The Reluctant Fundamentalist

1. The Reluctant Fundamentalist Chapter 5 Learning Goal – To understand the changes in identity Changez undergoes To understand how the 9/11 attacks affected Changez and the American’s reaction to this

2. Chapter 5: A turning point A possible cause of Changez’s dissatisfaction with the United States is revealed. The events of 9/11 are foreshadowed in the café. Comparisons between first world and third world countries are made.

3. Allusions • James Bond – only better (ppp72-73) • Grease/1950s – compares slums of Manila to 1950s America (p73)

4. Find these words in the chapter, and write its synonym above it, add to vocab section of summary Jeepney– 76 - jeep/bus http://thatsofarahz.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/jeepney1.jpg Sensibility - 77 – awareness/feeling Minutiae – 77 - details Invariably – 78 – always/consistently Gratification – 79 - satisfaction Unpalatable – 82 - unpleasant Munitions – 84 - weapons • Canny – 72 – clever/sly • Veritable – 72- actual/authentic • Prodigious – 73 - remarkable • Lucrative – 75 - profitable • Innumerable – 75 - countless • Permutations – 75 - versions • Mired – 76 - delayed

5. Page 71-72 • (about bats) “They are successful urban dwellers, like you and I, swift enough to escape detection and canny enough to hunt among a crowd” -72 • Ambiguous statement - unclear whether “like you and I” applies only to “urban dwellers” or also to the following clause. • “firefly bumping repeatedly against the window of a house, unable to comprehend the glass that barred its way” - 72 - represents “outsiders” • The glass perhaps is the customs/beliefs of a society that the outsider is unaware of – thereby keeping them as outsiders.

6. Page 73 • “How odd it seems now to recall that time; how quickly my sense of self-satisfaction would later disappear!” – 73 - foreshadows his disenchantment • “Truly you are well-travelled for an American” – 73 – draws on the idea that Americans are insular (inward-looking) • “I am increasingly curious as to the nature of your business – but I am certain that you will tell me in due course” – 73 – ambiguous. Perhaps leading the reader to believe the “business” is sinister because of the italics? (like mission)

7. Page 74 • “it was one thing to accept that New York was more wealthy than Lahore, but quite another to swallow the fact that Manila was as well” – 74 – Changez’s bitterness/envy is shown towards countries that are better off than his • “I attempted to act and speak, as much as my dignity would permit, more like an American….I wanted my share of that respect as well” – 74– Changes identity to get more respect – “my share” indicates that he thought he deserved that respect – sense of entitlement – perhaps from coming from an ‘elite’ family • “I was often ashamed” – 74 – still shows sense of guilt- conflicted feelings

8. Page 76 – 77 – Change in identity • (about Jeepney driver) “his dislike was so obvious, so intimate, that it got under my skin. I stared back at him, getting angry myself” – 76 • “he and I shared a sort of Third World sensibility” – 76 • “when I turned to answer [my colleague] …I felt in that moment much closer to the Filipino driver than to him” – 77 • “I felt I was play-acting, when in reality I ought to be making my way home” - 77

9. Changez’s withholdings • Changez hides his feelings at several points of the novel: • In this chapter- • ‘I was often ashamed. But outwardly I gave no sign of this.’ • ‘I did not say anything, of course.’ • ‘I never let on that I felt like I didn’t belong to this world. Just like you.’ (Jim says of himself but relates to Changez) • ‘I tried therefore to be as nonchalant as possible.’ • ‘this allowed me to share in the anxiety of my colleagues and ignore for a time my initial sense of pleasure.’ Cultural? - ‘we learned to savor the denial of gratification’

10. Erica • She is distant, a world away. • Rock pool (78), Brief emails ------------------------------------------------------------------- • Read her description of the rock pool. • Think, pair, share what you think the significance is • Consider how it might connect to the picture on her bedroom wall that Chris drew

11. Jim • He “did not belong” but he “never stopped swimming” and is the embodiment of the American Dream – he has risen from poverty to great financial success. (p80) • Changez doesn't’t feel the same way – though finds a similarity in that Jim “had grown up outside the candy store, and [Changez] had grown up on its threshold as its door was being shut” (connection to firefly) • This prompts him to reflect on the nostalgia of his family for their past success. It “was their crack cocaine… and my childhood was littered with the consequences of their addiction.” (p81)

12. Night falls • Changez tells the American “I wish to warn you before I proceed.” (p82) • He offers the American a drink, who declines. • How does the change to night and pause in the narration affect the mood?

13. 9/11 – p83-84 • Where you surprised by Changez’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks? • Why does Changez smile as the towers fall? (think, pair, share)

14. 9/11 – p83-84 • He is “remarkably pleased.” • He is “caught up in the symbolism of it all, the fact that someone had so visibly brought America to her knees.”(perhaps feels satisfaction that this time it is someone else losing something) • He is happy that America had been exposed and threatened. • Though he states he is “no sociopath” and is perplexed that he is “pleased at the slaughter of thousands of innocents.” • The American is now disturbed and “clenches is hand into a fist.”

15. Page 84 - 86 • Has to deal with customs as well as stares from others following the attack • Feels relieved that he is worried about Erica – and that he doesn’t have to pretend

16. Page 86 – 87 – American’s reaction • “I can see I have offended you, angered you even” • But not “entirely surprised” at Changez’s reaction. • This interests Changez as the American has just met him, but has made the assumption that this Changez would be pleased – “perhaps drawn conclusions from my appearance, my lustrous beard; perhaps you have merely followed the arc of my tale with the uncanny skill of a skeet shooter; or perhaps . . . ”

17. Return to Learning Goal • To understand the changes in identity Changezundergoes LIST • To understand how the 9/11 attacks affected Changez and the American’s reaction to this • PARAPHRASE – (give overview in a written paragraph)