This week in our ASTU class we continued our discussion on The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Moshin Hamid. This is a novel about a Pakistani living in New York before and after 9/11 and how these events changed his way of living because of prejudice and the effects it took on his love interest, Erica. To make sense of this novel, one must look at Changez and Erica’s relationship to understand the confusion Middle Eastern men must have felt in the post 9/11 era. As I read, the love story between him and Erica became the main focus of the novel. How he tried to understand Erica, was similar in how he was trying to figure out his place in the American society during the tumultuous time of 9/11. Andrew Anthony, a reviewer from The Guardian, writes “One of the novel’s notable achievements is the seamless manner in which ideology and emotion, politics and the personal are brought together into a vivid picture of an individual’s globalised revolt.” I found this review to be special because it identifies the more emotional side of the book, which I find to be very important in understanding Changez’s relationship with America. Looking through that lens, one sees how the events he endured made him feel more of an outsider and question his identity. The confusion of what Erica was going through made him unstable in his own life, while he was trying to figure out what she was thinking. During class we talked a lot about his feelings toward America. To understand his feelings toward the country, looking into his relationship is crucial. Changez is at first brought in and intrigued by Erica and then later slowly forced out and finally clearly shut out of her life. Looking at Erica as a symbol of America, this is where we can see his feelings toward the country. His love and interest into her as the story begins and the confusion and frustration with her as he is pushed out while not fully understanding why. She loves her ex-boyfriend who represents America before 9/11 and he reminds her of the future and how America has become so racist and prejudice. She wants desperately to forget that, and therefore pushes him out of her life. Hamid is accomplished in his style of writing because of the fluidity of Changez’s feelings toward America and Erica. I find Anthony’s review to be more reflective on Hamid’s novel than other critics such as Mira Nair, the director of The Namesake, who writes “A searing and powerful account of a Pakistani in New York after 9/11.” This review is much less telling of what the story means because it overlooks the depth of the emotion the novel explores. I found this book to be the most interesting one we have read this semester because of the subtle symbolism and unique style. To fully understand this novel, one must analyze Changez and Erica’s relationship to grasp the complexity of how a Middle Eastern man feels in America during the post 9/11 era.

Works Cited

Anthony, Andrew. “The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid – Review.” The Observer. Guardian News and Media, 22 Dec. 2012. Web. 26 Jan. 2017.

Moshin, Hamid. The Reluctant Fundamentalist. N.p.: Anchor Canada, 2008. Print.