The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“Princeton inspired in me the feeling that my life was a film in which I was the star and everything was possible.”

Changez references cinema in general—and several films in particular— throughout the novel as a way of demonstrating his knowledge of American culture and, in this case of suggesting that the American Dream is little more than a fantasy. Cinema allows viewers to enter into and take part in a dream world, and for Changez, as well as the reader of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, navigating the narratives of Changez’s life requires entering both dreams and reality. 

“You seem worried. Do not be; this burly fellow is merely our waiter, and there is no need to reach under your jacket, I assume to grasp your wallet …”

The apprehension shown here by the American stranger sets the stage for his unusual behavior throughout the novel. It leaves the reader, like Changez, wondering why he’s so uneasy, what his purpose is in Lahore and what exactly he might be hiding. Changez’s arch “assumption” that the stranger is reaching for his wallet cleverly raises the question in the reader’s mind of what else he might have in his jacket.

“Confronted with this reality, one has two choices: pretend all is well or work hard to restore things to what they were.” 

Changez mentions this in reference to the declining purchasing power of elite and middle class Pakistanis, though the quote stands as a powerful testament to Changez’s eventual stance in relation to what he saw as problematic with America and its role in the global environment.