The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Over the course of history, South Asians have been mistreated and undermined within American society. This is especially evident after the terror attacks of 9/11 in which Americans shunned its South Asian Population, and reduced them to devastating stereotypes. This has created tension and hostility within the South Asian community, thus pressuring them to being more Americanized, and further creating a fixation towards becoming more white. The obsession with American culture has caused many to conform, leaving behind cultural and religious parts of their identities. It is necessary to explore the history behind the mistreatment of South Asians to understand why the change in identity such as those portrayed with Changez in The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Amir in Disgraced have occurred. These main characters of South Asian descent make it is clear that the American dream for immigrants creates a constant struggle between national and transnational identities as racism and hostility are being thrust upon them by American society.

The Fundamentalist-Modernist dispute was a religious dispute that occurred in the 1920s and 1930s within the confines of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America that ended up creating separation in most of the American Christian movements also. In fact, convinced that the literal truth of the Bible formed the basis of Christian belief, fundamentalists initiated a campaign to eradicate Protestant denominations of modernism and to fight the new individual freedoms that seemed to contradict traditional morality (Foner 788). What is more, the press portrayed fundamentalism as a movement of backwoods bigots. Yet, it was a national phenomenon. Fundamentalism continued to be an important strain of 1920s politics and culture (Foner

Atheism is disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods, they reject religion as apart of not only a rejection of ignorance, but also a rejection of their religious family and association of religion itself, says Catherine L. and Caldwell-Harris who are published in the Department of Psychology for Boston University, Lesley College,University of Haifa, and Trinity College. This is a stark contrast to theism, which is the belief in god and is the case for many Americans. This demographic is about 83% of America’s population, according to the most recent census. About 16% of the population, or about 34,169,000 people are of an unaffiliated position, which would include Atheists,

D’Souza, on the other hand, is an avid supporter of his image of the American Dream and its presence in America. Dinesh explains the popularity of the American Dream worldwide is because people wish for, “the American way of life.” (D’Souza, 73) As if it was coming from a foreigner, he continues to exemplify the American Dream as an outsider looking in and seeing all of the splendor and appeal of Americans’ lives. It is this enchantment that causes people from all ends of the Earth to migrate to the United States and even leave their families and traditions. The most emphasized element and essentially the core of the American Dream is the ability to, “write the script of your own life.” (D’Souza, 83) The writer gives his own real-life example of the American Dream, through his emergence as a writer and later a White House Staff member simply because he pursued his own dream. Through the constant comparisons with the inequalities present in countries throughout the World, D’Souza is fascinated with the diversity of America and the, “tolerant society”, that this diversity has spawned. (D’Souza, 94)

Right after he was arrested the girl disappeared; no one knows where she went, or what happened to her. Disappointment and hurt were the emotions true felt, Erica was his first love. He couldn’t believe she would do him like that.

In a forever evolving universe, it is not uncommon for human beings to experience apprehension when it comes to the idea of change. While some are passionately working towards the future, others are struggling to grasp onto the remnants of the past. New generations are being born and with every new generation comes an increasingly advanced perspective of the world. Traditional ideals and ways of life are continuously expanding and becoming something that may be unrecognizable to some and unheard of to others. With this being said, however, there is one thing that will never be completely new: the concept of religion.

As the young, female protagonist in “America and I” took her first steps toward a life in the United States, her head was already overflowing with preconceived notions of what that life would look like. Tommy Hilfiger once said, “the road to success is not easy to navigate, but with hard work, drive and passion, it's possible to achieve the American dream.” His words practically provide a definition for what most people expected an American life to be. You get a job, you work hard, you buy a house, you have kids; achieving the American dream was equivalent to a fairytale with a happy ending. However, Anzia Yezierska reveals the roller coaster of incidents and hindrances that many immigrants face during their quest to find their happily ever

Two hundred forty-one years. In that small amount of time America forged its self into a vast landscape of different cultures. A combination of numerous cultures mongrelized together to form “We the people” in America today. Due to all the mixing in the pot, an uncertainty about the countries identity arose. For all the beauty that the melting pot brought, it also created a darker side, as aspects of each cultures fought for superiority in the nation. This fight emerges throughout American history and as a new era of deporis rises, the issues are becoming more relevant. In American Dreamer by Bharati Mukherjee, she shares her own experiences as an immigrant and the fight she partook in to have her own American identity seen. Mukherjee’s fight mirrors hundreds of naturalized American citizens who are trying to realize their identity, however it also shines light on native-born Americas struggling as well. The need for a unified American identity produces a nationwide identity crisis.

“Sahaj.” My mom began to speak. “We need to move to America. Dad just got a job there and we will be leaving Friday. It was Wednesday. I cried and sobbed and begged. Just to avoid change. I wanted to stay, I wanted to be with all my friends and not move to a strange foreign land, I didn’t want to leave New

“They knew there was a possibility the agent had sold them out to the militants, and so they knew there was a possibility this was the final afternoon of their lives”(Hamid 102); leaving your country might be the hardest decision that someone has to make. In Mohsin Hamid’s novel Exit West he puts his main characters in a dangerous situation of trusting a total stranger to get them into another county with a chance of them being sold out and killed. This decision to migrate includes leaving your family and friends, starting your life over, and possibly endangering the lives of your family along with yourself. Hamid follows a young couple migrating out of their home town for safety and a better life. The challenges presented in the novel can be applied to real life migration. Hamid represents the difficulties of traveling from country to country through his magical doors, includes learning how to find your way in new places, and presents the idea of countries not wanting migrants. Exit West reveals the migration issues in today's world to prove that migrants deserve the same basic liberties as everyone else, because it effects everyone else and takes a lot of will power to travel to an unfamiliar place.

5. This quote is important to the reader’s understanding of the book as an argument because it states that America is not living up to the American Dream. Baba loves “the idea of America,” though when he starts to live there, he sees the true difficulty of being successful in this country. America prides itself on the idea of the American Dream, which is that when someone works hard, they will be prosperous. Baba, a wealthy man in Afghanistan society, believes in this

“American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us,” by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell, and “America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity,” by Robert Wuthnow, give different thoughts to religion and politics in the United States. Putnam and Campbell utilize the concepts of shocks and aftershocks to highlight religious changes in the United States. On the other hand, Wuthnow uses observations to focus on the encounters of religious diversity in the United States. Wuthnow compares American Christianity with other popular religions in America and how Christianity has affected the perception of religion. Putnam and Campbell’s “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us” is a more persuasive assessment of American religion and politics.

It is Changez’s shifting identity that creates the main interest and tension in the novel. Do you agree?

What is a reluctant fundamentalist? To be reluctant is to have feelings of aversion. A fundamentalist is one who holds on to any set of principles. Then the term of being a reluctant fundamentalist is somewhat an ironic term in this context, because our main character is a person who is not sure what beliefs he should adhere to. The novel “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” is written by Mohsin Hamid and was published in 2007. Our main character, Changez, struggles to find his identity between being an American or Pakistani through certain events in his life.

Fundamentalism and Religion For a vast majority, the term “fundamentalism” evokes images of hostage crises, embassies under siege, hijackings, and suicide bombers. But these images hardly present a comprehensive picture. People in the west associate fundamentalism with Islam, this is indeed a mistaken belief. Fundamentalism is defined as " the affirmation of religious authority as holistic and absolute, admitting of neither criticism nor reduction; it is expressed through the collective demand that specific creedal and ethical dictates derived from scripture be publicly recognized and legally enforced ." (Lawrence)