Book Review: Mohsin Hamid "The Reluctant Fundamentalist"

Lexmipapan

6 October 2008, 18:22

Mohsin Hamid is a latter day Robert Browning from the subcontinent. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a beautifully executed dramatic monologue in prose. The setting is a Lahore café where Changez, the young Pakistani buttonholes an American and launches into a long confessional in which he unburdens himself of his experience of the United States, the ups and downs of it, the reasons for return and so on. While he makes you travel with him to New Jersey, New York, Athens, Manila and Santiago never for any length of time are you allowed to forget the location of the narration. Every now and then, at the beginning of a chapter or its end, sometimes in the middle of it, he cuts into the present, notices the slightest movements of his guest, draws his attention to girls passing by, comments on the waiter, and is full of praise for the cuisine of his country.

Changez, a youth from an aristocratic Lahore family that had fallen on bad days, found himself admitted into the meritocracy at Princeton on a scholarship. By the time he reached his senior year he had become ‘ a perfect breast – tan, succulent, seemingly defiant of gravity’ (Toba! Toba!* Read pages 4 & 5 for the complete metaphor – less Lahore, more America innit), in short, seductive enough to be hired by Underwood Samson & Company, a cutting edge valuation firm. Jim, the Boss took to him instantly and sent him on the most challenging missions. Life became a song when love made its entry in the form of Erica, the American girl, his Princeton batchmate who took him home to Dad and Mom.

The visit went well until Erica’s father made a comment on the problem of fundamentalism in Pakistan. The condescension in the tone got to Changez. The seed was sown. Things would never be the same though he pretended to Erica that nothing had changed. The seed grew to such an extent that when he watched the scenes of the terror attack on the twin towers of New York (his beloved city, by the way) he smiled. He could not explain his own response. Why was pleased to see America harmed despite being “a product of an American university, earning a lucrative American salary and being in love with an American girl?” But he knew that that was not the right response. The journey back to New York was marred by clouds of suspicion which accompanied every bearded man in the altered context. He hid his true feelings from his colleagues, kept up appearances and stuck to the fundamentals of his job of valuing sinking firms.

What opens his eyes to the truth of his situation was his meeting in Santiago with Juan Bautista, the man who was running the firm which he had gone to value. As Bautista was only an employee and not the owner he resented the valuation. Valuation can result indirectly in retrenchment of workers. He somehow felt that Changez could be more sensitive to this aspect than usual American valuers. Over a meal he made Changez realize that he was a modern day janissary helping an evil empire in its destructive designs against his own people. America had started its offensive against Afghanistan, Pakistan’s neighbour and a fellow Muslim nation. After such conviction he just could not concentrate on the soulless work that he had been doing with such efficiency till then. He had to quit, go back home to a different order of fundamentals. And he had to stop America!

Meanwhile his love affair had reached a dead end, too. Erica could never really accept him as her lover as she was still living in her past with the long dead Chris, her boyfriend. She had to be in an institution beause of the pathological condition. After his visit there, she had disappeared.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist tells two love stories both of which go awry. The first love for the glittering paradise called the U.S.of A. turns into hatred on discovering that it is full of snakes. The second, his love for Erica was actually doomed from the beginning and just peters out inconclusively. Four and a half years in the foreign land makes him a more aware, more ardent, prouder native of Pakistan. In his new role as lecturer he gives anti-American sermons, becomes ‘ a fundamentalist’ preacher!

But what exactly are fundamentals of an individual, of Changez for instance, which surface when the surface is scratched? Well, some of them are 1) the place he comes from, 2) the colour of his skin, 3) the colour of his eyes, 4) the presence of a respectful form of ‘you’ to address an elder in his language, 5) the acceptance of the prospect of delayed or even denied gratification, and 6) the relish in touching and feeling your prey before eating and similar tastes and habits.

Mohsin has spoken on behalf of the Mother Continent of Asia. Other continents and communities may not share the same fundamentals. Condescension is bad. Smacks of orientalism (remember Edward Said). Confrontation and clash are worse. Acceptance of and respect for difference is the only way forward for all. But that appears just a dream at the moment. The most unlikely change that comes over the peace loving and promising young man Changez and the events, small and big, that bring about the change are tragic illustrations of this reality.

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