“Time only moves in one direction. Remember that. Things always change.” (Hamid 57). According to the book Reluctant Fundamentalist written by Mohsin Hamid, the author illustrates the dynamic change of stereotype that Americans had towards Pakistanis, especially to Muslims after the post 9/11 terror. To explain how post 9/11 has influenced the recognition towards Pakistanis, Hamid uses Changez, the protagonist of this novel to experience different types of discrimination that he encountered in the US. To overcome this situation, Changez tries to fit in the image that the Americans want, by trying to emphasize to have that true identity as an “American”. The reaction that the Americans deliver to him created Hamid to make him not patriotic towards his country, and let him make some crucial decisions in his lifetime.

  At the beginning of the novel, Changez consistently convinces the strangers that he is not a terrorist that terrorized 9/11 and the bias that people usually had in Pakistan. He loved a woman named “Erica”, which is somehow relevant with “AmErica”. Also, he introduced himself that he lived in the United States for four and a half years and shows love and respect towards this country by expressing that his pleasant memories are from this country. Besides, he showed respect and appreciation towards the company he is working, Underwood Samsons (U.S.), since most of the workers are from America, which indirectly represented the country.

  During my childhood, I didn’t have any negative bias towards Muslims, since one of our neighbor who lived beside me is a Muslim family and they were hospitable. However, since George Bush declared Iran as the “Axis of Evil” and being educated in an International School that is based on American curriculum, created the certain unexplainable hostility towards these normal and innocent people. In my opinion, the novella The Reluctant Fundamentalist has a similar function with the previous memoir that we read in the class Persepolis. This is because both of the authors are not westerners, so the demonstration isn’t stereotypical and stimulated since they do not let the readers view Muslims or people who are from the Middle East as the typical image that they can imagine. In Persepolis, Satrapi does this by implying Marjane as a normal teenager and other Iranians as normal people. Compared to Persepolis, Hamid does this by the other way round, by portraying an Islamic individual being unique but normal from the majority.

  Furthermore, The Reluctant Fundamentalist engages the readers to be in an individual perspective from certain countries like Changez from Pakistan to put themselves in the particular situation where the majority of people have a negative prejudice towards them. The book agrees that it is true that the action of 9/11 terror is an unacceptable case that cannot be forgiven, though there are other innocent countries and people like Changez are being suffered from the aftermath.