RESPONSE ESSAY 1 — Anmol Thotal

The title ‘my son the fanatic’ which may be a very apt title to the story, but is also very cliché. Hanif Kureishi’s short story “My Son the Fanatic” was originally published in The New Yorker in 1994. 
The story revolves around the life of a father and son who are settled in Britain. 
The father and son who probably shared a great relationship once upon a time are now in a very bad place. 
My first impression of the title was that maybe there was a rebellious son who relabelled his parents because of thier ideologies. But contrary to my theory, this story has a twist. The son is rebellious because of his father lacking Islam ideologies and not following thier morals and principles after moving away from thier native country. Both the father and son are facing challenges in thier own way. One can almost imagine Parvez confessing to his taxi cab colleagues the pain to leave his country but also find home in another country, he probably speaks with a sense of despair and lament not because of his son’s sudden adamant obsession to thier religion but because of what it will reflect on him as a father. One of Parvez’s fundamental challenges, and failures, as a father is that he is so committed to what others think of him and his name that he believes, wrongly, that his son will follow the same philosophy. This marriage to the West is something that actually serves to drive a wedge between he and his son. 
Another reason why the title is significant because it is meant to be ironic. In the end, the father is more of a fanatic than the son. The father is the one who abuses a child who is praying and splits his lip open in a drunken rage. He is unable to communicate anything other than anger and wrath because of what his son has become: A devout Muslim. It is here where the title is most appropriate because the “fanatic” is not the son, but the father. 
Parvez is a Pakistani immigrant living in England. He works as a taxi driver and has adapted to Western ways of life. His son, Ali, seems to have embraced the lifestyle of his British peers. Parvez, however, is growing more and more suspicious of his son as he notices apparent changes in Ali’s behavior. The taxi driver talks about his worries to his colleagues and to Bettina, a prostitute who has become Parvez’s friend and is probably his lover too. 
Parvez had planned a life for Ali but it is all crumbled when his son confesses that he is disgusted by his father’s neglect for Muslim precepts about prayers and his father’s disregard to any of the norms and morals followed in the religion. 
The amusing part of the story is that readers would normally expect to see the old generation tied to ethnic and religious traditions and would be seen trying to impose thier cultural values on the younger generation whereas second-generation immigrants would be more keen fit into the shoes and adapt to western ideologies . This process of subverting readers’ expectations is carried to the extreme as Kureishi’s short story ends with no immediate closure and no reassurance of any possible resolution in the future. 
Parvez, the protagonist is an interesting character in Kurieshi’s story because he displays behaviors of a cultural liberalism but employs a traditionalist parenting style.
 He has no problem befriending Bettina, who he seeks for advice and doesn’t mind confiding in. Parvez believes that his role is to provide for his family, make money in the opportunities that England affords him, as well as ensure that his son follows in the English way of doing things. Parvez provides for the boy’s studies the best way he can so that Ali could be the next generation to have a bright future with good ‘british values’ and reach a position which Parvez wasn’t able to reach in his life.
Yet Parvez is a traditionalist in terms of his parenting. He fundamentally believes that his son owes it to him to follow the path that Parvez feels is acceptable. Parvez is not liberal enough to say that it is ok for his son to embrace spiritualism and embrace his religion the way he chooses on his own. 
Overall this story is a perfect balance of reality vs expectations. Where two men are in a constant struggle between what they want to be and what they have become. Each character plays a specific role and convey a special message in the end.