The Reluctant Fundamentalist was written by Mohsin Hamid on 2007. The story takes place in a cafe in Old Anarkali. The main character, Changez tells a stranger about his experience in America and his eventual abandonment of America. In the novel, Mohsin Hamid makes direct and strict judgement on American dream. The American Dream believes that people can gain the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility through hard work in a society with few barriers. In my paper, I am going to discuss how does Hamid uses Changez’s experiences to criticize American Dream. Hamid criticizes the unduly efficiency under American dream. American dream is encourage people work hard and ‘get ahead’. People believe that, efficiency brings them wealth. ‘Efficiency’ seems like a common goal for us. ‘Trade, with its stable of literary - defined for all practical purposes as commercially unviable - authors was a drag on the rest of the enterprise; our task was to determine the value of the asset if that drag were shut down.’(p.146-147) It seems that, all products should be commercially viable, if not, it cannot make money, then it should be shut down. Changez tells the stranger about the failure of placing unduly value on economic development. Is it a ‘must’ to chase for efficiency? Even some stuffs are not efficient, but they should exist. Take bookstore as an example. Reading books online are cheaper and more convenient, however, bookstore still have their own reason for existence. If all the people talk about efficiency, how will the world be …show more content…
American dream is an ideology. Hamid makes judgment on this ideology. First judgment is about the problem of market dominated system. Second, is their incorrect attitude on worldwide affairs. In the whole novel, the American’s voice is eliminated. Maybe it is time to hear the voice from third world