Reluctant Fundamentalist
THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST
“It’s like I’m an oyster. I’ve had this sharp speck inside me for a long time, and I’ve been trying to make it more comfortable, so slowly I’ve turned it into a pearl.”
'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' a ‘brief and charming story; a ‘seething commentary on the events of post 9/11 and the resentment it has created in the minds of non-western world for the way America has conducted itself after the attacks. A monologue narrated by a young bearded Pakistani man Changez to his unnamed American guest with whom he meets in one of the oldest and busiest districts of Lahore Anarkali. Changez tells his guest about his life and experiences of America; narrating the days he has spent in America first as a student and then as a successful wall street professional, professing himself as a lover of America and describing his journey from Pakistan to Princeton and then to Underwood Samson as a dream comes true. Later, in spite of his success in the roles and prospects given to him by the host land; he experienced qualms about his contributions in those tendered roles as well as on the America's role in the world. Changez belongs to an upper class family whose wealth has diminished over the generations due to economic adversity, and family vice, but still whose social standings persists. He moved to America from his native city of Lahore to study on scholarship at Princeton. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the renowned "valuation" firm of Underwood Samson. He was given a pre-employment bonus and went on vocations to Greece with fellow Princeton students where he met with Erica and subsequently fall in love with her.
Erica a beautiful young woman; 'a lioness: strong, sleek and invariably surrounded by her pride' as Changez depict her. She is an aspiring writer, and from an élite family living in Manhattan New York. Though troubled from the death of her childhood friend and sweetheart Chris from cancer she was
“It’s like I’m an oyster. I’ve had this sharp speck inside me for a long time, and I’ve been trying to make it more comfortable, so slowly I’ve turned it into a pearl.”
'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' a ‘brief and charming story; a ‘seething commentary on the events of post 9/11 and the resentment it has created in the minds of non-western world for the way America has conducted itself after the attacks. A monologue narrated by a young bearded Pakistani man Changez to his unnamed American guest with whom he meets in one of the oldest and busiest districts of Lahore Anarkali. Changez tells his guest about his life and experiences of America; narrating the days he has spent in America first as a student and then as a successful wall street professional, professing himself as a lover of America and describing his journey from Pakistan to Princeton and then to Underwood Samson as a dream comes true. Later, in spite of his success in the roles and prospects given to him by the host land; he experienced qualms about his contributions in those tendered roles as well as on the America's role in the world. Changez belongs to an upper class family whose wealth has diminished over the generations due to economic adversity, and family vice, but still whose social standings persists. He moved to America from his native city of Lahore to study on scholarship at Princeton. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the renowned "valuation" firm of Underwood Samson. He was given a pre-employment bonus and went on vocations to Greece with fellow Princeton students where he met with Erica and subsequently fall in love with her.
Erica a beautiful young woman; 'a lioness: strong, sleek and invariably surrounded by her pride' as Changez depict her. She is an aspiring writer, and from an élite family living in Manhattan New York. Though troubled from the death of her childhood friend and sweetheart Chris from cancer she was