Found this interview with Mohsin Hamid while browsing the internet trying to find out how to pronounce Changez's name properly. While I think the class was able to understand many of the points rasied by Hamid, he explains the ending of the book, the way that it is received in different cultures and countries based on their interactions with terrorism, and the "empty gaps of the American perspective" which is deliberately left vague.I love that the last thing we read for this class ended so ambiguously and forced each of us to look within ourselves to determine how we perceive the actions of the Pakistani...Also makes me wonder: is this book "a chilling thriller" or is that fabricated by an American perspective?
I also can't talk about this character without immediately thinking of this.
Chaz,
ReplyDeleteI love the 2Pac song. Crazy as it is, I see how the Reluctant Fundamentalist made you think of it.
"I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other
We gotta start makin' changes
learn to see me as a brother instead of 2 distant strangers
and that's how it's supposed to be"
It seems like we are all so set in our ways, and often times it is our reluctance to change that causes us to see things so differently. I'm not saying that we need to change our identities, I think the reluctance in each of us makes us unique and strong.
And I do see a little of Changez in 2Pac...
"That's just the way it is
Things'll never be the same
Some things will never change "