The Reluctant Fundamentalist
by Mohsin Hamid (Penguin, 2007)
As the title strongly suggests, there is an expression of hesitancy in being a ‘fundamentalist’. The protagonist Changez, a Lahore born elite in New York, trains himself through hard work and icy discipline to ‘focus on the fundamentals’ as his job in a top firm in corporate America directs him to do. The author Hamid, plays with the word. Slowly Changez’s ‘blinkers’ come off and, in the eyes of some, he gives in to another form of fundamentalism. This novel, set in the years shortly prior to and after 9-11-2001 is, to my mind, an excellent narrative about what is behind the making of a ‘fundamentalist’. Needless to add, it is as highly relevant to our times as it was when it was published in 2007. Hamid has written a literary thriller, which I found difficult to put down once I got going, not only because of its form, but also because I found the content exciting and engaging.
The opening lines are revealing, as Changez addresses an American stranger in a busy part of Lahore with ‘excuse me sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America’. They are in the hectic market area of Anarkali in central Lahore. The narrative shifts back and forth in time and place as Changez invites the stranger to typical South Asian tea, and subsequently to taste the pleasures of Lahori cuisine, while at the same time continuing with his monologue without pause. That there is a form of conversation is only reflected in his repetition of the American’s questions or to be inferred by the reader through his response. The narrative moves back and forth between the past and the present. Other characters are introduced, through what Changez has to say about them as they appear in the Lahori restaurant, as well as from the recounting of past events. Amongst these is the waiter, whose attentions to Changez and the stranger take on a sinister quality as the narrative proceeds. The book has an open ending, leaving the reader to decide which of these three characters gets to survive the tale.
The reader learns from Changez that he was, until fairly recently, a student of Princeton, and recruited by Jim, when the latter came to that eminent university to head hunt. Jim saw immediately that Changez, like him, was ‘an outsider’- one whose ambition and single-minded commitment to succeed would serve as a win-win. The deferential tone that Changez takes on to speak to the stranger in Lahore in the opening lines are a reflection of his Pakistani culture, and this, in addition to Jim’s insightful analysis of his character support Changez in his functioning in the hierarchical setting of Underwood Samson in New York. He surpasses his peers time and again and is soon Jim’s blue-eyed boy. What’s more, New York feels like home to Changez, as he draws the parallel to Lahore where too, the automobilist would be better off disembarking and taking to the footpath. When he does take a taxi, he finds that many of the drivers speak Urdu, his native language, and he meets them again in the Pak-Punjab Deli, where he gets to eat food like back home. He is in love with Erica, an aspiring writer, also from Princeton. Things couldn’t be better for Changez as he climbs the ladder of success in cut-throat corporate America and is Erica’s escort and companion in the art world of New York. However, wooing Erica proves to be a challenge as she is still in love with Chris – her deceased childhood friend and later, lover and soul mate; in fact her other half.
On September 11th 2001, Changez watches the twin towers collapse on a television screen in his hotel room in Manila, where Jim has sent him for an important assignment. He tells the American stranger in Lahore that secretly, he admired those that had succeeded in bringing America to its knees. The recognition of the pleasure he feels at America’s humiliation comes soon after he has learned to push his weight around around the Filipinos he is working with because he sees that they respect Americans. When asked where he is from, he has learned to answer ‘New York’ and not ‘Lahore’. On the flight to Manila, reclining in business class and getting served, he had leaned back and felt he was James Bond, only better paid. So his pleasures at America’s downfall is a mystery to him as well.
When flights resume after 9/11 and he is back in New York, his colleagues get to leave the airport, but Changez is taken aside, asked to strip down to his underwear and questioned. And so, begins his journey towards an understanding of who he really is. Changez’s innermost feelings, America’s ‘war on terror’, and specifically the geo-politics with regard to this super power’s stance on South Asia leave him with dilemmas and questions about his identity and his values. He grows a beard against the good advice of a friend and colleague, Wainwright. The option of becoming Erica’s husband is closed to him as she cuts off all contact, saying it is better for Changez, because she is incomplete without Chris. She is soon institutionalized as her mental health gets worse and America, according to Changez relapses into nostalgia in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy.
Changez cannot any more ‘focus on the fundamentals’ in Underwood Sherman while his attention is on the fundamental question of who he really is and whether he is ‘for’ or ‘against’ America. This is answered for him by a perceptive elderly Chilean when he is on an assignment in Valparaiso, who explains what janissaries were in history, suggesting strongly that he is one. With his ‘blinkers off’, and after he has shamed his mentor Jim with his non-performance, he resigns and heads back to Lahore. Here, as a young college professor, he urges his students to take to the streets for a Pakistan that is not dependent on American aid in return for the privilege of having military bases in it. One of his students is arrested and the dean of the university warns him about his ideology and its effect on youngsters. It is in this context, that he encounters the American stranger in Lahore, and insists that despite his beard and his reputation, he is a lover of America, and invites him to share tea, conversation and a meal. At the end of the novel, he offers to accompany the American to his hotel through the deserted streets, reassuring him that he need not worry about the strangers and the waiter who appear to be following them. The novel ends with an close encounter between these men, but leaves the reader to decide what happens next.
The form of the monologue and the suggestion that he is answering or responding to the stranger provides a clear perspective from the point of view of Chengez. However, it also poses some challenges. At times, the author, in order to tell his story actually appears to eliminate Changez’s American companion. For example, Changez refers to the stranger getting alarmed at his sharing of intimate moments with Erica. Here, the speaker and the listener are actually the author and his reader. It is highly unlikely that anyone, let alone the character Changez, would go into graphic details about his sex life with a strange man he has met for the first time a short while ago. Hamid then uses these intimate details to symbolically show that Changez has to embody the white man, Chris in order to possess and unite with the American, Erica. This rather cliched symbolism seems forced considering the form that the author has chosen, as well as the characterization of his protagonist.
Nevertheless, the message of the ‘the reluctant fundamentalist’ is crystal clear and the monologue serves this purpose well through the teasing, sometimes provocative, yet friendly and respectful tone of Changiz’s voice. I found I was empathizing with Changez and Erica and even with Jim. There is a slow build-up of tension as evening gives way to night and busy Anarkali is divested of its people. Changez refers to the bulge behind the stranger’s jacket as the place where a holster is generally strapped but then quickly goes on to suggest that perhaps it is a money belt. He talks about the delicious smelling kebaabs and the visceral quality of raw, bloody, animal flesh, and mentions prey suggesting victims and perpetrators, thus adding to the suspense. The invisible waiter gradually acquires a personality and a presence while remaining, like the stranger, nameless but turns out to be a key character lurking in the shadows.
‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ by Mohsin Hamid is a short novel, engaging, well-crafted, and topical, and eminently readable in one sitting.
My rating: