ABSTRACT
The life of Chengez is crisscrossed by personal and political events and though, in the best fashion of an objective analyst, one tries to keep these issues compartmentalised, they do overlap. It is these areas of overlapping that become interesting as they illustrate the maxim, “The personal is political and the political is personal.” The two parts of the study show how Changez’s life becomes an eddy caught in the cross currents of international geopolitics, especially in the aftermath of the attacks on the twin towers of WTC and what it means to be a Pakistani, however privileged, in America in the midst of such literally earth-shaking events. The second part looks at the no less turbulent love affair of Changez and Erica, the two alumni of Princeton University, though belonging to unequal social ranks. In the personal and political turmoil in which the fragments of two lives are tossed about, a pattern begins to emerge, a synthesis of the apparently disparate aspects of life.
KEY WORDS war on terror, WTC, fundamentalist, corporate America, Underwood Samson …show more content…
Just as the crisis of conscience brings about the fall of Clemente, Changez’s deepening insight into the power structures of America results in his disillusionment with it and ultimately his opposition to it. Built into this narrative of corporate America and the nexus that exists between it and the academic world, there is also a fascinating love story of Erica and Changez. The fact that the heroine of the novel is named Erica which is only a shortened form of America may not be entirely coincidental. As we shall see, there are quite a number of similarities between Erica and America, the personal and the political, which make The Reluctant Fundamentalist a compulsive
The life of Chengez is crisscrossed by personal and political events and though, in the best fashion of an objective analyst, one tries to keep these issues compartmentalised, they do overlap. It is these areas of overlapping that become interesting as they illustrate the maxim, “The personal is political and the political is personal.” The two parts of the study show how Changez’s life becomes an eddy caught in the cross currents of international geopolitics, especially in the aftermath of the attacks on the twin towers of WTC and what it means to be a Pakistani, however privileged, in America in the midst of such literally earth-shaking events. The second part looks at the no less turbulent love affair of Changez and Erica, the two alumni of Princeton University, though belonging to unequal social ranks. In the personal and political turmoil in which the fragments of two lives are tossed about, a pattern begins to emerge, a synthesis of the apparently disparate aspects of life.
KEY WORDS war on terror, WTC, fundamentalist, corporate America, Underwood Samson …show more content…
Just as the crisis of conscience brings about the fall of Clemente, Changez’s deepening insight into the power structures of America results in his disillusionment with it and ultimately his opposition to it. Built into this narrative of corporate America and the nexus that exists between it and the academic world, there is also a fascinating love story of Erica and Changez. The fact that the heroine of the novel is named Erica which is only a shortened form of America may not be entirely coincidental. As we shall see, there are quite a number of similarities between Erica and America, the personal and the political, which make The Reluctant Fundamentalist a compulsive