The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Unlike Changez, who is both the narrator and protagonist, the American stranger is never named. The novel uses first-person narration, a literary device that allows the reader to occupy the role of the American, becoming the ‘you’ the narrative is addressed to. This device also raises the issue of the narrator’s reliability; our knowledge of the stranger is always mediated by Changez and the truthfulness of his account is open to interrogation. The stranger’s American identity is immediately recognizable to Changez because of how he carries himself. Changez comments on both the physical and mental state of the stranger throughout the course of the novel, saying he is well aware of the stranger’s type and being. Changez describes him as tall and barrel-chested, with the appearance of “a seasoned army officer” (6). Though Changez admits that many soldiers the world over have the same physical bearing, the stranger is different, and Changez knows from his first-hand experience that the man is American.

The American is suspicious, uneasy and constantly making note of his surroundings. He has a sophisticated cellphone that he frequently checks at specific intervals. Despite Changez’s approval, he never answers it, sending brief text messages instead. He sits with his back to the wall and refuses to take off his jacket, from which something similar to a holster bulges. A few times over the course of the conversation, the stranger becomes alarmed or frightened and reaches into his jacket, presumably for this object, though it is never revealed what the object actually is.

Changez notes early on that the stranger appears to be searching for something, or is on a mission of some sort. Changez interrupts his own story time and again to respond to the stranger’s questions or remarks. As this is a first-person narration, the reader can only infer what the stranger is saying or thinking from Changez’s responses. The stranger appears to know that Changez attended Princeton. He knows Manhattan rather well and has also traveled to the East before. From Changez’s remarks, the stranger is visibly upset and repulsed by Changez’s reactions to 9/11. The stranger even begins to ask whether or not Changez is telling the truth by the end of the novel.

As the novel ends, Changez accompanies the stranger on Mall Road back to his hotel. The American is even more uncomfortable than before, constantly glancing back over his shoulder. He is concerned that they are being followed by a group of men, including the intimidating waiter from the café. Changez once again reassures him that everything will be alright. The stranger, at the end of the novel, reaches again into his jacket for something described this time as shiny and metallic.

Erica is Changez’s love interest. He meets her in Greece while attending Princeton, and the two develop a complicated relationship. She is wealthy, like the other students from Princeton, has an athletic body and is considered a socialite with undeniable social magnetism. Whenever Changez watches her in a crowd or with friends, he notices that people are naturally drawn to her. It’s as if she needs the attention as well. And yet it is precisely when she is surrounded by others that Erica seems the most withdrawn. At one point in the novel, she refers to it as “spacing out.” Changez initially describes her as stately, regal even, and is immediately infatuated with her. Though Erica appears to be drawn to Changez as well, she is fighting a constant battle with depression as a result of her boyfriend’s death from lung cancer the previous year. She describes her grief for Chris, her dead boyfriend, as a sort of homesickness, a longing for a place she can never get to.

Erica is an aspiring novelist, and Changez eventually receives a copy of her novel but only after she has disappeared. Her fixation on Chris incapacitates her both physically and emotionally; this is most apparent when she and Changez try to make love and her body rejects him. She is finally able to make love to him once, but only when she imagines that Changez is Chris. Changez tries to visit her before he returns to Lahore for good. He finds, however, that she has been committed to a mental institution and is presumed to have committed suicide by jumping into the Hudson River.

Jim interviews Changez for his job at Underwood Samson and later becomes his boss. Like Changez, he is a Princeton alumnus who suffered a degree of marginalization from his peers, in his case, due to his lower-class background. Jim’s marginalization may also have been a result of his sexuality. There are indications in the novel that he is homosexual; for instance, there are several male nudes in his artwork collection and he isn’t married. His subsequent success means he is now a member of the corporate and social elite. Jim constantly compares himself to Changez throughout the novel, pointing out that neither of them feels as if they belong anywhere. This is one of the reasons that Jim offers Changez the position at Underwood Samson. He likes the “hunger” he sees in Changez, something he also had when starting out. Jim offers Changez a position on his team in Manila and sends him to Chile as well. Though he ultimately has to fire Changez when he abandons the job in Chile, he still offers Changez. 

Juan-Bautista is the CEO of the book publishing company in Valparaiso, Chile, that Underwood Samson is valuating for a client. He loves books, and has been running the company for a long time. Though he dislikes the valuating team, as they will most likely put him out of business, he takes a personal interest in Changez. Changez himself notes that Juan-Bautista reminds him of his grandfather. It is Juan-Bautista who tells Changez about the janissaries, Christian boys who were abducted and trained to fight for Muslim armies. The boys felt no confusion about their allegiance because they were taken and indoctrinated at a young age. His conversation with Juan-Bautista is pivotal in helping Changez understand the feelings that are building inside of him as America conducts its war on terror and his coworkers go about their tasks of maximum efficiency without ever considering the consequences of their work. Thanks to Juan-Bautista, Changez begins to perceive himself as a janissary and he eventually abandons the project in Chile due to his newfound convictions.