The novel is presented in the form of one man’s monologue. Discuss the effects of this narrative structure.
808 words
‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ by Mohsin Hamid uses the narrative technique monologue, which is a long uninterrupted speech of a character directly addressing another character or the audience. The use of monologue facilitates Hamid’s viewpoints to go across the reader effortlessly. The effect of the usage of monologue is that Hamid engages the reader directly drawing them into the narrative by the creation of a nameless American character who mirrors the audience. Another outcome of using monologue is that it silences American’s point of view and therefore Hamid can present his Pakistani/Muslim perspective. The disadvantage of the monologue is that it presents an unreliable narrator but however, Hamid uses the unreliable narrator as an advantage in his novel to question the Americans about believing everything that American media throws at them. Overall the usage of monologue plays a pivotal role in expressing Hamid’s stand and he utilises this literary technique to his maximum.
First by addressing the nameless American with the second person pronoun “you”, the novel gives the impression of speaking directly to the reader. For instance, when Amir first meets with the nameless American, he says “Excuse me sir, but May I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not afraid of my beard: I’m a lover of America.” Immediately reader is engaged in the conversation and adopts the persona of the American. By using monologue, Hamid tries to draw the reader into the text in order to empathise with the situation. The usage of the monologue forces the reader to be an active part of the issue. The narrative structure is a representation of the author sitting down with the reader and engaging in a conversation about the protagonist’s story. Hamid is successful in his monologue technique because