he cried. 'They got me a long time ago,' said O'Brien with a mild, almost regretful irony" (238). This quotation provides significance to the theme of Appearance vs. reality; questions are raised in regards to who O'Brien really is, who he is working for and what side he is on. O'Brien's character at this point in the novel essentially is a blur to the reader, as O'Brien is the root cause of Winston being placed in The Ministry of Love, he still appears friendly and almost sympathetic towards Winston as he was in the beginning of the
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Moshin Hamid is a dramatic monologue that, is half-conversation and half story, this allows a complex and engaging puzzle which challenges readers about the very nature of fundamentalism. At the beginning of his personal life journey, and as a self professed lover of America, Changez sees his newly adopted home as a place of possibility and ‘magical vibrancy’, his loyalty to America is the catalyst to his personal American dream. However, during a series of psychologically confront events, such as 9/11, Changez’s understanding of his inner world is gradually transformed, and he eventually accepts that he belongs in Pakistan. His love affair with the dream is over. Changez initially places his identity within the context of fulfilling his personal American Dream.
He was able to afford to travel the world, and has returned home to settle down with the woman of his dreams. Winsett on the other hand, is a completely different story. He lives in what is described by Archer as “a dilapidated wooden house”(47). Although compared to the beautiful homes Archer is used to seeing, we don’t really know how “dilapidated” that Winsett’s home really is. In contrast to Archer, Winsett is not afraid to tell people what he thinks of the society that
Along the way, the meaning of being "American" changes significantly for John, who realizes he is more a product of the steel furnaces of Pennsylvania than of anything American. The family of immigrants that Out of this Furnace explores had a similar viewpoint regarding America as did many of their co-immigrants - they were leaving a bad town in search of a better one. As Kracha thinks at the novel's outset "he hoped he was likewise leaving behind the endless poverty and oppression which were the birthright of a Slovak peasant in Franz Josef's empire." Kracha finds out during his voyage for America that poverty may not be something he is leaving behind. He wastes his money on the birthday party of a pretty, young, married girl he meets aboard ship.
However, during a series of psychologically confronting events, Changez’s understanding of his inner world is gradually transformed, and he eventually accepts that he belongs in Pakistan. His love affair with the"dream"-America is over. Nevertheless, it is a long and arduous task for Changez, as he seeks to discover a sense of his own self and of the internal connections between his personal and political ideology. Changez's life journey encompasses his understanding of the need for spiritual development.As a"reluctant fundamentalist", Changez is forced to strip back the layers of his personal and professional life to see his situation with more clarity. This new clarity also reveals something fundamental about America that he, and perhaps readers, must come to terms with in the course of the novel.
With the novel being written as a monologue we discover how Changez feel throughout his life experiences in America as a Pakistani man. However choosing to embrace his culture even more post 9/11 and maintaining a beard leads the reader to a very dramatic and controversial ending that leaves them enclosed in their own perceptions of how everything pans out. Changez’s identity adjusts thought-out the novel. At the beginning he is very friendly and playful as he speaks to the American in very polite manner, while giving off a shifty and uncertain image of what the American is like. Due to the narrative being a monologue it leaves a big uncertainty of what the American’s real identity is.
“Why do you go out of your way to make a bad feeling?” (109) This quote is just one example of how what Rab says and what Rab does greatly affects Johnny. After meeting Rab for the first time, Johnny notices how nonchalantly he does things. When Johnny starts working for the Boston Observer, he watches how hard working and patient Rab was. These observations set out a new way of doing and a newfound determination for Johnny. After visiting Rab at the end of the book, Johnny finds courage, a courage he never knew he had before.
Changez does find his identity throughout his journey, however, at time he loses himself and is confused about where he belongs. Ideas: Finding his identity: Realisations, moves back to Lahore Losing his identity: Pretending to be Chris, starts acting like an American (in Philippines) Confused about his identity: Beard, 9/11 attacks, “Princeton made everything possible…but it did not, could not, make me forget such things as how much I enjoy the tea in this, the city of my birth” Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist, illustrates the conflicting struggle between the protagonist Changez and his ongoing pursuit to discover his identity throughout his peregrination. Through the duration of the novel, the reader is subjected to Changez’s transitioning character as he endeavours the challenges which are faced by a foreigner in New York during the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Changez battles with the uncertainty which is bestowed up him from being both a New Yorker and a Pakistani man, which puts his identity into question. Through the many events which feature in the novel, the reader is able to deduct that whilst Changez may lose himself and become perplexed about his identity during his time in New York, he ultimately is a man who is entrenched in his heritage.
Mohsin Hamid’s dramatic monologue, The Reluctant Fundamentalist tells the story of a young Pakistani man who is consumed by the status of America and becomes immersed in the American way of life. The narrator, Changez is unsure of who he is, and whilst certain personality traits remain, his sense of identity is changed significantly by the novel’s conclusion. America is the country that Changez becomes enamoured and then disillusioned with. This turbulent emotional journey is reflected in Changez’s professional and personal relationships. At first, he is enchanted by the beautiful Erica, with whom he attempts to pursue a romantic relationship; likewise, he is enticed by the career and status opportunities that elite valuation firm Underwood Samson offers.
(As you can see, Hamid is quite heavy-handed with the way he names his characters. He makes his Erica-America parallel so obvious that it becomes annoying.) When Changez first arrives in the US, he discovers that the opulence that surrounds him in his Ivy League school and his Wall Street job makes it difficult to maintain the same vision of national identity that he brought with him from home: For we were not always burdened by debt, dependent on foreign aid and handouts; in the stories we tell of ourselves we were not the crazed and destitute radicals you see on your television channels but rather saints and poets and—yes—conquering kings. We built the Royal Mosque and the Shalimar Gardens in this city, and we built the Lahore Fort with its mighty walls and wide ramp for our battle-elephants. And we did these things when your country was still a collection of thirteen small colonies, gnawing away at the edge of a continent.