The Reluctant Fundamentalist: Book Analysis

The article probes into the two different perspectives of the horrific 9/11 attacks. Every story has two sides, and the analysis of the two diverse novels- Don DeLillo’sFalling Man (2007) and Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) will help to explore the ideas and misconceptions that rule us at a personal level which in turn contributes to our public outlook. Post the 9/11 attacks, there has been a dramatic change in the way the world views the Muslims, the “perpetrators”, and Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist perfectly captures the transition of New York after the attacks. Falling Man on the other hand delves into the deep-rooted havoc that the attacks have caused in the life of the survivors. The divide between the East
Few events rival the attacks that happened on the fateful day of 9.11.2001. The terrorist attack caused such a wide impact because destructed not just the two towers but also destructed several symbols. President George W. Bush had remarked at the United Nations General Assembly:
Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children. (November 11, 2001)

Called the Pearl Harbor of our generation, the 4 coordinated terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. by Al-Qaeda caused the death of 3000 people and injured over 10,000. That was not all, for these attacks had a reverberating effect throughout the globe and changed the way people saw life. September 11 is indeed the day that never ends. The beautiful poem "110 Stories" by Sasha Taylor captures the anguish of the
Written as a dramatic monologue, it is a half story, a conversation that the forces us to reevaluate the ideas and misconceptions that rule our lives at both the personal level and public level.

Mohsin Hamid (born January 01, 1971) is a Pakistani author best known for his bold novels. Michiko Kakutanin agrees that he is one of his generation's most inventive and gifted writers.

The novel takes place over the course of one day, where the only speaker is Changez who also reveals the thoughts of the American listener seated in front of him in a Lahore restaurant. He begins his story by stating he is a lover of America and goes on to reveal how his life changed in the aftermath of the attacks. His life is completely fractured in ways he never imagined possible. The novel gives us a clear picture of America before and after the attacks. In the words of the author himself:

The form of the novel....allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) looks at one