RESPONSE ESSAY 2- Purnasneha Sundar

Hanif Kureishi’s short story ‘My Son the Fanatic’, deals with a complex father and son relationship and is seen to have anticipated discussions regarding the Islamic fundamental ideologies.

The protagonist, Parvez is a Pakistani immigrant living in England. He works as a taxi driver and has assimilated to Western ways of life. His son, Ali, seems to have embraced the lifestyle of his British peers. The taxi driver talks about his worries to his colleagues and to Bettina, a prostitute who has become Parvez’s friend. Parvez one night repeatedly hits Ali. The son reacts with only a question: “So who’s the fanatic now?” There ends the open ended story, which captures the readers’ attention and draws us closer to the text at the very end.

In this story, the readers succumb to the words of the father and closely identify with his point of view, thus is sceptical about his son’s fundamentalism. Readers would normally expect to see the old generation tied to ethnic and religious traditions and the second-generation immigrants would be keener to assimilate. This process of converting the 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; making it strong and powerful.

With the texture of the story and the intense title, it proves the author’s expertise. An important 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. However, society, as biased as it can be against things it does not understand, would most likely see the son as the fanatic and not the father, for it, too, does not understand why its values would be rejected. In this, further alienation of the youth is present, leading to greater labels of fanaticism for that which is not understood, making the title not only appropriate but quite prophetic and ambiguous. Thus, ‘My Son the Fanatic’ brings in themes both at an individual and a societal level, exploring the stereotypes and culture clashes apt not just for this sect of the society, but for the rest too.

The short story “My Son the Fanatic” makes one reflect on a controversial topic which is, sadly perhaps, quite contemporary; in other words, the clash of cultures resulting from immigration and the inability to bring them together. On the other hand, the main purpose of the activities derived from the extracts proposed is to help students as they read the complete story and to stimulate discussion and debate. It also represents the conflicting ideals of modernism in the British sense. It also brings in importance to the cultural understanding and upbringing.