Mohsin Hamid’s novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist begins with the protagonist, Changez, and an American man sitting at a coffeehouse ordering tea in Lahore, Pakistan. The plot of the novel is developed through a monologue in which Changez describes his experiences in the United States to the man. He talks about his experience studying at Princeton, working at a well-known company called Underwood Samson and falling in love with an American woman called Erica. On the other hand, with the 9/11 terrorist attacks his experiences start to shift, he begins to question his purpose and ends up returning to Lahore.
The 9/11 were a series of terrorist attacks orchestrated by the Islamist extremist group Al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001, which included a series of airline hijackings and suicide attacks. Around 2750 people were killed in the attacks in New York City, 184 at the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and 40 in Pennsylvania, where one of the stolen airplanes crashed after the passengers attempted to regain control. As a result of the tragedy of the 9/11, the U.S. government began a massive campaign against terrorism which furthered the consequences of these attacks, causing an increase in the discrimination against Muslim people or people who were perceived to come from the Middle East. In addition, President W. Bush popularized a master narrative of us versus them strengthening the divide in the U.S.’ society at the time. Therefore, the importance of The Reluctant Fundamentalist is that it provides a counter narrative through which the 9/11 can be understood from a perspective that has been silenced. Although Changez does not mention being Muslim the fact that he comes from Pakistan and appears Middle Eastern causes him to suffer from the societal impacts of the attacks. The author gives complete control to Changez through the monologue while the American man is made voiceless. Furthermore, through the use of second person narrative Changez refers to the American man by saying “you”, consequently this choice can be interpreted as suggesting an implicit audience.
In order to “break the ice”, Changez tries to make the American, and the audience, comfortable. The actions described by Changez show that the man does not trust him since he is sitting with his back close to the wall and does not remove his jacket. Hence, Changez goes straight to the point and starts talking about his experience attempting to lower the American man’s guard, and becoming more approachable to the reader as well. Additionally, in this first scene we can already identify the role of stereotypes in the novel and how the fact that he is trying to challenge the stereotypes associated with Middle Eastern people after the 9/11 causes thriller and suspense. As he moves toward the man, Changez says: “Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America” (Hasin 1). Similarly, in this scene the American man is stereotyped. Changez says he recognized that he was American because of his bearing, generalizing that there is something about how Americans behave or portray themselves that is distinct.
For our sociology class, we were asked to watch a lecture about “stereotype threat” by the psychologist Claude Steele. According to the findings of his research, he defines the impact of experiencing negative stereotyping as “stereotype threat”. When a person is in a situation in which a negative stereotype about a group he is part of might apply, it causes the person to worry if their behavior will conform to the stereotype, thus it can lead to underperformance. Steele argues that if the person cares about the group he is a part of, if it is part of your personal identity then the effects of the “stereotype threat” are greater. The concept of “stereotype threat” can be applied to Changez shift in behavior after the 9/11 in his work at Underwood Samson. Throughout the novel, he demonstrates pride in his country and before the attacks there were no explicit threats associated with being Pakistani or looking Middle Eastern. Thus, he was the best intern at Underwood Samson and had an excellent performance. After the attacks, there is a shift in society, Middle Easterners and Muslims start to be directly associated with terrorism. The simple act of interacting with other people is seen as a possible “stereotype threat”. Since Changez deeply cared about his culture and about being Pakistani, working for Underwood Sanson becomes a great threat. Underwood Samson was a consultancy firm which shared the principles of meritocracy and focusing on the fundamentals. Changez’ job was to evaluate businesses and help determine their worth. With attacks, Changez gradually starts to underperform and cannot escape the thought of the attacks, and how his family in Pakistan is being affected by the actions taken by the U.S. military. The “stereotype threat” that Changez is placed under and the fact that as we read, his behavior may or may not confirm the general assumptions the reader might hold against Middle Estern people creates the thriller of the novel.
When Changez is sent to Chile to evaluate a publishing company, he meets Juan-Baptista (the chief of the publishing company) who asks him if he does not feel bad doing his job and determining the future of so many people. Juan-Baptista compares Changez’ job to that of the janissaries, who were “[C]hristian boys captured by the Ottomans and trained to be soldiers in a Muslim army”(Hamid 151). The boys were “[f]erocious and utterly loyal: they had fought to erase their own civilizations, so they had nothing to return to”(Hamid 151). Through Juan-Baptista’s analogy, Changez came to the realization that he was playing the role of the janissaries. He was helping Underwood Samson, which serves as a symbol of the U.S. government in the novel, to expand its interests at the cost of people’s jobs and practices in their own countries. Hence, the title of the book is a reference to this realization. I believe that Changez is a “reluctant fundamentalism” in the sense that prior to meeting Juan-Baptista, Changez was not aware of what the real effects of working for Underwood Samson were, it was not a conscious choice it was part of the system. I believe that if he had notice before that he was getting deeply involved in the system, he would not have taken the position at Underwood Samson.
Ultimately, Mohsin Hamid’s book provides a counter narrative of the 9/11 from the perspective of a person who was deeply stigmatized as a result of the stereotypes held against Middle Easterners and Muslims after the attacks. The novel reflects the racism resulting from these stereotypes and how they affected, and currently affect people on a deep personal level. Instances of stereotyping against Middle Eastern and Muslim people, or people with Middle Eastern descent still happen in the United States and I would argue that it has spread to other countries as well. The consequences of 9/11 are present in our society, from the people who mourn the deaths of their relatives and friends, to the people who are wrongly judged due to their skin color, appearance, religion, name, nationality, heritage, etc. One of the cases that most shocked me was that of a teenager called Ahmed Mohamed who was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school in 2015. His teacher did not consider the fact that he was interest in robotics, instead took his name as an evidence that it was a bomb and that the police should be called to deal with the situation. This incident reveals how racial profiling and Islamophobia have become part of our society and guide daily intereactions. For this reason, learning to combat these stereotypes from the people who directly suffer it is something we should all strive for and something that the novel help us achieve.