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The Reluctant Fundamentalist- A shattered American Dream

Mohsin Hamid is a prominent novelist of Pakistan. He has received numerous prestigious award

s for his writings. Beginning his career with Moth Smoke (2000) he has made an impression in li

terary world through his later novels such as The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), How to Get

Filthy Rich in Asia (2013) and his most recent Exit West (2017) .

The Reluctant Fundamentalist being his second published novel was shortlisted for The Man Bo

oker Prize, 2007. It gave him a huge critical acclaim and immediate recognition as a refined writ

er both in Pakistan and worldwide. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an outstanding masterpiece

by the novelist. With its unusual first person narrative, which identifies itself as a Dramatic Mon

ologue, the novel makes an impact and keeps the reader wondering, anticipating and glued thro

ughout the ending.

The novel underlines the story of an ultra-talented young Pakistani, who tries to realise his ‘pers

onal American Dream’ through shear hard work and passion, but later find himself betrayed by

America itself and the girl he loved. The work is largely autobiographical since the life of author

seems coinciding with what protagonist tells about his own self in the novel. Mohsin Hamid did h

is graduation from the Princeton University, USA, with summa cum laude (highest honors), stud

ying along writers such as Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates. So this novel basically reflects mu

ch on his experiences as Princeton.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist demonstrates how a young man’s ‘American Dream’ got shattere

d. With mystery and persuasion, he narrates to the silent listener, ‘the stranger’ how it came to b

e vanished. Right from the start of the novel, our protagonist Changez proclaims himself ‘a lover

of America’. HE tells the stranger that he spent four and a half years in America- educating at P

rinceton and then working for a business valuation firm at New York- Underwood Samson & Co

mpany. What underwent later is a jovial reflection of the time Changez had as a professional in f

irm, which later turns into a heart breaking account of a twisted destiny. Changez reflects how af
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ter September 11 attacks at the World Trade Centre his life took a dramatic turn, by relating it wi

th some major and minor incidents from his personal and professional life.

From the beginning itself, the narrator gives impression of his ‘otherness’ in America. Being one

of only two Pakistanis in the class, getting admission on the basis of a scholarship, intermingling

of his love and classmate Erica with only Chuck and Mike during these Princetonians’ vacations

in Greece, etc. Changez outlines how the ‘soft racism’ he faced due to his nationality, througho

ut the time he spent in America, which was buried inside him and only grown with time and at la

st rose out so mightily that he left everything of America and returned to his home country.

Though Changez was satisfied and infact quite excited being placed working for Underwood Sa

mson, he continuously underwent through great inner conflicts. The very first conflict happened

when he was being interviewed for Underwood Samson by the Executive Vice President of the f

irm, Jim. Jim asked Changez if he has taken any financial aid i.e. any scholarship to study at Pri

nceton, which Changez finds irrelevant for the interview therefore gets offended. But later Jim is

found very supportive and appreciative of Changez, often carrying himself as Changez’ mentor.

The next incident happens when Changez was with his Princeton classmates and on being ask

ed what he wants to become, he replied, ‘I want to be a dictator of an Islamic Republic with nucl

ear capability’ which was only a joke but even to that he was ‘forced to explain’ as everyone was

shocked, except Erica. It was not always the way Changez felt like, infact the initial days in Am

erica was awesome- full of anticipation of beautiful possibilities, hopes and adventures. He felt a

sense of belonging to the New York City as Urdu was spoken by cab drivers, presence of a Pak

istani food restaurant Pak-Punjab Deli, sometimes listening to songs at parades and demonstrat

ions which he use to hear back at home. He carried a good image and intermingling with fellow t

rainees at Underwood Samson with ‘light hearted banters’, fun & games at the workplace. The e

xhilarating experience of being provided credit card for work related meals and entertainment. C

hangez’s mannerism and competence was liked by everyone. He was even quite happy with tim
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e and attention he was given by Erica & her family; only if we neglect the incident in which Erica’

s father remarked, ‘You guys have got some serious problem with fundamentalism.’

The dramatic turn of events occurred when Changez flew to Manila Philippines to value a record

ed music business. Like foreshadowing of a coming storm, first a deeply unsettling incident hap

pened before the main event when he was traveling in limousine with colleagues. A Filipino jeep

ney driver gave a very hostile gaze to him due to unknown reasons, perhaps due to their own ‘th

ird world sensibility’, which made him very angry, so much so that he wasn’t able to sleep that ni

ght.

But what changed everything was the demolition of Twin Towers of the World Trade Center just

when he was packing things up to return to New York. An incident which shook the mightiest civ

ilization on earth was inevitably going to affect those that belonged to it and remotely even those

not directly associated. Changez despite living in America was inspected among the foreigners’

queue and to his humiliation & disappointment, strip searched. Even the colleagues left him alo

ne while he was being inspected in secondary inspection room. These events concretely establi

shed a severe sense of ‘otherness’ inside him. America gripped with ‘growing’ and ‘self-righteou

s’ rage in the following weeks of the attack. Pakistani cab drivers were being beaten, FBI raided

Mosques, shops, houses; Muslim men were disappearing. But these things happened majorly to

‘hapless poor, not to Princeton graduates earning eighty thousand dollars a year’. Changez trie

d hard to live in denial of all those everyday events, and focused on his work, on ‘fundamentals’.

