How did 9/11 change the way Americans feel about themselves as world power? Discuss with reference to the novel ‘the Reluctant Fundamentalist’.
September 11, 2001. Changez is working in Manila and is struck by the intense emotional response to the sight of the collapsing World Trade Center towers. An emotional response defined by sheer pleasure. On his flight back to New York, Changez realizes that the world has changed forever for him. He now must face prejudice and discrimination based on his physical appearance as a routine way of life. Erica has been equally traumatized by the events of 9/11, though in a different way and longs for her dead boyfriend, Chris. Changez manages to score with her by telling her to pretend he is her dead boyfriend during sex. Thinking that they will now be drawn closer, Changez finds that instead this experience has driven them further apart. The American Psyche was affected by 911 and still is. Islamiphobia, a fractured country, and political instability are still shadows of that terrible day.
