My Son the Fanatic

1405 Words6 Pages
‘Religion and western culture cannot mix.’ How far does ‘My Son the Fanatic’ support this? ‘My Son the Fanatic’, is a story that the reader observes from two different cultural perspectives. Parvez is a father who has integrated into western culture. He works hard to give his son everything he believes is important to western life and embraces the freedom Britain gives him. This integration means abandoning his own heritage. Parvez embraces western culture and in turn, pushes his son Ali into embracing the very eastern culture and religion Parvez is leaving behind. Ali believes Britain is oppressive and corrupt and is disgusted by his father’s lack of respect for what he himself believes in. By exploring a broken relationship and the constant tension between father and son, Kureishi is able to emphasise the internal struggle over cultural ideals. Parvez is introduced to the reader as a worried father, with his son, Ali growing into adulthood. The father/son relationship first appears to be quite normal, as Parvez is pleased ‘his son is outgrowing his teenage attitudes’ (p.119). It is clear that there is something underlying the changes in Ali, as his father discovers he is ridding himself of his possessions: ‘Parvez found a torn bag which contained not only old toys, but computer discs, video tapes, new books and fashionable clothes’(p.119). However, Parvez does not appear to realize at this point that Ali is ridding himself of anything that identifies with him with British culture. By contrast, the reader begins to learn more about Parvez. He is attempting to live his British dream through Ali; ‘Parvez had boasted to the other men about how Ali excelled at cricket, swimming and football […] he was getting straight A’s in most subjects’(p.120). These are western ideals; it is Parvez’s way of showing how well he has integrated his son into British culture.
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