Mohsin+Hamid,+The+Reluctant+Fundamentalist+(2008)

Mohsin Hamid's novel, //The Reluctant Fundamentalist,// follows a Pakistani who moves to American to attend Princeton University and experience the magic of America. However, after graduating from an Ivy League school and being selected for a position at Underwood Samson, as a financial analyst, he soon is engulfed by the lifestyle of yearning for a rank in high society. His outlook and morals are compensated by the love affliction he has towards one of his colleagues who suffers from the loss of her boyfriend of lung cancer. Changez desires Erica's presence in his life, however she is stuck in a hypothetical relationship with her dead boyfriend, Chris- which complicates reality. After the attacks on 9/11, Changez begins to be preoccupied in the down-spin of Erica's mental health and the tension and terror that is occurring in the uproar between Pakistan and India. Hamid communicates the events of the novel through the individual story of Changez, which he personally tells to an American while in a cafe in Lahore, Pakistan. []
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**Forum Assignment** The Reluctant Fundamentalist (RF) pages 1-184 Art of Fiction (AF) //"Irony"// David Sirota, "Blowback of War" (pdf in the RF module)

300-500 Words

1) What was your initial reaction to Changez's smile while watching the Twin Towers fall? Do you think that Changez's reaction to 9/11 was foreshadowed in any way leading up to the event of the attack? Provide an explanation of the events that you believed foreshadowed Changez's reaction and the reasons whether the author included hints (or didn't include hints) to Changez's hidden feelings toward America. Include two quotes from the novel in your explanation.

2) What was Moshin Hamid's purpose in writing this novel through the eyes of someone that wasn't from an American origin? Although Changez lived in American and was a "lover" of our country, what concepts did Hamid bring to the novel through the views and experiences of a character of Pakistani decent? In your answer, include one quote from the novel and one from this wikispace.

Biographical Info
Mohsin Hamid is the author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, two other novels, and an incredible amount of short stories and essays published in various magazines and papers over the years. Moshin Hamid --- Lahore, Pakistan Hamid, born in 1971 in Pakistan, was the son of a Stansford University Professor and spent his youth traveling back and forth from California and his hometown in Lahore, Pakistan. Eventually his family moved back to Pakistan full time where he attended Lahore American School, one of the most elite international schools in Pakistan. At the age of 18 he moved back to the U.S where he graduated from both Princeton and Harvard and was even in a class where the world famous Toni Morrison taught writing workshops. Hamid spent the next few years juggling his passion for writing with his prestigious job at McKinsey & Company, Inc, considered by many to be the top management consulting firm in the world. Eventually He moved back to Pakistan again to become a freelance journalist and used this time to finish his first novel, Moth Smoke, that he had started years earlier under the tutelage of Toni Morrison. Moth Smoke was released in 2000 to critical acclaim all over the globe. Its merits include getting the Betty Trask award, being a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and many best of book lists by notable papers such as the New York Times. His Second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, was released in 2007 to an even bigger impact. It raked in various awards and ended up on virtually every best of book list from the year, and some even stating it was one of the best of the decade. It even made it all the way to number 4 on the New York Times best seller list while selling over a million copies and was translated to over 25 languages. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, his third novel was just released in 2013. Although his first two novels have been turned into film and television properties Mosin has doubts that his third will also cross the media barrier.

"The new novel is a self-help book told about 'you.' Again, you could make it into a movie about a young boy who grows up and falls in love and gets old, but they are intrinsically novels. I try to write novels that do things that only novels can do. If I've learned anything from being involved in making films, it's that there are certain things that films do well and there are certain things that films can't do, and the things that films can't do interest me."

http://www.mohsinhamid.com/ http://literature.britishcouncil.org/mohsin-hamid http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/interview-novelist-mohsin-hamid-wants-you-get-filthy-rich-rising-asia []
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Literary Criticism
This novel has been given abundant literary merit for its structure and unique narration. Many of the literary criticism of the novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, discuss the interesting concept of the mute character that Changez is speaking to. The narrator addresses the character in a cafe in Lahore, Pakistan but the character is named "The American". Mohsin Hamid flips the table by giving the power to Changez on Pakistan soil and making "The American" the one who must listen and be wordless. Also the novelist has been questioned with the purpose of the novel, was it to portray political aspects and opinions or to express the growth and confusion that Changez goes through? However, Hamid denied the "description of The Reluctant Fundamentalist as a book with a political thesis" in a review by The Guardian Book Club.

The novel is honored in the way that Hamid was able to depict the personal catastrophe of Changez's life, which is a cycle between the "personal becoming the political, the political colouring the personal" which expresses the true cloudiness in The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Hindustan Times illuminate the way in which Hamid plays around with the idea that politics and Changez's individual life and character aren't two separate concepts but rather two that are interlaced together.

In an in depth criticism article by [|The New York Times], Karen Olsson expresses her description and opinion of the novel with a negative connotation. Olsson is fascinated with the structure, explaining that the "monologue is the substance of Hamid's elegant and chilling novel", which focuses on the "class aspirations and inner struggles" of Changez after the attack of 9/11. The criticizer acknowledges that although Changez did not want to be an American,he was "absorbed in his eagerness to join the country's elite" weather that be through working at Underwood Samson or his desire to have and obtain Erica. Olsson posses the question is Changez "the ignorant master or the canny subaltern? And has he sacrificed his identity in pursuit of status?" which connects to the domino affect of Changez's reaction to 9/11 and realization of his true feelings toward America. However, Olsson is not impressed with the convenience of the parallels between "Erica's obsession with the past engineered to dovetail with America's nostalgia and with Changez's yearning for a lost Lahore -- while her disappearance neatly parallels his departure from America". Also, the criticizer points out the distaste for the interruptions of the narrators questions implying what The American was saying. In addition, the title is a questionable aspect of the novel because it could mean two things; that "every critic of America in a Muslim country should be labeled a fundamentalist, or whether the term more accurately describes the capitalists of the American upper class".

