The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The Reluctant Fundamentalist asks us to consider the cost of pursuing one’s dreams wholeheartedly. Changez arrives in America on a scholarship to Princeton, and though he’s used to enjoying elite status in Lahore, where his family retain their social status despite their declining wealth, America offers him the chance not to have to worry about money again. He makes his way into the elite business world of Manhattan, a young and gifted Pakistani man, well-mannered and intelligent, with an impressive degree from Princeton, a job working for a prestigious valuation company and a budding relationship with a fellow Princeton graduate. For all intents and purposes, Changez is living the American Dream. After 9/11, however, this dream begins to disintegrate almost immediately. Though traces of his unrest were apparent long before the attacks actually commenced, when Changez smiles at the sight of the twin towers being destroyed it marks a major change within the young man who left Lahore with a desire to succeed in the elite business world of America. Changez has become a man who sees America as a selfish, soulless entity, crushing weaker and more impoverished nations. After the attacks, Changez begins the long road to self-realization, culminating in his discovery that he would rather choose a life of honesty and sacrifice back in Lahore than to continue chasing the American Dream.