The Reluctant Fundamentalist

How does Hamid enlist symbolism throughout the figment? Is his use of symbolism effective? What is bewildered and gained through the use of symbolism? The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a novel in which an the Statesn immigrant Changez is living a dream with a capital job, money, and the regal true heath by his side. However after the 9/11 attacks Changezs perception on the States shifted, he was forced to dubiety where his allegence lies and this developed into contempt for America.If you read The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, and let on to dig below to the surface of the text thence the novel testament hold an entirely different meaning to you. Hamid used heavy sybolism to train meanings and themes that are better not said outright, and overall altered the issue the novel leaft. While reading The Reluctant Fundamentalist it became apperant that Changezs have sex interest erica symbolized America. Besides the obvious that erica is the last volt letters of Amer ica, there were multiple parallels in the story Hamid built for Erica and the way he portrayed America.When Changez first met Erica he says, She had a presence a naturalist would likely have compared her to a lioness strong, sleek, and eer surrounded by her pride(22). Changez also comments of the pride America shows with, stickers of flags ornament windshields and windows large flags fluttered from buildings. They all seemed to proclaim We are Americathe mightiest civilization the land has ever known. (79). Akin to America after 9/11, Erica seemed to be, dead detached, lost in a world of her own she was struggling against a current that pulled her within herself(86).Similarly after 9/11 Changez felt that America, retreat into myths of your own difference, assumptions of your own superiority(168). The grief that Erica felt over the loss of Chris was interpretive program of the grief America felt after 9/11 and how that prevented two Erica and America from moving on and judge Changez. When Changez goes to see Erica at her clinic he is told by a retain that, It did not intimacy that the person Erica was in love with was dead soul for Erica he was alive enough, and that was the problem. (133) America, too, was increasingly giving itself over to a dangerous nostalgia, he claimed that he, had always thought of America as a nation that looked forward for the first time I was stuck by its role to look back. (115) The grief that Erica felt over the loss of Chris was representative of the grief America felt after 9/11 and how that prevented both Erica and America from moving on and accepting Changez. When Changez goes to see Erica at her clinic he is told by a keep back that, It did not matter that the person Erica was in love with was deceased for Erica he was alive enough, and that was the problem. (133) If Erica represents America and their inability to move on from their grief, then Chris is a symbol for 9/11. When Changez goes to visit Erica in the cli nic,the nurse he meets when he first enters tells him that, It did not matter that the person Erica was in love with was This was included to show Cahngezs changing blood with America and an alternative way to show how America is broken and how because of Americas tendency to look back, and hold on to the past prevented America fro building relationships with outher countriesIf you did not connect that Erica was America you might hink that this was nearly a Pakistany that came to American and wound up hating and criticisming it until he left. In world it was about a man, or boy rather, that had big dreams of his life in America, ones that seemed to be coming true. But just as Erica could not let go of the past, America couldnt let go of the evil and fear they held for those who seemed un-American.