The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Mohsin Hamid and Jamaica Kincade craft their novels Lucy and The Reluctant Fundamentalist with a focus of the main protagonists Lucy and Changaz coming of age in America. They institute the hope of enriching the life’s of Lucy and Changaz, as well as achieving their American Dream. Kinked developed Lucy’s character through using an American mentor; Mariah. Who provided Lucy with a loving family atmosphere she was craving, and became a mother figure for her. Hamid’s lead character, like Lucy comes to America and develops a relationship with his boss, Jim from Underwood Sampson, a prestigious firm in New York City. Jim became a mentor for Changaz and a key figure in the success that Changaz achieved. Changaz evolved into a corporate shark through…

When Mohsin Hamid wrote The Reluctant Fundamentalist, he intended his readers to use his novel as a “mirror” that would reflect how they themselves viewed life. In my personal journey, two things seemed to reflect the brightest. In one light, I examine relationships; and in another light, I look at social construct and opinion. While these are aspects of my life that I am familiar with, Hamid’s novel demonstrated that my ideals, morals, and life experiences are all part of my experiences of…

In The Reluctant Fundamentalist many of the central ideas of identity can be explored. There are points of interest when it comes to Changez’s, as well as other characters’, identity; religion, and race and ethnicity seem to be the most common in the story. The most prominent of these is probably Changez’s ethnicity and race as it affects negatively over the story and shapes him into the man he is by the time he is wondering what the metal glint in the stranger’s coat is. In the beginning of…

Written around the attack of September 11, and the effects it had on a Pakistani student, Changez who studied and worked in the United States. Author Mohsin Hamid doesn’t simply tell his tale The Reluctant Fundamentalist, but delivers it in such a matter where you can interpret several meanings from the simplest things. From the names, their conversations and even to the way the book was composed gives this book such an extraordinary style. From the beginning of the book the reader is drawn…

How does one define a reluctant fundamentalist? To be ‘reluctant’ is to have strong feelings of disinclination towards something. A fundamentalist is defined as an individual that ______. This being true, the term ‘fundamentalist’ in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist is employed in a rather ironic fashion as Changez, the main character is in constant conflict between his Pakistani and American identities. After a series of psychologically confronting events, and his understanding of…

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…

Changez, the narrator of The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid was overall relatively reliable when telling the story of his life to a stranger he had met in a cafe. However there are certain points in which his truths or missing details are more prevalent. Often this lack of detail correlated with certain points in his life. One would think that lack of detail would change the purposes of the novel, but Hamid was able to drive his theme of exposing american judgemental views towards…

“The Reluctant Fundamentalist” by Mohsin Hamid is the incredible chronicle of a young Pakistani man’s experience in America during the height of the fear of terrorism. This was not only a time of evolving ideals in the American nationalist consciousness but it was also a catalyst for changing ideas around the globe, especially within and towards the Middle-East. “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” is the story of Changez’s struggle with change, and his decision whether to embrace it or to stick to…

The story of Charlie Marlow, the narrator in Heart of Darkness, is recounted to four companions by Marlow himself, while aboard a boat docked on the River Thames in England, The tale tells of how Marlow acquired a position at an ivory trading company in the Congo, his journey from England to his new post, and the horror he experienced at the sight of the conditions of the black slaves. During his trip, he repeatedly hears about a man named Kurtz who plays a central role in the ivory business.…

Conflicts between nations, discrimination based on race, violation of rights of immigrants are endless problems of the world. Even in democratic countries, as the United Stated of America, people cannot refer to persons of other race as to equal ones. A film named “The reluctant fundamentalist” is about the society of freedom, American society, but from its egoistic and intolerant side. In the center of the story, a young Pakistani man, who works on Wall Street is shown, and whose attitude to…