Soon America began to invade Afghanistan, neighboring country of Pakistan, to much despair

of him. On the other hand his attempts for growing intimacy with Erica were failing one by one si

nce she was not able to recover from the trauma of Chris’ death. She was declining in health an

d overall being day after day. Changez never came to know what ‘triggered’ her sudden decline.

Changez at the height of Christmas festivities decided to return to Lahore. Since, a week earlier

Indian Parliament had been attacked and the tensions between his country & India grew up to h

is anxiousness. On returning home Changez felt a sudden insecurity, contrasting his home plac
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e with the place he just left, since he was observing it with the eyes of an ‘entitled and unsympat

hetic American’. But he soon realized that he ‘was a man lacking substance and hence easily inf

luenced by even a short sojourn in the company of others’. Changez deep inside felt a need to ‘f

eel’ that sense of belonging to his home, to his people. He didn’t want to return back to New Yor

k. Often sleepless at night he would think of the war-like situation in his country. Since, he had t

o leave for New York after sometime, he thought of himself to be a ‘coward’, a ‘traitor’. He’d thin

k ‘what sort of man abandons his people in such circumstances? And what was I abandoning th

em for? A well-paying job and a woman whom I longed for but who refused even to see me?’ Th

ese questions greatly affected his decision to continue staying in America. Not only he had been

personally affected with all the turmoil aftermath of 9/11 and his unrequited love, but he deeply f

elt the need to stay with his family, as they were not secure in war-like situations of their country

. Moreover it was an unequal compromise to leave his family and home for something (America

and Erica) he couldn’t rely up to. But his family pressurized him to return, and for reasons uncle

ar he didn’t shave off his beard, perhaps a symbolic reassurance of maintaining his own identity.

For this he became overnight ‘a subject of whispers and stares’ and often subjected to verbal a

buse by complete strangers. Erica too got admitted to a mental clinic. Her mother and nurse for

ewarned him to leave Erica on her own. So basically his return was painful.

After returning from Lahore Changez had this project to value a publishing company in Valparai

so, Chile. The project that would eventually be his last and final with Underwood Samson & infa

ct his last project ‘with America’. We know Changez’s inner turmoil throughout this time, what pe

rsuaded him finally to leave everything was the man, the chief of publishing company, ‘grandfath

erly’, ‘old’ Juan Bautista. It was those musings with Juan Bautista that put the final nail in the cof

fin for Changez. Juan initially wasn’t pleased to see Underwood Samson’s executives, as he did

n’t want the publishing company to be sold out. But he had developed a liking for Changez and

been noticing from time to time. Changez’s inner conflicts didn’t pass unnoticed with Juan. Chan

gez had been skeptical as to how Juan sensed it but ‘perhaps he was gifted with empathy’ and
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he had observed in Changez a dilemma which ‘out of compassion he thought he could help.’ Ch

angez was already ‘on the threshold of a great change’, he only need the ‘final catalyst’, which

was served in the form of lunch invitation by Juan Bautista. Juan invited him to his favorite resta

urant for ‘sea bass’. Here Juan clearly asked him why he’s ‘upset’ since he has been observing

him from a long time. He asked Changez a very unsettling question too- ‘Does it trouble you to

make living by disrupting the lives of others?’ Though it was a personal question but it was powe

rfully charged with a great symbolism on the mechanism of whole of the ‘American civilization’ a

ctually works. He narrated to Changez the story of ‘Janissaries’- the Christian boys who were ca

ptured by Ottomans and were trained to be soldiers in a Muslim army. They were so devoted an

d ‘loyal’ that ‘they had fought to erase their own civilisations’ and ‘so they has nothing else to ret

urn to’. These words plunged Changez into a deep introspection and he considered all that night

what he had become. He indeed, without doubt, found himself a ‘modern-day Janissary’, ‘a ser

vant of American empire’. An empire which was ensuring that his own country face the threat of

war.

All at once the next morning he told the vice president that he don’t want to work any further. Ji

m, even he couldn’t persuade Changez not to leave. When returning to New York from Santiago

, Changez was in deep musings and giving himself reassurances. He justifies his pulling of stak

es as, ‘I had always resented the manner in which America had conducted itself in the world. Yo

ur country’s constant interference in the affairs of others was insufferable.’ ‘….that finance was a

primary means by which American empire exercised its power. It was right for me to refuse to p

articipate any longer in facilitating this project of domination; the only surprise was that I had req

uired so much time to arrive at my decision.’ On reaching New York Changez resigned from Un

derwood Samson, found that Erica had ‘vanished’, left the manuscript of her novella in which Ch

angez was not even a ‘footnote’.

Such inflective journey Changez had. In final days he had been an ‘incoherent and emotional m

adman’. His so called ‘American Dream’ had been shattered by those he gave all of himself to.
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Those who betrayed him in worst possible and unthinkable ways. This is how his American Dre

am ended- with pain, trauma and a deep wound that would never heal, not even when he would

be thousand miles far away.

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Works Cited

Hamid, Mohsin. The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Penguin Books, 2008.

“Mohsin Hamid” < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohsin_Hamid>.