The Reluctant fundamentalist quotes

Question 1

Changez about symbolism of 9/11 Chapter 5

Answer 1

‘I was caught up in the symbolism of it all, the fact that someone had so visibly brought America to her knees’

Question 2

Changez thinking 9/11 wont personally impact him Chapter 5

Answer 2

‘I suspected my Pakistaniness was invisible, cloaked by my suit’

Question 3

Changez flying home from Manila business trip post 9/11 Chapter 5

Answer 3

‘I flew to New York uncomfortable in my own face’

Question 4

Symbolism of beard Chapter 5

Answer 4

‘perhaps you have drawn certain conclusions from my appearance, my lustrous beard’ (chapter 5 frame narrative)
‘Do not forget to shave before you go’
beard is a ‘symbol of my identity’

Question 5

Changez post 9/11 realising things will change Chapter 7

Answer 5

‘the impending destruction of my personal American dream’

Question 6

Racist attack post 9/11 Chapter 8

Answer 6

‘fucking arab’

Question 7

Changez about Erica in Greece Chapter 2

Answer 7

‘She attracted people to her; she had a presence, an uncommon magnetism’

Question 8

About Erica being broken Chapter 4

Answer 8

‘I feel haunted’
her eyes: ‘Something broken behind them, like a tiny crack in a diamond’

Question 9

Changez + Erica’s fragile relationship

Answer 9

• ‘I was afraid any movement on my part might dislodge our connection’ Chapter 6
• ‘Pretend I am him’ Chapter 7

Question 10

Changez leaving home after threat of war Chapter 9

Answer 10

‘this made me a kind of coward in my own eyes’

Question 11

Changez as a product of American capitalism

Answer 11

• ‘I was a modern day janissary’ Chapter 10
• ‘I no longer thought of myself as a Pakistani, but as an Underwood Samson trainee’ Chapter 3
• ‘he did not accept American Express’ Chapter 3

Question 12

Changez struggling with hybrid identity Chapter 10

Answer 12

• ‘I lacked a stable core’
• ‘I was not certain where I belonged’
• ‘my own identity was so fragile’ (therefore pretends to be chris)

Question 13

Changez describing belong in New York

Answer 13

‘I was, in four an a half years, never an American; I was immediately a New Yorker’

Question 14

Hybrid identity symbolised through clothing Chapter 4

Answer 14

Changez wore a ‘kurta of delicately worked cotton over a pair of jeans’

Question 15

Importance of culture to changez Vhapter 10

Answer 15

‘Books are loved in my family’

Question 16

Erica to Changez about being himself

Answer 16

‘I love it when you talk about where you come from, you become so alive’ Chapter 6

Question 17

Changez’ politeness

Answer 17

• ‘Excuse me sir, but may I be of assistance?’ Chapter 1
• Underwood Samson liked his ‘natural politeness and sense of formality’ Chapter 3
• Erica says she’s ‘never met someone our age as polite as you’ Chapter 2

Question 18

American sense of superiority

Answer 18

• Changez’ Princeton friends conducted themselves ‘as though they were its ruling class’ Chapter 2
• Erica’s father addresses him with a ‘typically American undercurrent of condescension’ Chapter 4

Question 19

Changez’ reaction to America declaring war on Afghanistan (Pakistan’s neighbour)

Answer 19

‘I began to tremble with fury’

Question 20

Attitudes of America post 9/11

Answer 20

‘America became gripped with a self righteous rage’ Chapter 7
‘Your country’s flag invaded New York after the attacks’ Chapter 6

Question 21

Changez sexualising Erica (desire for success/ American dream)

Answer 21

‘I felt at once both satiated and ashamed’ (after trying to have sex) Ch8

‘the failure of [Erica’s] garments to cloak the memory of those naked breasts’
Ch2

Question 22

Changez in final frame narrative

Answer 22

‘you should not imagine that we Pakistanis are all potential terrorists’
‘I see from your expression that you do not believe me’

Question 23

Changez as the good immigrant (success at Underwood Samson Chapter 3)

Answer 23

‘I worked hard - harder, I suspect, than any of the others’

Question 24

Importance of accent Chapter 3

Answer 24

‘an anglicized accent may in your country continue to be associated with wealth and power’ Chapter 3 frame narrative

Question 25

Changez deciding what to wear to meet Erica’s family Chapter 4

Answer 25

‘I wanted to dress as I imagined they would be dressed’
Trope of immigrant desire to belong

Question 26

Erica’s father implementing stereotypes chapter 4

Answer 26

‘You drink?’ - assumes he is a Muslim
‘You guys have got some serious problems with fundamentalism’

Question 27

Underwood Samson attitudes Chapyer 3

Answer 27

‘We’re a meritocracy’
‘If you do well, you’ll be rewarded. If you don’t, you’ll be out the door’

Question 28

Anderson’s imagined communities in Chapter 3

Answer 28

Wainwright- ‘Beware the dark side, young Skywalker’
Man in Pak-Punjab deli - calls changez ‘my friend’ , ‘spreading his arms in welcome’

Question 29

Edward Said’s theory of orientalism

Answer 29

Chapter 2 - Changez is ‘well-liked as an exotic acquaintance’

Question 30

Chapter one frame narrative

Answer 30

‘Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America’

Question 31

Symbolism of the American stranger and Changez

Answer 31

Described by Hamid in an interview to be the two parts of himself

Question 32

Changez worshipping Erica when first meeting her in Chapter 2

Answer 32

She was ‘stunningly regal’, her hair like a ‘tiara on her head’ (illusion of power)

Question 33

Chapter 6 - sexual consummation of relationship

Answer 33

Erica’s body ‘rejects’ Changez. Climactic coming together as America rejects Changez post 9/11

Question 34

Chapter 12 Gilbert as exotic accquaintance

Answer 34

‘The entire village had come out to play dog with gecko’ (relating experience to home)
• ‘If any one of those people had a stick long enough, I swear they would have poked us with it’

Question 35

Chapter 7 Changez adopting a Western identity

Answer 35

I had become Jim’s fair haired boy’

Question 36

Chapter 9 Changez beard symbolism

Answer 36

‘Do not forget to shave before you go’

Question 37

Changez acting like his American associates Chapter 5

Answer 37

‘I learned to tell executives my father’s age “I need it now”

Question 38

Chapter 5 Erica’s obsession with rock pools

Answer 38

They are ‘little worlds’ that are ‘perfect, self-contained, transparent’ until a ‘wave crashes in’ leaving ‘new fish’ behind

Question 39

American stranger Ch12 frame narrative

Answer 39

• ‘I hope you will not resist my attempt to shake you by the hand’
Threat of violence ‘a bulge manifests itself through the lightweight fabric of your suit’