In The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the narrator is a very pleasing, intelligent individual named Changez. Changez is speaking with an unnamed American man throughout the entire novel, and is doing so without the conversational input of the American. In other words, this novel is one strung out monologue, seeing as Changez is the only one to speak or think. This puts the reader in a situation in which he or she has no other choice but to listen to the narrator and take everything that he says at face value.
It is very easy to believe everything that Changez says in the beginning, but the more and more one connects with the narrator, the harder it becomes to be so gullible. Changez is a young Muslim man with an intense resume consisting of a flawless Princeton education and a highly grossing finance job with a well-respected firm. The stories of his time in America and encounters along the way seem like an innocent attempt to make conversation with an American man that is obviously not familiar with his surroundings.
Changez is an extremely well-spoken young man and is very personable when dealing with the American. He is very likable and has a mouthful of stories from his travels that he gladly shares with the American man. The real reason for Changez’s initial approach to the American is unknown, so one assumes he is just a very hospitable and gentle-natured person. As the story gets deeper and deeper into Changez’s life, one discovers his feelings towards the man and his country might not be so innocent and friendly.
The Essay on Sense Of Hearing Man Narrator Story
Edgar Allan Poe, whose personal torment so powerfully informed his visionary prose and poetry, isa towering figure in the history of American literature. A Virginia gentleman and the son of itinerant actors, the heir to great fortune and a disinherited outcast, a university man who had failed to graduate, a soldier brought out of the army, a husband with an unapproachable child-bride, a brilliant ...
There are two instances in The Reluctant Fundamentalist where Changez’s truthfulness is in serious doubt, and where one might wonder if Changez is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, so to speak. On page one hundred and eighteen, Changez is talking about a near violent incident with a man after work in the parking lot. He describes the situation, from the initial flaring of tempers to the, minus the swearing, peaceful ending. After the story is told, Changez remarks to the man that he has no idea what the man looks like and cannot remember what type build or estimate of age that the man possessed.
That statement right there seems to make me want to second guess exactly what I am reading. Furthermore, Changez goes on to say that he simply gave him the gist of the story and that is what matters most. After that unnerving statement, he proceeds with saying, “I am, after all, telling you a history, as I suspect you-an American-will agree, it is the thrust of one’s narrative that counts, not the accuracy of one’s details. ” Now, that whole sentence right there made me think twice about the entertaining and fun little Changez that I knew.
He has gone off to say that the details in history are simply just embellishments of the truth, whereas, that statement couldn’t be farther from the truth. In history, the only thing that matters is the accuracy of the details. So now we have Changez just telling stories for the fun of it and carelessly leaving out the possible truths of these tales. A situation such as this is a great way to implement an unreliable narrator into the text. Now we are forced to listen to a narrator who could or could not be fabricating truths of his own accomplishments and journeys.
