The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Summary)
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00:00The Reluctant Fundamentalist Brief Summary
00:04Mohsen Hamad is one of the most popular modern writers from Pakistan.
00:09His highly successful and hugely acclaimed novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist was first
00:15published in 2007.
00:18This novel is a perfect example of a dramatic monologue.
00:22It is also said to be autotagetic.
00:26The whole story covers the time period of a single evening in an outdoor Lahore cafe.
00:33Brief Summer The book opens in a street of Lahore, Pakistan.
00:38Changes, a Pakistani man, comes across an American visitor.
00:44The American is looking for a place to have a good cup of tea.
00:48Changes offers to direct him to that place.
00:51He leads that visitor to a cafe and orders their tea.
00:56While waiting for the tea, Changes begins to tell the American visitor a story about
01:01his life.
01:02He particularly describes the time period while he was living in the United States.
01:09While narrating his story, he intermittently tells about the Pakistani history and the
01:14places in Lahore.
01:16He also tells about the society of Lahore.
01:20It is Changes's native city.
01:23He is proud of his native city and expresses his love for the place.
01:28The American does not feel easy, however, he continues to listen to Changes's story.
01:35Changes tells the unnamed American visitor that he used to be a brilliant student.
01:41Having got his bachelor's degree in finance, he joined a consultancy firm named Underwood
01:47Samson.
01:49He used to work there as an analyst.
01:52Having graduated from Princeton University, he and some of his college friends vacationed
01:58in Greece.
02:00During that vacation, he came across Erica, who was an aspiring writer.
02:05He got attracted to her, but he was not able to express his feelings to her because she
02:10her childhood sweetheart had died of lung cancer and she was still grieving Chris's
02:16death.
02:18Changes and Erica go on their first date.
02:21He moves forward and decides to have sex with Erica, but she is not aroused because she
02:26is emotionally attached to Chris.
02:29They do not meet each other for some time.
02:32They don't contact each other, but after some days they have their second date.
02:38After that date, they have sex.
02:41Changes tells her to close her eyes and imagine that she is with Chris.
02:46Their relationship begins to develop and Changes is satisfied with it, but everything does
02:52not go well because the thoughts of Chris are between them.
02:56Changes notices that Erica is physically weak and she does not seem to be very comfortable.
03:03Changes goes to Chile to fulfill an assignment.
03:06Having come back from Chile, he goes to meet Erica, but he learns that she has already
03:12left the institution.
03:14It is also revealed that her clothes had been found near the Hudson River.
03:19He learns that she has been declared a missing person.
03:23Her body has not been found.
03:25A person named Jim happens to have recruited Changes to begin his professional life.
03:32His peers are highly impressed by his work.
03:35Jim in particular is highly impressed.
03:38He respects Changes very much.
03:42Recognizing his professional skills, the firm sends Changes on offshore assignments in the
03:48Philippines and Valparaiso, Chile.
03:51In Chile, he feels quite distracted owing to the recent global developments.
03:57One day, he visits the preserved home of the late left-wing poet Pablo Neruda.
04:03He realizes that he is a servant of the American empire that has been interfering and manipulating
04:10Pakistan for a long time.
04:12He comes back to New York leaving his incomplete assignment.
04:17Eventually, he loses his job.
04:21Changes tells the American stranger that when the attacks took place on 11th of September,
04:27his initial reaction was of pleasure, but he says that it may sound despicable.
04:33He says that Pakistanis began to be suspected after the tragedy.
04:38Since Changes was a highly qualified person and he belonged to a privileged class of the
04:44society, he was neither abused nor detained for questioning.
04:48However, he noticed that the Pakistanis began to be treated differently.
04:54He decided to show his solidarity with other Pakistanis in New York.
05:00Having come back from Chile, he started to grow a beard.
05:04After the parliament attack in India, there was a standoff between Pakistan and India.
05:11He further says that having seen the American response to that situation, he concluded that
05:17Pakistan was being used as a pawn.
05:20Since he had lost his job and his visa was going to expire soon, he decided to go back
05:26to Pakistan.
05:28He came back to Lahore, Pakistan.
05:31Having come back to Pakistan, he began to work as a professor of finance at the local
05:37university in Lahore.
05:39Since he had a lot of experience and insight in world issues, his students were highly
05:45impressed and they admired him.
05:48He began to mentor a number of students in that university.
05:52He and his students got actively involved in the national politics.
05:57They participated in demonstrations against the government policies that were said to
06:02be harmful to the sovereignty of the country.
06:05Although Changes constantly advocated non-violence, an unknown student was arrested for trying
06:11to assassinate an American representative.
06:15That incident brought Changes into spotlight.
06:19He had to appear on several television interviews.
06:23He spoke openly and criticized the militarism of the foreign police of the United States.
06:30The people close to him began to think that he might be intimidated in near future by
06:34the government or its agencies.
06:37While telling his story, Changes realizes that the American stranger sitting with him
06:43looks scared of their surroundings.
06:46Changes notices his satellite phone that he keeps using for sending messages.
06:52He also notices a bulge under his clothing, assuming that it is a gun.
06:58Changes accompanies the American stranger back to his hotel.
07:02Suddenly, the American gets quite suspicious that he is in danger.
07:08He puts his hand into his pocket.
07:10Actually, he is looking for his business cards.
07:15The author does not disclose that was there in the American stranger's pocket.
07:20The story ends, leaving the reader with a guess whether the American stranger was a
07:25CIA agent, who had probably met Changes to kill him.
07:30The readers might also think that Changes had colluded with the waiter from that cafe
07:35to harm that American stranger.
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