...The Reluctant Fundamentalist Mohsin Hamid, 2007 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 184 pp. ISBN-13: 9780156034029 Summary Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America. I noticed that you were looking for something; more than looking, in fact you seemed to beon a mission, and since I am both a native of this city and a speaker of your language, I thought I might offer you my services as a bridge. From the author of the award-winning Moth Smoke comes a perspective on love, prejudice, and the war on terror that has never been seen in North American literature. At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with a suspicious, and possibly armed, American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting. Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by Underwood Samson, an elite firm that specializes in the “valuation” of companies ripe for acquisition. He thrives on the energy of New York and the intensity of his work, and his infatuation with regal Erica promises entrée into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. For a time, it seems as though nothing will stand in the way of Changez’s meteoric rise to personal and professional success. But in the wake of September 11, he finds his position in his adopted city...
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...The protagonist of Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a deeply introspective character whose story is an emotional rollercoaster. Changez is a Pakistani man who comes to America in pursuit of his own “American Dream,” and while working to achieve his dream he slowly begins to hate himself. Hamid’s novel is the story of the rise and fall of Changez’s relationship with America. The novel takes the form of a dramatic monologue, with Changez as the speaker addressing a mysterious American man, whom we learn very little about except that he is suspicious, and that he may be hiding something under his shirt. His story addresses his time in America from the beginning to the end. He watches himself turn into a modern day janissary of the American Empire, and this sickens him to the point where he can no longer live in America. The pressure of being a Pakistani man living in a post 9/11 United States drive Changez to the point of self loathing, where nothing but the comforts of home and family could repair his internal damage. Changez has the inability to overcome the nostalgia that follows with traumatic events in his life, and for this reason he becomes a reluctant fundamentalist, unable to live in America and follow the American principles of greed and capitalism. The late Benjamin Franklin once said, “The U.S Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.” Changez understands this truth...
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...The protagonist of Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a deeply introspective character whose story is an emotional rollercoaster. Changez is a Pakistani man who comes to America in pursuit of his own “American Dream,” and while working to achieve his dream he slowly begins to hate himself. Hamid’s novel is the story of the rise and fall of Changez’s relationship with America. The novel takes the form of a dramatic monologue, with Changez as the speaker addressing a mysterious American man, whom we learn very little about except that he is suspicious, and that he may be hiding something under his shirt. His story addresses his time in America from the beginning to the end. He watches himself turn into a modern day janissary of the American Empire, and this sickens him to the point where he can no longer live in America. The pressure of being a Pakistani man living in a post 9/11 United States drive Changez to the point of self loathing, where nothing but the comforts of home and family could repair his internal damage. Changez has the inability to overcome the nostalgia that follows with traumatic events in his life, and for this reason he becomes a reluctant fundamentalist, unable to live in America and follow the American principles of greed and capitalism. The late Benjamin Franklin once said, “The U.S Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.” Changez understands this truth and works...
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...ENGL124 Literature Analysis Nov.11 2014 The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a novel written by Mohsin Hamid, set in the year following 9/11, constructed through a conversation between a Pakistani named Changez and an unnamed American in a café in Lahore.. The Reluctant Fundamentalist uses a variety of narrative strategies that contribute to the novel’s atmospheric world. This essay is going to focus on the metaphorical and symbolic techniques used in the novel and analyze the connection between them. It will also elaborate how does the metaphor relate to the first-person narrative in the novel and how do these two methodologies work together to derive the deeper meaning of the author’s intension. After analyzing the use of metaphor in the book, we could see better the real meaning and power of metaphor used in literature. The book is riddled with allegory and metaphor. Take names as the most significant example in the novel. First of all, let’s talk about the name “Changez”. While several reviewers have assumed that “Changez” is too obvious a name for a character in this situation, Hamid has pointed out that it doesn’t signify “change” but is instead “the Urdu name for Genghis, as in Genghis Khan.” He elaborates: It’s the name of a warrior, and the novel plays with the notion of a parallel between war and international finance, which is Changez’ occupation. But at the same time, the name cautions against a particular reading...
