In the present text, I am going to analyse The Reluctant Fundamentalist’s protagonist: Changez, in order to give a judgment about him.

As suggested by his name, Changez is a round character who has been subject to a parable of change caused by the slow change of his perception of events and people who surround him. More in detail, he abandons the American dream of greatness after the World Trade Centre’s attack. He realizes that American people had pretended to integrate him because he was a model student, determined and hard worker (he achieved brilliant results despite his humble origins, being accepted to the prestigious Princeton university). The American defeat highlighted the ambiguity of the country, unable to overcome cultural differences and determined to impose its economic and political superiority over the alter world. It goes without saying that the criticism of America is the most suitable means for the protagonist to express his personal judgment about the American capitalism, considered as the real form of fundamentalism, referring to the title of Mohsin Hamid’s novel. The veiled criticism and the highly formal and ironic language highlight Changez’s sharpness of critical thinking and his intelligence. He renounces the youthful enthusiasm that had made him a migrant, not to be a follower of the easy American ideas. Like all those who move from their countries in search of a dream, Changez fought against the force of gravity, which kept him attached to the myth of the roots, determined to be integrate into the society. Nevertheless, his Pakistani identity arouses prejudices towards him, making him feel an outsider. He is the other, the stranger and the displaced. For instance, in the streets he is regarded as an enemy and is a victim of racial prejudices. Furthermore, in the dialogue between him and Erica’s father (the girl he was in love with) regarding the intake of alcoholic beverages, the man indirectly accuses Changez of being illegal, since he does not respect his religious rules drinking alcohol. The references to religion and culture are ways of highlighting the unbridgeable contrast between countries, but they also hide an attempt to recover through memory Changez’s lost identity. It is precisely the character’s restlessness the last point of the judgment. Changez does not feels at ease since he is irremediably divided between a Pakistani and an American identities which condemned him to live a life in betweenness.