C HAPTER 12 The Reluctant Fundamentalist

C HAPTER 12 Changez is telling the story of how he left America. Why is it italicised? Left both physically and emotionally. Lost something to Erica- still thought of NY. Fantasised about a life with Erica in which both worlds could meet.

C HAPTER 12 Still holding on to Erica, hoping he will hear of her in the Princeton paper. ‘Content to wait’- still deluded? p.200 P.200 American is startled, worries about men following them. Changez suggests that they are probably wondering why they have stopped- each equally suspicious of each other. Sound familiar?

C HAPTER 12 P.201 The American texting his colleagues? What is happening here? Changez says they are coming to the end of their time together.. Changez tells how he is now a university lecturer, advocating Pakistan’s disengagement from America. Pushing greater independence in Pakistan’s affairs.

C HAPTER 12 Involved in protests- labelled anti-American. Has received official warnings for his courses. P.205 One of his students was arrested for plotting to assassinate a coordinator of America’s efforts. P.206 Changez states that he does not believe in violence, he is simply a university lecturer. Do we believe him? The American’s facial expressions suggest that he does not believe him!

C HAPTER 12 P.207 ‘firefly’s glow’- if Erica was watching she would see him. ? Changez interviewed and warned that America might send an emissary to intimidate him or worse p.208 Is this the American? Initially he was paranoid about getting killed but now he realises he must meet his fate when it confronts him. (Seems to suggest that this is it!)

C HAPTER 12 P ‘You should not imagine that we Pakistanis are all potential terrorists, just as we should not imagine that you Americans are all undercover assassins’. Is this the whole point? Changez trusts that the American is reaching for his business cards. Does he really believe that? Is the American really harmless?

C HAPTER 12 *Is Changez not afraid because he has back up and knows that the American is about to be killed by his men? *Or has Changez accepted his fate and is ready to die now that he has told his story?

C HAPTER 12: W ALKING TO THE P EARL C ONTINENTAL C points out to the American the “unpleasant plazas” on Mall Rd, built “before the instinct of historical preservation began to take hold” Alludes to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow The American appears “decidedly anxious” Changez describes his mourning for Erica as “tidal”, which resonates with Erica’s descriptions of her own grief (water/tide motif)

C HAPTER 12: W ALKING TO THE P EARL C ONTINENTAL C recounts detailed daydreams of the life he and Erica might have lived together in Lahore He is “transported” by thoughts of her He notes that after “one’s boundaries… have been blurred and made permeable by a relationship… we cannot reconstitute ourselves as the autonomous beings we previously imagined ourselves to be” Who else’s boundaries have been blurred?

C HAPTER 12: W ALKING TO THE P EARL C ONTINENTAL He suggests that the American is gazing at him as though he is a “raving madman” He obsessively trawls through the Princeton Alumni Weekly and “time did not diminish the eagerness with which [he] looked” Changez’s mother, believing him to be in the “grip of an unhealthy melancholy,” thinks he ought to marry

C HAPTER 12: W ALKING TO THE P EARL C ONTINENTAL C recounts the September of 2002, when the threat of hostilities finally abated He also recounts his involvement in demonstrations for “greater independence”, including one that led to a night in gaol He’s also come close to losing his job at the University

C HAPTER 12: T HE A MERICAN The American seems “ready to bolt” (p200) There is suggestion that they are being followed and that C is signaling to their pursuant, C denies this C refers to the “end of our time together” and later, a “glint of metal” One of the closing ideas of the chapter is “you should not imagine that we Pakistanis are all potential terrorists, just as we should not imagine that you Americans are all undercover assassins.”

C HAPTER 12: D ISCUSSION QUESTIONS Changez never tells his mother about his relationship with Erica. Why? (See page 199) How did America describe its “fight against terrorism” (p202)? What’s wrong with what they called it? What reasons does C provide for his “mission” to “advocate a disengagement from your country by mine”? (see pp )

C HAPTER 12: D ISCUSSION QUESTIONS Changez defends himself, claims to be a “believer in nonviolence…simply a university lecturer, nothing more nor less”. What are the implications of these comments? Why do you think Changez might be “plagued by paranoia”? What has led to this? And how about that ending?

C HAPTER 12: Y OUR INTERPRETATION Hamid’s purpose with Chapter 12 is… In chapter 12, Hamid presents and develops the theme/s of… The points of view and values that Hamid expresses in chapter 12 include…. Metalanguage relevant to chapter 12 includes… My interpretation of chapter 12 is…