Hello world readers,

Time past like flying, it comes to the end of our semester that almost like a snap. In the past seven month, we had already read and study numbers of great literatures in our class. However, there weren’t one of them able to trigger such ripples in my mind as Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. As an international student who also studying in the continent of North America, me and Changez shares many similar experiences of living away from home regardless some differences in the setting.

The book immediately caught my interests by its passionate voice(dramatic monologue) and detailed narrative which keep interact with my thoughts. I’m able to find my own “shadows” when the story gradually moving forward, brings out some nearly oblivious memories back to my head. It was hilarious that I felt confuse by the “haunted voice” that the mystery figure Changez sometimes speak to. I couldn’t identify the setting of the scene until I read Peter Morey’s essay and saw the paragraph on the back cover of the novel. However, the story does not wind up in a delightful way, which I thought it might turn into an inspirational story that Changez became a successful financial analyst who working in a global top 500 company in the Wall street. More closer to the end of the story more it struck on my feeling. From the tension between India and Pakistan,and then he being fired by the company, to the nightmare that Erica is missing or possibly suicide and in the end when he have no choice but have to come back to Pakistan and become an Anti-America lecturer.

Although the story isn’t carry on what I expected and my personal life wasn’t severely impact by 9.11 as Changez experienced. However, the story reveals the dilemma situation when he living in America. Changez decide to go back to Pakistan to visit his family during the Christmas but when he arrives at Lahore, he wasn’t satisfied with the living conditions: “I was struck at first by how shabby our house appeared…the electricity had gone that afternoon, giving the place a gloomy air… our furniture appeared dated and in urgent need of reupholster and repair… (Hamid, p.124)” Even the city where I came from wasn’t as bad as over there in Pakistan, but I had similar feeling and discomfort every time I went back. The elevators in my apartment are quite slow and need to maintenance; there are more and more name brand cars on the parking lot of my apartment, compares to the Nissan my parents bought few years ago; lack of parking spaces in the city forcing people take public transit, so as always, I have to go into a subway in rush hour or standing shaky inside the bus full of people; sometimes the north wind bring smoggy weather to my place which got me a sore throat; last but not least, there are people everywhere and it makes me feel annoyed since I had been lived in a small town in Ontario for my entire high school. Me and Changez have found both of our birthplaces become unfamiliar but indeed is because we had changed so much during our adaption of western ethnics and culture. Different people may have different circumstances yet from many individual I had encountered, it is not easy to blend into an entire new society when you’re original from the opposite side of the planet. Despite all the complain I made, deep down in my heart, I’m still loving and feel proud of where I am from. I’d lived in a local host family who are very enthusiastic on volunteer activities and they also makes friends with many newcomers who have various backgrounds. Just like Changez in the story, he often narrative the beauty of Lahore and rich history of Pakistan, I always keen on introduce my city to those who interesting or asking about my background and correct some stereotypes about my country. Come to the close of the story, Changez made a decision to went back to his home. However this may not be the path I have to follow. I feel very lucky by both countries I lives in especially after reading the book and other news on wars recently which I realized how peaceful the society I currently living in. I know how cliche and naive of my realization sounds might like but it does make me feel satisfy.

Note: if you are not familiar with the quote, please read the two paragraphs from page 124.

References:

Picture: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-reluctant-fundamentalist-2013

Hamid, Mohsin. The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Toronto: Anchor Canada, 2008. Print.

Morey, Peter. ““The Rules of the Game Have Changed”: Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Post‐9/11 Fiction.” Journal of Postcolonial Writing47.2 (2011): 135-46. Routledge. Web.

Hello readers,

Long time no write! It’s been really long time since my last post.

We had classes on the topic of the Iraq War last week and we also read the part of “Redeployment” which is closely related to the war theme. I wasn’t clear about the background for the story at first so the first sentence “We shot dogs” immediately release a disgust feel towards the narrator. As I reading on, the identity of dog is whirling to recognize, it becomes clearer when the protagonist narrating his own pet and blurry when he switch to another scene.

Klay deliberately stitching the story with the identity of dog while narrative some experiences of battlefield through Sergeant Price. I feel the story is very precise and authentic because of  sufficient details given from the Iraq war and the live back to America. In compare to the representation of the Iraq war through America films, the convention war movies are usually very intense in the settings and emphasis on the expression of body actions. In consideration for audience experience, producer often dramatized the plot in order to heroize the protagonist. Moreover, many war theme movie tends to make people feels some level of inspiration and ends in glory. Yet Klay’s work second person narrative is able creating the conversation among readers and narrator which is what film inability to do. 

Despite my harsh criticizes of American movie productions on war, there are one exception that just come out from my mind which is the 2014 movie called “American Sniper”(based on the memoir). The movie is based on true story of Chris Kyle, who was the most deadliest sniper, with 255 kills during the Iraq War. It shares many similarities with the “Redeployment” and the connection between two literatures help me understand the each other more thoroughly. For instance, both characters are facing the choice of kill or not kill during the moments when they are pause and ponder while aiming at the targets. In the movie, Chris first two killings are a woman and a child with grenades. He hesitate when he had killed the women and the boy keep walking toward American troops. However Chris eventually pull the trigger and then he reveal a unspeakable emotion on his face. It is identical similar to when Price and his crew discover the insurgent hide under the filthy well, his conscience prevent him from shooting and also make him felt sad about the poor enemy which is comparable later on during the execution of his own dog, Vicar.

Four deployments to Iraq caused Chris experience significant PTSD symptoms when he back home. There many scenes in the movie indicates that Chris lost his temper very easily and try to solve problems with force. Notably both of them begin distant from their lovers and pull back from daily life after they back from the front. Perhaps, the stories are not only tend to direct our finding for the actual identity of dog but also questioning who is grieve-able？ Soldiers and enemies lost their lives on the battlefield yet for the veterans the war experiences had impede their intimate relations with families, the love one and last but no least, the injured souls that needs to be heal. Therefore, in this case, all lives involved in fightings for “justice” whether the enemies or the troops should be given grieve and understanding.

Sources:

The New York Time: “A Wave of Military Memoirs With You-Are-There Appeal ” by Julie Bosman