Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Mohsin Hamids The unwilling fundamentalistic Identity Crisis of Post- 9/11 Pakistani-the Statesn Immigrants A Study of Mohsin Hamids The Reluctant fundamentalistic Home is where your feet are, and may your heart be there as well Uma ParmeshwaranGeographical dislocations and cross-blending of acculturations often necessitate traumatic experiences for the immigrants. The multiplicity of folks, within conflictual boundaries, does not necessarily bridge this gap between home the culture of origin and world the culture of adoption. More everywhere, an unsettled migrant, dwelling in fault, may find these two cultures becoming progressively hostile to separately other with the flow of time and space. Quite often, opportunities for work, trade, research and exploration has together with motivated, both voluntary and involuntary, migration from the East to the West- accompanied by memories of ones original homeland and its history. After the early 1970s, large scale of immigration has shown a great mobility and adjustability, especially, from S come forthh Asia to America- a country who has stood on providing encounter of choices to the immigrants throughout the history. However, the twist of the 21st century brought about many changes in the world when September-11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon endangered the lives of Asian immigrants in the U.S., most specifically Muslims, than it was ever before. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak in her seminal essay, terror A Speech After 9/111, explicates that the traditional left in the U.S. and in Europe has by and large understood the events of September 11 as a battle between fundamentalism and the failure of democracy, owe to which, the identity of Pakistanis backup abroad had become even more precarious. galore( wagernominal) who were unable to defend their own set of beliefs and tried to escape from the chaos, were termed Pakis and increasingly profiled as potential terrorists. Since Septmeber -11, one has visibly witnessed a new ripple of xenophobia in mankind, resulting into the closing of b molds and an irrational suspicion of the Other. In order to negotiate this disruption in the experience of the diasporic Muslim identity in the West, and to investigate the issues of identity, cross-culturality, post 9/11 return-to-home and other disaporic tropes, my study focuses on the work of Pakistani expatriate writer Mohsin Hamids semi-autobiographical novel, The Reluctant fundamentalist (2007)2 a tale of an immigrants angst and alienation in post 9/11 scenario as he attempts to acclimate to an adoptive homeland.The novel unfolds over a period of a day as the Pakistani narrator, Changez, unspools his manner story to the overt addressee, an unnamed American tourist, in a Lahore tea leaf shop of Od Anarkali district. In a one-sided dialogue, Changez reminiscences in dot his experience of living in the United States. Hailing from a well-to-do Pakistani family, Changez excels at Princeton University and becomes immediately a mod Yorker by and by being recruited as an analyst under the prestigious valuation firm, Underwood Samson. Meanwhile, he tumbles into a romantic relationship with a fellow Princeton graduate named Erica, who is consumed by the mythology which she has constructed rough her deceased boyfriend. His sentiment of belonging to New York high society, however, begins to stall after the events of September-11 2001 and the following U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Over the ensuing years, heathenish slurs are tossed in his direction which ultimately act as a catalyst to debunk Changezs fundamental self. Through the literary trope of migration, Hamids novel, in the backdrop of 9/11, illustrates a tale of dissolution and return to home, which becomes a vehicle for new understandings as the homeland is revalorised.Since September-11, 2001, identity government activity and clash of cultures have acquired a special resonance in the public spher e of the Western societies, with regard to their diasporic population, particularly Muslim diasporas. According to redbreast Cohen, diasporas are formed when considerable number of people move to a abroad land, either because of some mortifying experience or in search of economic opportunities. Muslim immigrants from South Asia, particularly Pakistan, have been living through a double pledge on one lead they have to respond to the international political crises such as September-11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq etc., and on the other, they are categorized with the South Asian diasporic identity.The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a narrative of the conflict embodied in the personal predicament of its protagonist to come to terms with the post 9/11 America and the new identity imposed upon him. The basic postulate of melting-pot theory that the American culture places on its newly arrived immigrants is amply dynamic stressing homogeneity on religious as well as ethnic level. Desp ite of his foreign style, Changez merges with the crowd and achieves a new individualized form of social mobility by assimilating into the host culture (Cohen 24). Both Erica and Jim (Underwoods managing director), stigmatize a foreignness in Changezs mannerism and demeanour that gives him favor over others. Youre a watchful guy. You know where that comes from? It comes from looking ating out of place, remarks Chris. But this initial excitement over a world(a) way of life in New York is replaced by disillusionment and disbelief offered by the events that followed 9/11. After watching the attacks on the Twin Towers in his hotel room in Manila, Changez realizes that suddenly a new identity that of a terrorist-look-alike is imposed on him, when he is first strip-searched and interrogated at the airport on his arrival in America. His sense of belonging changes overnight when his foreign appearance becomes a sign of otherness for his social environment in New York City. Also, Eric as neurosis and sudden estrangement from Changez are to be equated with the panic-ridden American societys doubts towards the loyalties of the Middle Eastern immigrant. This unexpected libertine relationship with the host society, suggesting a lack of acceptance at the to the lowest degree is what Cohen also informs as one of the common features of a diaspora (Cohen 26) that leads the protagonist to a wider examination of his relationship with the adopted homeland. September-11 has already set new forces into bowel movement which are redefining the immigrants relation to nation, diaspora and homeland.Changez has a decisive attri only whene in his search for identity that connects him across the post 9/11 continuum. The actualization that his job is exploiting developing nations like his own native land, Pakistan, weighs on his moral sense and causes him to anticipate what it means to be a member of the U.S. elite meritocracy. The post 9/11 scenario compels him to think about his ethnicity which he wants to retain. Stuart Hall indicates that identity is a structured representation which achieves its positive through the narrow affection of the negative. Disillusioned and disoriented, Changez does not find his identity through solidarity, but through resistance to the dominant culture. The novel seems to make a possibility for a crucial reality on which personal identity is based, constructed on the notion of home. According to Safran, imaginationlization of the ancestral home and the idea of return incorporate experiences of several dispersed people who may feel alienated from the host society. After being verbally abuse on several occasions, Changez starts identifying himself with his original roots as he believes that his ethnic identity has become a victim of ethnocentrism in the hands of Americans. construct on the fault lines of East West relations, the novel offers essential consciousness to diaspoic tropes, such as the beard and the janissary, w hich highlight Changezs marginal condition.