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English: The Reluctant fundamentalist Isabell & Viktor 38j The Reluctant fundamentalist analysis The novel is written by Moshin Hamid. The story is about Changez. A young man in his mid-twenties, Princeton-educated Pakistani who works at the firm Underwood Samson. The story takes place in Lahore, Pakistan where Changez goes to a American Stranger and asks him in a very polite way if he needs assistance. Changez tells the American Stranger, he wants to take him to a cafe. At the cafe we hear Changez's story in America, from the time at Princeton and meeting Erica to the lawyer job at Underwood Samson. The 11 of September, 2001. Changez is working in Manila and seeing the World Trade Center collapse. He is thinking about the consequences that will happen to the world. When he returns to New York he starts to see and feel differences, because he is Pakstani. Also at his work at Underwood Samson, he is actually working against his own country. In the end, Changez visa is running out and he gets fired at his work, so he travels back to his home country and starts supporting anti-American demonstrations and at the same time he is working at a university. As the story is about to end, Changez notices that the Stranger is not paying full attention to him and keeps an eye on a group that is following them. Changez's purpose by talking to the Stranger is to persuade the Stranger that not all foreigners are terrorists. But in the end the Stranger puts his hand into his pocket to reach for something which compels Changez to remind the man he immediately gets associated with. They split and Changez hopes that the Stranger is only reaching for his business card.

Narration + Point of view The book is told by Changez, who is also the main character of the story. With a first person narrator, the story is much more real and we feel more like we are in the story. An example of a first person narrator could be “I feel like doing this today”, the reason for that is we are getting in his mind and knowing how he feels. Another thing of a first person narrator is that he describes himself as “I”. Narrator The narrator Changez is in the mid 20s, the way we see that is by his description about himself. But also that he is still in university, at some point in the story. He is working in a company called Underwood Samson, the company is a law firm. Setting The story takes place in two different places. We are most of the time in New York, where Changez is working in Underwood Samson. But we are also in Lahore in Pakistan, which is where his family lives. The story takes place in the present time, which means that it is a story told about today. They way we see that is by small things like phones, planes, how they talk and much more. The time is around 2001. In the story there are two different stories, one where he is in Lahore and one where he is working at Underwood Samson in NY. The one at Lahore is only a day where the story he is telling is a few years. In the story we feel like Changez is in a middle class environment.

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English: The Reluctant fundamentalist Isabell & Viktor 38j Characters Changez is our Pakistani mushlim principal and he is also telling the story about his time in the USA to The Stranger. He is in midth 20. He attended Princeton University on a scholarship. In the beginning of the story Changez loves America, has friends, works hard at the firm and sees Erica. But after 9/11 he start to experience discrimination and racism against his country. His “girlfriend” Erica is not fully over her dead boyfriend and likes Changez. At the end he returned to Pakistan as a anti-American teacher at a university and started to demonstrate against America. The Stranger is the American guy Changez is telling his story to. We never get a name to the Stranger and we don't know if we can trust him. The Stranger could be a tourist or a government agent but we don’t know. In the novel we see two different culture gaps before and after post-9/11. Erica is the beautiful and popular between the boys at Princeton, which Changez falls in love with. She has strong feelings for Changez, but she sometimes seems to make Changez as a exotic foreigner. In the end of the novel Erica may kill herself and Changez still thinks of her when he returns to Pakistan. Her name “Erica” is contained within the word “America” and Changez’s relationship with Erica is difficult maybe because of his other relationship to America. Jim is Changez's boss/mentor. He is friendly and he is gay. The novel hints that Jim may be interested in Changez romantically. Wainwright is Changez’s friend at Underwood Samson and the only non-white trainee. After 9/11 him and Changez grew apart.

Language and Style The text is a really difficult text to read. The reason for how the words are set up, but also because there are really long words. When there is a word you don't know what means, then look it up because then you understand the story. The text is both simple and complex, which is a bit strange. But there are points in the story where everything makes sense, but there are also points where you have to look a lot behind the lines. Composition Two different stories, frame story Jump from time to time, because it is a frame story. Theme There are a lot of different themes in the novel. Changez is giving us a perspective and experiences that give him insight about aspects of American patriotism that Americans take for granted. In the start he is not fully aware of the culture gap, but when he graduates from Princeton he is starting to see it also because of before and post-9/11. We are also seeing love between Erica and Changez even if it is not the main theme in the novel.

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English: The Reluctant fundamentalist Isabell & Viktor 38j Racism is also a big theme in the story our author shows how people judge each other based on skin color and clothing. Racism is not a very big part before 9/11 but after it becomes a huge theme. American imperialism is a big part of the novel because it paints a picture of America as a country. We also see how Changez was taken to the side to be searched and questioned. In the beginning of the novel we see “the american dream”, but in the end get the real picture drawn. The message of the novel is muslims are harshly treated after 9/11 and our author describes how they become victims and targets of crimes, interrogations at American airports and so on.

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