The Reluctant fundamentalist shows us that nostalgia is a poison In Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, apparently is shown the other aspect, despite the beneficial side as a salve, but the far lethal side of nostalgia. The astonishing issue---the September 11, undoubtedly turns the USA’s theme from “openness” to “nostalgia”, and as a dire turning-point to be in the story, triggers subsequent changes. The same as America, Erica, who is assumed to be a symbolic character reflects the USA, also gets lost into the endless reminiscence of the bygone affections with Chris, finally destroy her. Nevertheless, these remind Changez of his relatives, who are addicted to nostalgia as well. Strikingly, Hamid sets these enormously realistic and secular scenes to the readers in order to substantiate the havoc of odious recalling back, which is with blindness and narrow-vision, septic grudge and mutiny, like a chronic but fatal poison.
Jay Gatsby is also wealthy but would rather simply be affluent. By placing the characters in compromising situations, Fitzgerald expresses the pain and misery that can result from careless actions and heartless words. Throughout the novel, the 1920s are portrayed as a moral wasteland. The lives of the wealthy are a moral wasteland. However, this is not to be confused with the lives of the affluent.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist In the text ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ by Mohsin Hamid, the protagonist Changez is slowly revealed as an unreliable narrator through the progression of the framed narrative. Mohsin Hamid has written this piece as an extended monologue and used it create security within the reader and the details of the story, but then slowly shifts the whole situation and little by little continues the development of Changez being an unreliable narrator. Slowly but surely, as the novel progresses, the reader is shown the comparisons that the narrator Changez makes between cultures, the views that he has and racial prejudice he develops towards Americans when talking to the unnamed American tourist. It is also gradually revealed to the reader that Changez has forgotten many details of his story when recounting it, also exaggerating parts and giving his views on certain things, hence making him an unreliable narrator. It is very easy to believe everything that Changez says in the beginning, because of his likeable characteristics, but the more and more one connects with the narrator, the harder it becomes to be so gullible.
American Dream Essay When it comes to the topic of social inequality and the American dream, there are many authors who will readily agree that the American dream has died. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of what exactly is the American dream today? Whereas some are convinced that America is in bad shape, others maintain that America still has the potential to overcome the Great Recession and the American dream is still very much alive. Have we, as Americans, lost our drive and motivation to achieve prosperity and the pursuit of happiness in our lives? If people believe the American dream has truly disappeared then what are they striving to reach?
‘HHMM’, Hollywood, Harvard, McDonald’s, and Microsoft, were selling not only their products but also America's culture and values, the secrets of its success, to the rest of the world.' However, employing only hard power or only soft power in a given situation will usually prove inadequate. Nye utilizes the example of terrorism, arguing simply utilizing soft power resources to change the hearts and minds of the Taliban government would be ineffective and requires a hard power component. Nevertheless, in the Middle East, in the eyes of Islamic fundamentalists, the openness of Western culture is repulsive, which we have a term for it ‘anti-Americanism’. As a result, Joseph Nye, suggests that the most effective strategies in foreign policy today require a mix of hard and soft power resources, the ‘smart power’.
“Repaired and Modern” The author of the article “Broken and Obsolete,” Fareed Zakaria, believes that due to the divide in the beliefs of Republicans and Democrats coupled with the poor immigration laws currently in the US, the present immigration status will remain as it is, as he states “broken.” The author gives a few reasons for this belief coupled with examples, like the idea that other countries have been transforming themselves into immigrant societies, adopting many of America's best ideas and even improving on them, and as a result the U.S. is not as exceptional as it once was, and its immigration advantage is lessening. However, overall his claims are wrong because the supporting evidence behind the comparisons that he makes are
In a CBS special, Cronkite concluded, "To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past, to say we are mired in a bloody stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory conclusion" ( Hallin, 1986, p.170) This did not help increase the support for our troops in Vietnam. The overall support for the war was diminished by Cronkite's report. The negative coverage of the war influenced politicians, the public, and the American soldier. Concerned with losing support, politicians started to really get involved. The TeT offensive was a last ditch effort for the communists.
The immigrant identity is clearly portrayed as inviting exploitation and prohibiting the family from succeeding, but the family fails to realize that the American identity is similarly problematic and offers just as little opportunity for freedom and success, but for different reasons. In short, the poison in the air is the effect of American capitalism, which implicitly pits the poor against each other in the search for work and the need to maintain that work regardless of how denigrating or dangerous it is. However, the family does not realize this at first, and fails to recognize that buying into the idea that hard work alone will bring human rights and success is just as naive and makes them just as exploitable as relying upon the goodwill of the wedding guests to help pay for the cost. When Jurgis is still naively invested in this notion, he asks “do you want me to believe that with these arms […] people will ever let me starve?” (Sinclair 23-24). Jurgis believes that his physical ability for labor will be enough to ensure his and his family's success, but this is just as foolhardy as the belief that holding on to their Lithuanian wedding tradition could shield the family from the ravages of American capitalism.
The American Revolution was fought because colonists felt the tyrannical government of Great Britain was abusing their authority, and directly affecting their way of life and happiness. The succession of the Confederate States was a peaceful way of saying to the United States that they felt they were using their power in an inappropriate way. The Confederate states were tired after years of regulations and acts that directly affected their way of life
The well-trained modern Italian forces had been defeated by backward, poorly equipped Abyssinian tribesmen. It was absolutely humiliating to have such a military record, revenge and final defeat would restore Italian pride. This would also be a distraction to the people of Italy, to take their mind of the Great Depression, which at this point was in full swing. Though Italy was not suffering nearly as much as countries such as USA, but they were still struggling. This war would give them purpose, and a sense that they were indeed moving forward, that this economic crisis was not their end.