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...English, both spoken and written, as well as perspectives and cultures not their own. Learning outcomes and objectives include becoming stronger critical readers, academic writers and editors, as well as active, thinking participants of global cultures, appreciating the role of English within them. A minimum of 30% of class time will be devoted to writing instruction. This can take many forms, including graded written assignments, informal writing, writing workshops, free-writing exercises, stylistic analysis, research skills, peer editing, multiple drafts, and ungraded writing. Students will be required to write at least two essays which will be marked and formally graded. During the course, students will write at least 3000 words. Required Texts: Concert of Voices: An Anthology of World Writing in English 2nd edition Ed. Victor J. Ramraj (Broadview Press) The Sign of Four Arthur Conan Doyle ed. Shafquat Towheed (Broadview Press) The Reluctant Fundamentalist Mohsin Hamid (Anchor Canada) Recommended Text: The Broadview Guide...
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...mohsinhamid.com home about novels essays stories interviews connect The Reluctant Fundamentalist Published in 2007 in these languages. Became an international bestseller with over a million copies in print. Was adapted for the cinema. Awards Won the Ambassador Book Award, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, Asian American Literary Award, Premio Speciale Dal Testo Allo Schermo, and South Bank Show Award for Literature. Was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Commonwealth Writers Prize, Arts Council England Decibel Award, Australia-Asia Literary Award, and Index on Censorship T R Fyvel Award. Was named a Book of the Decade by the Guardian and a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times. Reviews 'An artist of fantastic cunning... demonstrates what certain trumped-up laureates of post-modernity seem incapable of grasping: that it is possible to simultaneously address the byzantine monstrosity of contemporary existence and care about the destiny of one's characters... [a] resounding success... not unworthy of Nabokov.' -- The Village Voice (full review) 'Taut and accomplished... Changez's story, which seems to gush from him like blood from a wound, traces the self's shifting sense of itself against the rumblings of a rudely shaken world... Dostoyevskian.' -- San Francisco Chronicle (full review) 'Changez's voice is extraordinary. Cultivated, restrained, yet also barbed and...
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...In what ways, if any, has globalization transformed the phenomenon of terrorism? Introduction The idea of terrorism has not always been as it is today. The word “terror” originated after the French Revolution and the word “terrorism” was subsequently recorded by the Académie Française in 1798 (Roberts 2002). The regime of “la Terreur” was one of force and bloody repression against opponents to the newly born French Republic, but since the 19th century, terrorism has come to designate a method of opposition used by small groups (Tilly 2004, 8-9) “against the legitimacy of the prevailing sovereign power” (Scruton 2002, 126). As Barkawi (2006, 129) aptly puts across “‘terror’ is often used as a weapon by those who lack sufficient weapons to fight a military war, who believe their voices are not being heard and their desires bear no fruit”. Contrary to the French “terror”, “terrorism” is then no longer a practice of the State; it is that of radical groups opposing the State, and it is mainly the State that gives them this name (Townshend 2002, 3); the names these groups give themselves are in relation to a cause they see as legitimate. Such causes have arisen in numerous places, prompting some to take extreme but in their minds justified action, and Europe has faced terrorist threats long before the 9/11 attacks, incarnated by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Basque Fatherland and Liberty group (ETA) in Spain or the Red Brigades in Italy, to name only a few (Barkawi...
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...International Journal of Social Science Studies Vol. 2, No. 2; April 2014 ISSN 2324-8033 E-ISSN 2324-8041 Published by Redfame Publishing URL: http://ijsss.redfame.com Social Norms and Impediments of Women Development in Bangladesh Abul Kalam Lecturer in Sociology, Department of Economics, Bangladesh University of Business and Technology (BUBT)Mirpur-2, Dhaka, Bangladesh Correspondence: Md. KALAM, 32-44 Steinway Astoria, NY11103, United States. Received: January 11, 2014 doi:10.11114/ijsss.v2i2.365 Accepted: February 17, 2014 Available online: March 3, 2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11114/ijsss.v2i2.365 Abstract This study focuses upon the contemporary process of Social Norms and Impediments of Women Development in Bangladesh. The development of women in organizations, Decision making, Political participation and gender mainstreaming is currently seen as the dominant conceptual model for promoting social justice and women equality. This study intends to see the position of women, discourses and various political, economic and social factors that surrounded these events. The impediments of women in Bangladesh were being pulled in different directions as a result, the context of social norms and gender inequality that existed at global, national, community and domestic levels. Child marriage is one of the main impediments of women empowerment and implementation of the government‟s vision-2021. In Bangladesh, the patriarchal capitalism puts women...
