Hybrid-identity
Hello readers,
This past week, in our ASTU 100 class, we’ve read the novella ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ by Mohsin Hamid. What I realise from reading it and the discussions in we had in class, is that I can relate to Mohsin Hamid at quite a similar level. When Professor Luger pointed out that there are many students who realise that they experience something similar when they come to university, I felt a very close connection to the novella and Hamid, especially when I went over all the events that took place in the novella and contemplated over them.
I knew from a very young age about my hybrid-identity because of moving around and because I felt confused when I had to pick and choose from the differences the cultures and societies offered. I had questioned myself as to who and what should I be representing, and if I am supposed to represent a group over the other? And at times it has been hard to keep up with them because its so dynamic and fluid.
During reading this novella, Hamid seemed to have been oscillating between his Lahore-bred and New York dweller identities. At some parts he seemed very much against everything that America stands for and admired Pakistan’s heritage and history, and at other parts he wanted to “act and speak” like an American and felt himself to be a “foreigner” during his trip to Lahore. I feel as though his process of integrating the multiple identities and forming his own identity and character, is something that I can very much relate to, and in a sense the unclear views presented by this novella represents how I think and feel during my process of integrating.
Overall, what I realised from understanding what I’ve understood so far from this novella, is that identity doesn’t necessarily have to be black and white, its a scale that I’m going to be ranging on over time because I’m going to resent some traits for my identity and embrace others. Also, it made me wonder how my hybrid-identity would change from my stay in Canada and what exactly I’m going to resent and embrace here.
Lastly, I would like to end this post with a quote that has been resonating in my mind since I moved to Canada and is probably something I would always be able to relate to:
“So, here you are
too foreign for home
too foreign for here.
never enough for both”