing his identity: Pretending to be Chris, starts acting like an American (in Philippines)
Confused about his identity: Beard, 9/11 attacks, “Princeton made everything possible…but it did not, could not, make me forget such things as how much I enjoy the tea in this, the city of my birth”
Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist, illustrates the conflicting struggle between the protagonist Changez and his ongoing pursuit to discover his identity throughout his peregrination. Through the duration of the novel, the reader is subjected to Changez’s transitioning character as he endeavours the challenges which are faced by a foreigner in New York during the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Changez battles with the uncertainty which is bestowed up him from being both a New Yorker and a Pakistani man, which puts his identity into question. Through the many events which feature in the novel, the reader is able to deduct that whilst Changez may lose himself and become perplexed about his identity during his time in New York, he ultimately is a man who is entrenched in his heritage.
Changez’s odyssey to New York caused him to become a ‘lover of America,’ however it also resulted in him losing touch with his true character. For Changez, arriving in America was a ‘dream come true,’ and attending Princeton inspired him into feeling that his life was a ‘film in which (he) was the star and everything was possible.’ As novel develops, the reader is able to see a progression from the originally ‘polite’ Changez, who considered the American’s he was travelling around Greece with as ‘devoid of refinement’ due to their