India before and during the British raj was composed mostly of Hindus (except for ethnic regions composed of Sikhs, or other ethnic groups), and was ruled over by Muslims Princes (the Mughals, of course there are exceptions). With the end of World War two came a cry for the right of self rule to the subcontinent and with it the Two-Nation Theory. The Two-Nation Theory espoused that “The Ideology that religion is the determining factor in defining the nationality of Indian Muslims”. This eventually led to the partition of the Subcontinent into the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India, which would eventually transform into their Modern equivalents, the republic of India and Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Their is a serious rivalry (even that is an understatement), that stems from a variety of problems, but culminates ultimately into a sort of Cold War paranoia, which is not helped by that fact that both sides have Nuclear Weapons.

US Involvement in Pakistan
Summarizing the relationship between the USA and Pakistan is difficult. At face value the Government of Pakistan “resents” the US yet works very closely Militarily. “According to the Ministry of Finance calculations, in the three years before the attacks of 11 September, Pakistan received approximately $9 million in American military aid. In the three years after, the number increased to $4.2 billion” Under the guise of “The War on Terror” flies drones to look for pockets of Terrorists in Pakistan, which leads to an arise of anti-American sentiment. According the author Hassan Haqqani, the government has slid into Militarism relying on US funding and ignoring other programs in order to support their military. Haqqani also makes the interesting statement of “it being a short-term Military to Military relationship, rather than a long term people to people relationship

Two main events impacted the outcome and impact of this particular novel; he terrorist attack on 9/11 on the Twin Towers and the 2001 Indian Parliament Attack.

2001 Indian Parliament Attack:
On December 13, 2001, a group of five terrorist entered the Parliament house in cars that were wrongly labeled leading security to believe that they were Home Ministry and Parliament. The cars containing the terrorist crashed into the empty car of the Indian Vice President, Kristan Kant, and then the gunman proceeded to filter out of their cars and begin shooting.

Indian Parliament Building Although the Rajya Sabha (Council of States- the upper house of the Indian Parliament) and Lok Sabha (House of People- lower house of the Indian Parliament) had been in a meeting 40 minutes before the terrorist attack, however many of the government officials were still on duty and in the building.

After the group of terrorist unleashed their fire, the Vice President's guards started to shoot back and began to try and close the gates to the compound. All five gunman were shot and killed as well as five policeman, a Parliament security guard, and the gardener. The minister and the Members of Parliaments escaped the attack unhurt, but 18 others were injured.

The Indian Government went into full swing to investigate the terrorist event and the people that were involved. They accused Afzal Guru, Shaukat Hussain and S.A.R. Gilani and Navjot Sandhu a.k.a. Afsan of involvement of the attack and sentenced. Afzal Guru was sentenced to death by the Indian court and hung on 3 February 2013, however Shaukat Hussain was release due to his "good conduct".

Afzal Guru This attack increased the tension between India and Pakistana and resulted in the 2001-2002 India-Pakistan standoff. The 2001-2002 India- Pakistan standoff was a standoff of the Indian Military and Pakistan Military that "resulted in the massing of troops on either side of the International Boarder". Although there was a small possibility of nuclear war, western media portrayed the standoff with coverage that focused on the possibility. In the end, the standoff was resolved and both sides agreed to withdrawal in October of 2002. India-Pakistan Map

September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack on New York Twin Towers:
The attacks on the Twin Towers of New York City and the Washington D.C. metropolitan area were committed on Tuesday September 11, 2001 by four groups of terrorist launched by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Queda. The 19 Al-Queda terrorist hijacked 4 planes in attempt to suicide attack major buildings in New York and Washington D.C..

American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were flown into the south and north towers of the World Trade Center. Although the buildings did not fall immediately, within two hours of the planes crashing into the building, both towers crumbled to the ground which filled the ground area with debris and smoke. The fire and smoke caused crucial damage to the WTC complex as well as other buildings surrounding the area.

American Airline Flight 77, was drove into The Pentagon in Virginia. which is the home of the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, causing damage and destruction to the western side of the building. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was intended to crash in Washington D.C., but after the passengers attempted to overcome the hijackers, the plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

A total of 19 hijackers and 227 civilians died in the four planes that were taken hostage by Al-Queda. Over 3,000 people died in the attacks, whether they were in the Twin Towers, The Pentagon, or anywhere surrounding the areas that were attacked. The attacks of 9/11 was the deadliest incident for firefighters in the history of the United States.

The suspicion of who planned the attacks quickly fell on Al-Queda, however the group leader, Osama bin Laden denied involvement but later took responsibility for the attacks in 2004. "Al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U.S. support of Israel, the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives for the attacks", which prompted the United States the launch of War on Terror and invading Afghanistan. The U.S. invaded Afganistan to destroy the Taliban which was harboring Al-Queda. In May 2001, the United States forces found and killed Osama bin Laden.

This also lead to a heightened sense of paranoia and to a the US PATRIOT ACT

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Video & Film Clips or Other Media (optional; may also be distributed in various sections)
Trailer for The Reluctant Fundamentalist

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The making of The Reluctant Fundamentalist by IFC media type="custom" key="25340824" Husain Haqqani's Interview with John Stewart media type="custom" key="25350232" media type="custom" key="25350246" media type="custom" key="25350256"

Web Links (optional)
Mohsim Hamid's personal twitter page https://twitter.com/mohsin_hamid