Jim

Jim seemed as though he had a position that, like Erica's, transcended Changez's later view of America. I thought Changez's treatment of Jim's character in his narrative was intriguing; I wanted to know who Jim truly was to him. Changez sets Jim apart from the rest of the crew at Underwood Sampson and seems to align Jim with himself, even though Jim is one of the most important people at the company. I still haven't managed to drag too much meaning out of his treatment of Jim, but I'd be interested to go back and do a more careful reading/study of Jim's persona and Changez's narrative language towards him.

Wildness as an Act of Preservation?

In researching my paper, I'm coming to glean some meaning from the seemingly crazy antics of Shaman (The Crooked Line) and Bertha/Antoinette (Jane Eyre/Wide Sargasso Sea). Shaman and Bertha are both described at some point as being wild, like animals. I postulate that as they have no other ways to transgress from their fates, they turn within themselves and become wild in order to avoid having the restraints of human construction thrown onto them. For example, when Manjhu moves into her husband's home, no one bothers to take responsibility for Shaman. She is wild to begin with, and after Manjhu leaves, she is neglected to such an extent that she becomes completely matted in grime and filth. She eats dirt and plays in the mud and refuses to be comforted by the humans around her, thus alienating herself from them and their customs. Bertha, thrown into marriage by her father (and against her wishes by her step-father in Rhys's version), can see no way out of the marriage. In Rhys's novel, Rochester even strips Antoinette of her rightful name, instead calling her Bertha. She goes mad trying to remember herself and she attacks her oppressors like an animal to keep them from compromising her sense of self.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist--Allegory and Realism

Though I know this novel has a lot of symbolic and allegorical tilts, I always like to read beyond the allegorical. I think straight allegories are too contrived to be decent literature. I was glad that I could find a lot of the mundane, human aspects of the novel enjoyable and realistic. I did think Erica's perpetually wounded soul was a bit gratuitous, but I read it as the character's fault, so I appreciated it. I also liked the fact that Changez, though distinctly anti-American outside of the frame of his narrative, was still halfway holding out for Erica. Her nationality and the things which she stood for transcended his disgust of America, and it served to show he was not so strictly anti-American as he himself thought.

In response to Diana's post on the target audience of "The Reluctant Fundamentalist"

Perhaps Mohsin chose to focus on America because of the role America has played on the world stage since 9/11. I'm not incredibly well-versed in international politics, but America has been following its own agenda in direct opposition to the UN for quite some time now, and that seems to be the main thrust of the symbolism behind Erica and her writing. To clarify, Erica disregards Changez, doesn't even mention him in her work, and instead chooses to focus on the craft of writing itself by creating detailed portraits of crayfish and leaves. Her motives are self-centered; her writing is an outlet to improve her abilities as a writer, not an attempt to cope with the loss of Chris. To illustrate the symbolic parallel that I think Hamid is making, America (Erica) has used 9/11 (Chris' death) and the guise of a "war on terror" (writing as a way to cope with the pain of losing Chris) to pursue other political agendas abroad (crayfish and leaves). America (Erica) simultaneously entertains and disregards countries like Pakistan (Changez) that can serve its (her) political (emotional) needs, all the while using 9/11 (Chris' death) as a justification for unjust behavior.

Chugthai's portrayal of Shaman paints a bleak picture of independent thinkers...

Shaman's character in "The Crooked Line" is atypical from the start: she was a disobedient, filthy child that grew into a progressive professional, an educated woman that eventually marries an Irish man, seemingly for the sake of defying social norms. As a result of her less than ideal behavior, and I use "ideal" in the sense of an idealized Muslim woman, we see a variety of negative consequences that culminate primarily into one resounding theme: loneliness. Why should Chugthai choose to portray her empowered female protagonist as ultimately unhappy and alone? Perhaps the answer lies in the harsh reality that there simply aren't many opportunities for independent women to be happy in a society that has come to expect little more from women than obedience and childbearing. Nevertheless, Shaman shows disdain for the mindless procreation of her siblings and in-laws, giving readers the impression that the idealized can also be less-than ideal.

Changez vs Jim

I found it interesting that Changez and Jim's histories are so similar, yet Changez fails where Jim succeeds (at least that's one way of looking at it). Perhaps by focusing on the wounded Erica, both as a romantic interest and a symbol of America's self-concerned worldview, Changez forgets to focus on the fundamentals of his job. On a strictly character/plot level, Erica distracts Changez from his work, thus making him a less efficient employee by causing him to lose focus. Symbolically, Erica helps Changez see that if he were to fully assimilate into American culture he would be disregarding the emotions and desires of other individuals, i.e. Third World countries, that are deemed unimportant by the U.S. Changez' own feelings resulting from Erica's rejection help him realize that he does not want to have such an impact on people's lives, and this influences his decision to leave Underwood Samson even though he knows that he will be replaced. The point is that Changez, even with the knowledge that his work will not be left unfinished at Underwood Samson, chooses to take a different path in life, and perhaps by writing "The Reluctant Fundamentalist," Hosin is encouraging readers to do the same.

Just a comment - Changez' intimate episode with Erica reads like it was written by a man. There's an suggestions that her "shudder" means that she either needed, wanted, or benefited from the experience. I think the fact that her orgasm is even mentioned here reads like it was written with a certain insensitivity to women. Benefit or desire should really be written as emotional benefit or emotional desire rather than physical.