“The reluctant fundamentalist” of Mohsin Hamid is a novel about a young Pakistani man , who feels a foreigner student in a multiethnic country as America, named Changez.

About the title there is the contrast between the terms “fundamentalist” and “reluctant”: the first one reminds to someone who gives an extreme and strict interpretation of the Scripture, whereas the second evokes feelings of hesitation and contrast.

These two words are linked to Changez, introduced in the first chapter, since the writer used a first person narrator to explain his point of view to the reader. The novel is a dramatic monologue where the speaker is Changez, who is talking with an anonymous American man in a tea room in Lahore. He uses a simple language, without getting the American the possibility to speak.

There are few characters in the story, but they have an important symbolic meaning which helps to convey better the novelist’s message. Erica stands for “America”: she is the girl Changez fells in love with, but while she seemed to be felt in love too, she must go in a clinic for mental diseases. This mental breakdown happened for the previous death of her boyfriend Chris, whose name reminds to “Christianity”, in contrast with Islam religion. Another character is Changez’s boss Jim, who rapresents the American meritocracy.

The most important feature of the novel regards the psychological status of Changez, who pretended to be like an occidental man to be integrated in a foreigner society. But after the Twin Towers attack things changed, and he becames victim of prejudice and racism. He reconsidered his love for America, and then he returned back to Pakistan as a universitary teacher politically active.

Novel's end is untold, so the reader is free to give a personal interpretation. This is a fundamental detail to convey the writer’s message: everything and everyone can be observed and judged from different points of view.