CLASS TEST CORRECTION

Discuss structure in"The Reluctant Fundamentalist" to explain the function of the novel component parts. Conclude your short essay expressing your personal opinion on the novelist's choice of narrative strategy, underlining its pros and cons.

The novel "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" by Mohsin Ahmid bears the typical novel structure : it embodies an introduction, a body and a conclusion.

In Ahmid's novel, the first two chapters have an introductory function. Chapter 1, in particular, is useful to introduce the protagonist, who coincides with the narrator, Mr Changez. Throughout the novel Changez narrates his story to an unknown American interlocutor, who is also noticed by the reader in Chapter 1. The first chapter also presents the setting. Chapter 2 introduces another character that will play a major role throughout Changez's narration: Erica, a girl he met in Greece, during a holiday with his fellows.

The body of the novel goes from chapter 3 to chapter 10. In the body the protagonist is victim of stereotypical considerations based on cultural and ethnical differences. From Erica's father sentence "You should focus less on fundamentals" to the racist expression of hate pronounced by some extremely patriotic citizens, the protagonist lives a deep inner conflict.

The conclusion consists in the last two chapters of the novel: Changez reject a stellar career as an economic fundamentalist at Underwood Samson and goes back to Pakistan as a lecturer. The protagonist also loses his beloved Erica, who cannot accept Changez because "he make her lose her balance" and continues to live with an extremely strong feeling of nostalgia of his dead boyfriend Chris.

In conclusion, is worth noting also the narrative technique adopted by Ahmid. He depicts the novel as a dramatic monologue between Changez and his American interlocutor. The dramatic monologue consists in of a monologue in which elements suggest the presence of an interlocutor, who is always silenced. This narrative strategy has some pros and some cons. In my opinion, the main positive aspect is that the reader can identify himself with Changez. The novel provides a different point of view from America's one, the most common in Western culture. However, this also begs the question of how much reliable the narrator is.