The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Lesson Objective To understand the concept of nostalgia and how it is a theme in ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’. A warning: This will stray a little into ‘Whose Reality?’ territory, but remember that this is a text response and whenever you mention nostalgia in a text response essay, it must be when directly discussing the text. NO general discussion of the concept is allowed! Definition The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealised form. Nostalgia is often…

what shape the different perceptions we experience in social, career, and romantic situations as mentioned in A mother’s Role In a Child’s Development report by HealthUnits. By personifying this stereotypical norm as the government in The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid we can bring a new understanding to the book's ending which leaves many questions unanswered and provokes the reader to speculate about the ending because the purpose of certain characters and their intentions aren’t…

The perception of myself is very subjective, it is never concrete, but rather develops as my experiences and biases change. The one book I have read explore the concept of the loss of an identity. Set pre to post 9/11, The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid explores, the engaging narrative of Changez, who is a Pakistani living in the terrorism altered America. He recounts his life story to the reader, who is presumed to be an American agent or a business man. On the other hand, Schindler’s…

clings onto joyful recollection of memories. This wistful longing and sentimentality for the past is nostalgia. Nostalgia is not necessarily destructive, but being unable to accept reality inevitably can lead to misery and hopelessness. In The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid depicts the life of a Pakistan immigrant, Changez, in America before and after the 9/11 terrorist attack. While being employed under Underwood Samson and living in post 9/11 America, Changez falls in love with a woman…

Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) and Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) are set in starkly contrasting contexts but, through similar values explored in both, we can see how concerns of the human condition are universal. Both texts explore the racial prejudice, negative stereotyping and reluctance to move forward as fundamental elements of the human condition. Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) criticises the racial prejudice and…

“I was within and without” . In light of Nick’s comment, explore how Hamid and Fitzgerald present outsiders in the Reluctant Fundamentalist and the Great Gatsby. Both novels portray various characters who feel as if they are “within” yet can never move past or get rid of feelings or the paranoia of being an outsider and being “without”. This is emphasised through Nick’s comment of being “within and without”. Due to the differentiated status of the characters, it could be argued that characters…

being humanized, and those who have no chance to represent themselves run a greater risk of being treated as less than human, regarded as less than human, or indeed, not regarded at all” (141). Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, and The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid, use the lives of their protagonists to exemplify the macro-level institutionalized marginalization of, as well as the individual micro-level prejudice and discrimination against, minority groups. By communicating the…

are classified as fundamentalists. Whether it is in Islam, Judaism, or Christianity, fundamentalism shares similar aspects. Fundamentalists stem from conservative cultures and take a defensive position to outside forces, while criticising those they view to be outsiders. Their distrust of society creates a separatist mentality that causes fundamentalist groups to withdraw from modern society. While fundamentalists of various religions share these traits, Christian fundamentalists also have…

Some might argue that fundamentalism is a form of “salvage anthropology” and that fundamentalists are trying to “collect what was available before it was gone” (Eller, 149) through the reintegration of religious practices into society and specifically politics. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the state of Israel, and Salafism can all be interpreted as “salvage anthropologies” as well as fundamentalist movements. ISIS is a direct response to western occupation in the Middle East and a desire…

Aisha: Aisha is the wife of the Prophet Muhammed. She can be seen as symbol of empowerment because her life served as a guide for Muslims on how to raise pious children and how to have a good marriage. Aisha also had freedoms that most Muslim women did not have, like the ability debate with men and go to the mosque. Aisha can also be seen as a sign of oppression because even though she had many freedom, she was still subjugated to life in a harem and sharing the Prophet with other wives (Power,…