The Reluctant Fundamentalist Essay

Decreased Recognizability in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist After the attacks of September 11, many postcolonial novels emerged in response to the event and its effect on the world. Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist is often read as one of these novels. While Hamid opposes the violence and racism behind the War on Terror, I argue that the novel offers a more complex critique of the United States’ economic and political practices spanning far before 9/11. Since its rise on the global stage, the United States has intervened in other countries with little regard for its effect on human life in those areas. Joseph Darda defines recognizability as “the set of social frames demarcating what we can and cannot recognize as human life” (110). Hamid acknowledges that the United Sates creates these social frames through its …show more content…
Fundamentalist is typically used to describe radical Islamics that strictly adhere to their own beliefs. However, fundamentalism is “just as befittingly applied to capitalism as it is to Islamic extremism” (Khan 91). While working at Underwood Samson, Changez is repeatedly told to focus on the fundamentals. Fundamentals are so deeply engrained in capitalism that Americans often blind to them. Changez’s knowledge that fundamentalism and capitalism are intertwined is what causes him to smile at demolition of the World Trade Centers. Changez does not enjoy the suffering of others, rather he enjoys the idea of the American economy being destroyed. “I was caught up in the symbolism of it all, the fact that someone had so visibly brought America to her knees” (Hamid 72). The World Trade Centers were the main sites of business in New York. They represent the rise of capitalism in America. While they may be a sign of success within the United States, to others they represent intrusion and disrespect for their own ways of