INTRODUCTION
Suspicion, a feeling synonymous with the modern era, subscribes by the Oxford English dictionary definition of, “ a feeling that somebody has done something wrong, illegal or dishonest, even though one has no proof.” This very feeling rocked the post 9/11 world, a world living in strife, chaos, hatred, disorientation and suspicion of ‘the brown man with a beard'. It solidified a sweeping generalization of Islam employing a political identity. Mahmood Mamdani writes about this very tendency of man to politicize culture which he refers to as Culture Talk in Good Muslim, Bad Muslim – “Judgements of “good” and “bad” refer to Muslim political identities, not to cultural or religious ones” (Mamdani 15).
The 9/11, an epochal event, can be viewed as the turning point for not just America, in general, but the world. Post the collapse of the World Trade Centre in New York, America no longer felt like a racial melting pot; the sentiments attached to a part of the continent were, ‘Never Again' (Mamdani 11). America was in mourning post 9/11, she was enthralled by a powerful nostalgia, one that rejuvenated her nationalistic vigour and a people’s willingness to kill or die: “We are America the mightiest civilization the world has ever known, you have slighted us; beware our wrath” (Hamid TRF 79).
The discourse of 9/11 subscribed to the predominant Western ideology and thought. It popularized this very ideology, instantly transforming it from a general stereotype to a sweeping generalization, where any brown man with a beard, implied a jihadist (implies terrorism). Such men became the target of a very angry and revenge fuelled modern society. There was this one narrative of the West , precisely America, which was at the forefront, by and large, ignoring the several other narratives of 9/11. However, the alternative narrative of the perpetrator soon travelled to the forefront of activity, with books such as Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), Nadeem Aslam's The Wasted Vigil (2008) and Season of the Rainbirds (1993), Mahmood Mamdani’s Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror (2004), Uzma Aslam Khan’s The Geometry of God (2009), Kamila Shamsie’s Broken Verses and Kartography (2005) , Aroosa Kanwal’s Rethinking Identities in Contemporary Pakistani Fiction: Beyond 9/11 (2015). Other books which centred around the predominant Western perspective include; David Dunbar and Brad Reagan’s Debunking 9/11 Myths (2006), Lawerence Wright’s The Looming Tower (2006), Don Delillo's Falling Man (2007) and several others. Movies, short films such as Khuda Ke Liye (2007) directed by Shoaib Mansoor, The Reluctant Fundamentalist ( 2013) by Mira Nair, My Name Is Khan (2010) by Karan Johar, Submission ( 2004) directed by Theo Van Gogh and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and The Long Goodbye (2020) directed by Aniel Karia, showcase chronic islamophobia. Music albums such as Post 9/11 Blues (Explicit) (2003), “T5” Cashmere LP (2016) and The Long Goodbye (2020) of the artist Riz Ahmed showcase the deep-rooted prejudice of a predominant discourse.
Mamdani mentions that after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, terrorism became synonymous with Islamic terrorism. George Bush, the then President of the United States of America, made an attempt at distinguishing between the 'Good Muslim' and the 'Bad Muslim'. According to him, the bad Muslims were clearly responsible for terrorism and good Muslims were trying their best to wash their names and consciences of such a horrible activity (Mamdani 15). This made the latter a part of the dominant discourse of 'war against terrorism'.
Mohsin Hamid, the British Pakistani novelist, attempts to offer a counter discourse to this widely accepted Western discourse, in most of his work. To his credit, we have works reflecting the angst and the trauma of a Muslim man in the post 9/11 world. His works include Moth Smoke (2000), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia (2013), Exit West (2017) and a collection of essays called Discontent and its Civilization: Dispatches from Lahore, New York, and London (2014). His work has been translated into over forty languages and has been adapted into films as well. The characters in his books are round characters with evolving thought processes. Their actions are both alarming and thought-provoking, forcing readers to analyse the pros and cons of a situation.
This thesis attempts at deconstructing the title of Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Upon closer reading, the title of the aforementioned text juxtaposes three narratives. First is the American narrative of the brown man with a beard, the Islamic fundamentalist, emerging from 9/11. This is countered by the narrative of Changez, the protagonist emigrant, who eventually realizes America to be the real fundamentalist. Finally, Hamid states that the dramatic monologue permits the reader to construct his own narrative, which might not necessarily tally with either the former or the latter. The protagonist’s monologue challenges the common man’s preconceptions, biases and notions of truth. Thus, the novel further debunks the popular myths behind Islamophobia and throws light on the politics of misrepresentation.
The Eurocentric/ Occidental myopic vision is explored and challenged in Hamid's monologue. The text is a case study of America as well as the world plagued by both 9/11 and post 9/11 trends. Hamid's alternate narrative presents Changez as the protagonist of financial aid in Princeton who manages to journey his way up to Underwood Samson, a valuation firm focusing on the 'fundamentals': “At Princeton, I conducted myself in public like a young prince, generous and carefree” (Hamid TRF 11). Jim, his boss at work, states, “You're hungry, and that's a good thing in my book” ( Hamid TRF 9) Initially, Changez apes the American lifestyle and is also in pursuit of the Great American Dream, until 9/11 strikes. There is a paradigm shift in his narrative. Soon his glossy glasses come off, revealing to him America's neocolonial vision. Hamid, through Changez, has presented a counter discourse challenging who the real fundamentalist is after all. The novel is written in the form of a dramatic monologue, introducing to the reader, the perspective of the subaltern 'other'.
Mira Nair in an interview talks about her documentary film The Reluctant Fundamentalist, a spin off from the original novel by Hamid. She states, "Reluctant Fundamentalist is an investigation of the myopia of how the West sees the East and also of how the East sees the West and the breakdown of communication between these two parts of the world "(Nair https://in.pinterest.com/pin/326933254171901641/)
Works Cited
Hamid, Mohsin. “The Reluctant Fundamentalist.” (TRF). Penguin Random House India, New Delhi, 2007.
Mamdani, Mahmood. “Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror”. Pantheon Books, New York, 2004.
Nair, Mira. “The reluctant fundamentalist' is not about US bashing: Mira Nair”. The Buck Stops Here, NDTV 24x7, Saved from youtube.com.https://in.pinterest.com/pin/326933254171901641/. (Accessed 1 Mar. 2020)
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