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...-Conformity and Rebellion: In my analysis of Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” I would tend agree that people are divided based on their roles and functions in society. This division of people may be outside of an individual’s or group of people’s control. This division of people may be driven by socioeconomic, geographic, political, ideological or technological reasons. There may be individuals in power that will dictate where classes of people should live and work. The divisions of people into classes can be seen in both the real world and fictional writings. There may be divisions of classes within the same group of people based on power and influence in that group. Some of these individuals in these groups may also consist of those rare individuals with a conscience, that Thoreau speaks of, who can influence change or incite a rebellion. If the actions of these rare individuals incites a revolution and takes down those individuals currently in power then I would agree they would be considered an enemy of the state. People can also be divided based on their roles and functions in society without force or coercion. Their culture or customs of a society may dictate roles and functions. An individual may be born into this society with fixed expectations of their roles or functions. This agreement can be the seen in the case of Changez, in the Reluctant Fundamentalist. Changez was born into a caste system where his family held some form of power and influence based...
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...e Runner begins with our thus-far nameless protagonist explaining that the past cannot be forgotten. A single moment in time defined him and has been affecting him for the last twenty-six years. This moment was in 1975 when he was twelve years old and hid near a crumbling alleyway in his hometown of Kabul, Afghanistan. When the protagonist's friend, Rahim Khan, calls him out of the blue, he knows that his past sins are coming back to haunt him even in the new life he has built in San Francisco. He remembers Hassan, whom he calls "the harelipped kite runner," saying "For you, a thousand times over." Rahim's words also echo in his head, "There is a way to be good again." These two phrases will become focal points for the rest of the novel and our protagonist's story. Chapter Two The protagonist remembers sitting in trees with Hassan when they were boys and annoying the neighbors. Any mischief they perpetrated was the protagonist's idea, but even when Hassan's father, Ali, scolded Hassan, he never told on the protagonist. Hassan's father was a servant to the protagonist's father, Baba and lived in a small servant's house on his property. Baba's house was widely considered the most beautiful one in Kabul. There Baba held large dinner parties and entertained friends, including Rahim Khan, in his smoking room. Though the protagonist was often surrounded by adults, he never knew his mother because she died in childbirth. Hassan never knew his mother, either, because she eloped with...
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...The Tobin Tax And Its Effects On The Foreign Exchange Market International Business Thesis By Mark Hansen 290587-1563 & Nina Johansen 140988-1838 Advisor Niels Blomgren-Hansen 17.05.2010 Executive summary In this thesis a financial transaction tax in the form of the Tobin Tax is examined as a means to reduce volatility on the foreign exchange market. James Tobin original proposal is presented followed by his 1995 paper and Frankel’s contribution to the discussion. Frankel gives merit to Tobin’s line of reasoning on reducing stability by dividing investors into short-term speculators and long-term fundamentalists and defines the former’s activities as destabilizing and the latter as stabilizing. However, we find this segmentation problematic since it is not possible to divide the market participants into these categories in the foreign exchange market. Many of the short-term investors do not necessarily speculate or disregard fundamentals, but rather try to avoid risk. Accordingly, many of the short term market movements are instead stabilizing. Therefore, the Tobin Tax would not only deter the destabilizing transactions, but also the stabilizing ones. If the foreign exchange market is in fact excessively volatile as Tobin argues then the tax could possibly have a positive effect by throwing sand in the wheels and thereby slowing short-term reactions. Our findings suggest that the foreign exchange market is in fact highly volatile, but we find no convincing...
