Nostalgia is the sentimental longing or affection for the past that most people would associate with positive personal memories that transport them back to a happier time. Mohsin Hamid uses the concept of nostalgia throughout his novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, to communicate the life story of Changez to the American man while in Lahore, Pakistan at a café. In Hamid’s essay, “On the Dangers of Nostalgia”, Hamid depicts the prominence of nostalgia in our world today and how it has impeded on our growth for the future.
Throughout the novel, Changez is in a state of nostalgia as he looks back on his life in America and in Lahore as he tries to decipher how his experiences and choices helped him become the man he is in the present.
It can be argued that Changez is trying to make sense of his past rather than being nostalgic of the past. However, it seems that Changez, in his present form, is allowing nostalgia to guide him through his past experiences and memories in order to come to a conclusion of who he has become.
In the first chapter of the book, we are introduced to Changez’s family that are stuck in the past by their nostalgic memories of what their family used to have. From the first few pages of the novel, Changez inserts himself into a stranger’s life and begins to take them through the course of his young adult life. He begins his nostalgic story at his time at Princeton, which he describes as “a dream come true” (Hamid 3).
As the reader, you are able to see from the start that Changez thinks back on his time at Princeton and in America often as to reminisce on the past.
One of the primarily relevant incidents relating to nostalgia is when Changez beings to speak about his family in Lahore. He tells the American, “if you will permit me, my indulging in a minor digression” (Hamid 9), as to allow nostalgia to manifest itself even deeper within his story as he speaks about his family’s social and economic status in the Lahore community. On a deeper level, Hamid shows the nostalgia that manifests itself within Changez’s family and how it has negatively impacted the family dynamic.
The longing for what his family used to have, whether wealth, status or both, has created a sense of despair amongst the family. Changez notes this sense of longing to the American when he explains “nostalgia was their crack cocaine” (Hamid 71) which shows how nostalgia played a central role in the memories his family firmly held on to. Hence, they were living in the past instead of looking toward the future, which Hamid notes in his article as “growing terrified of the future” (Hamid par.6). Changez describes how his great grandfather had enough wealth “to endow a school for the Muslims of the Punjab” (Hamid 9) in addition to having a home in one of the most expensive districts of the city” (Hamid 9) including having a few servants, which shows the reader the abundance of wealth that used to be present but was clearly unavailable currently. Toward the middle of the novel, Changez takes time to reflect on his own standing in the American social classes. He realizes that he “was entering the very same social class that my family was falling out of” (Hamid 85) which can be interpreted as resolving the “poor boy’s sense of longing… for what we had had and lost” (Hamid 71).
Even though Changez’s family still had a high social standing, the lack of wealth posed an issue for Changez and furthering his education, and for the family who longed for a time where they could regain their wealth and to not live in the past. In Changez’s professional life at Underwood Samson, he reflects on his own self-identity while working in Chile. After multiple months working for the valuation company, Changez is confronted with the decision to leave Underwood Samson after consulting with Juan-Bautista in Chile.
Juan Bautista attempts to shed light on, what he believes to be the underlying concept of Changez’s job, whether Changez believes it or not, and how it resembles the Janissaries from the middle east. This conversation leads Changez to a deep bout of introspection” (Hamid 152) which guides him to a nostalgic reflection of the type of person he has become. Changez experiences a time of disillusion which causes him to be weary of the future. This connects to Hamid’s attempts in his article to point out that nostalgic reflections can lead individuals to be “unstable in the present” (Hamid par. 8) instead of bringing them back to happier times. These events cause Changez to be sensitive to the world around him and a sort of lost identity that stems from a nostalgic reflection. One of the major nostalgic reflections that Changez presents to the American is of Erica.
Changez meets Erica on a holiday vacation in Greece after their graduation. He was fascinated with her at first site, mentioning how “stunningly regal” (Hamid 16) she was. They developed a strong acquaintance through their time together which then continued when they returned to New York. Changez reminisces through the memories they created of going from party to party in Manhattan. He seems to be more nostalgic of Erica compared to all of the other experiences that he had by mentioning her more often than not. However, Erica had her own nostalgic filled days that prevented her from fully experiencing life. She often fell into the routine of speaking of Chris, her past boyfriend who died from cancer, which did not seem to bother Changez. Erica seemed to be in a constant state of nostalgia although it seemed to Changez that she was active in the present.
In “On the Dangers of Nostalgia”, Hamid notes that humans live and exist “in one moment, then in another… until we reach our end” (Hamid par.1) which accurately depicts Erica’s character through most of her life after Chris. She does not move on after his death but is paralyzed by one memory that haunts her which is the danger that Hamid is trying to shine light on by his article. Due to her inability to free herself from the nostalgic memories of Chris, Erica was unable to be fully present for Changez and their relationship.
The end of the book is a great example of how the author exemplifies the lack of control we have about the future and how we have to let go and explore the possibilities. In the end of the novel, Hamid leaves Changez’s fate in the reader’s hands. This unusual ending seems to have parallel connections to what Hamid is trying to use nostalgia to describe in his article. He tries to point out in the article that as time and technology seems to be moving forward faster than we can comprehend, we begin to hold onto the nostalgic ideas and memories that we know we can rely on, as to be “resistant to the future” (Hamid par. 8).
The novel ends with Changez trusting the American to give him a business card, but no further action or dialogue. This can show how the future is unknown for both Changez and humanity, therefore we have to grapple with a conclusion that will satisfy our need for concrete answers. As the article notes, “we are left stranded” (Hamid par. 8) with the unknown ending as well as our unknown future with which we try to predict, but ultimately “seem unlikely to occur” (Hamid par. 8). Changez’s storytelling to the American takes the reader on a journey of deep nostalgia into Changez’s previous years.
The shared connection of Nostalgia between both The Reluctant Fundamentalist and “On the Dangers of Nostalgia”, shows that nostalgia can be both good and bad for an individual and a society. In Changez’s accounts, nostalgia played a central role throughout his life with his family and his decision making. For Erica, it seemed as if she was trapped in a nostalgic state all through her life due to the passing of Chris. In both cases, nostalgia was a major piece that altered both of their lives, for better and for worse.
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