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...Women’s Role in Economic Development: Overcoming the Constraints BACKGROUND RESEARCH PAPER Sarah Bradshaw, Joshua Castellino and Bineta Diop Submitted to the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda This paper reflects the views of the author and does not represent the views of the Panel. It is provided as background research for the HLP Report, one of many inputs to the process. May 2013 Women’s role in economic development: Overcoming the constraints Background paper for the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda Prepared by Dr. Sarah Bradshaw, Principal Lecturer, Middlesex University with Dr. Joshua Castellino and Ms. Bineta Diop, Co-Chairs of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Thematic Group on the “Challenges of Social Inclusion: Gender, Inequalities and Human Rights” 20 May 2013 1 1. Introduction This short paper aims to highlight the important role women have and can play in economic development. It addresses three questions: what is the evidence base to support investing in women? What are the current constraints on realising the full potential of women in the process of economic development? What are the priority areas of intervention necessary to unblock these constraints? It is focussed on women and on economic development, rather than on the wider issue of gender and development. However, before looking at the evidence base, constraints, and interventions, it will provide a brief context...
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...United States Students Lag in Math and Science United States high school seniors scored near or at the bottom of a multinational study of student performance in science and mathematics, according to results released on February 24, 1998. Final results from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), said to be the most comprehensive ever, also showed that U.S. students' aptitude for mathematics and science declines as they get older. Conducted in 1995, TIMSS tested student abilities in general mathematics, general science, advanced mathematics, and physics. In general mathematics and general science the Netherlands and Sweden took top honors, while the United States ranked 19th and 16th, respectively, in a field of 21 nations. Top-level U.S. students fared even worse, finishing 15th out of 16 countries in advanced mathematics and placing 16th—dead last—in physics. France and Norway, respectively, finished first in those disciplines. Asian nations scored highest in earlier TIMSS studies of fourth and eighth graders, but chose not to participate in the high school study. United States Secretary of Education Richard Riley called the results “entirely unacceptable” and said they “confirm our need to raise our standards of achievement, testing, and teaching.” Students must be encouraged to “understand the importance of math and science,” Riley said. Only 25 percent of U.S. high school students take physics and only 10 percent take calculus, Riley said. Meanwhile...
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...SAARC Ministerial Declaration on Cooperation in Combating Terrorism ***** We, the Foreign Ministers of Member States of SAARC, are deeply concerned about the continuing scourge of terrorism afflicting the region which has caused extensive social disharmony, loss of human life, destruction and damage to property. Terrorism poses a serious threat to peace and cooperation, and friendly and good neighbourly relations. It jeopardises the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of States, while constituting a serious violation of fundamental human rights. We renew our commitment to strengthening comprehensive region-wide cooperation among SAARC Member States to combat and eliminate all forms and manifestations of terrorism and in this context affirm the need to reinforce further the regional legal regime and instituting pragmatic cooperation to address this issue effectively. We also recognise that our cooperation shall proceed on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual respect and the principles of non-intervention and non-interference in the internal affairs of Member States consistent with the SAARC Charter. As we meet in Colombo, at the Thirty-first Session of the Council of Ministers, we solemnly declare and agree to undertake the following measures of cooperation: 1. We reiterate our commitment to implement measures against organising, instigating, facilitating, financing, fund raising, encouraging, tolerating and providing training for or otherwise...
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...Journal of Socio-Economics 29 (2000) 21–37 Is it necessary to have Islamic economics? M. Umer Chapra*,1 Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, Riyadh 11169, Saudi Arabian If Islam can be shown to be capable of providing fruitful vision to illuminate the modern conscience, then all mankind and not only Muslims, have a stake in the outcome. (Marshall Hodgson, 1977, Vol. 3, p. 441) Apart from the Islamic world, where fundamentalist political tendencies are quite marked, the global political scene is dominated by rhetoric and values that are primarily consumption-oriented and that stress personal self-gratification as the primary purpose of political action. (Zbigniew Brzezinsky, 1995, p. 53) Keywords: Islamic and conventional economics; Vision; Worldview; Method 1. Introduction Conventional economics, which dominates modern economic thinking, has become a well-developed and sophisticated discipline after going through a long and rigorous process of development over more than a century. The development continues uninterrupted, as reflected in the publication of innumerable journals, books, and research reports throughout the world. Individuals, universities, research organizations, and governments are all participating actively in this development. As a result of accelerated development in Western industrial countries over a long period, substantial resources are available to scholars to pursue their research. It goes to the credit of the West that there is a great quest for knowledge;...
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