The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

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The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

"Excuse me, sir, but I may be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America. I have noticed that you were looking for something; more than looking, in fact you seemed to be on a mission, and since I am both a native of this city and a speaker of your language, I thought I might offer you my services."

Within this passage, we have our main character speaking to another, yet the reader only gets one side of the conversation. The second characters voice is omitted, instead giving the feeling that the main character is talking more to the actual reader, who stands in for the second character. It also gives the feel of stream of consciousness as if the speaker is simply talking out loud to himself, or a silent character. Either way, this allows the reader to place themselves into this character, to feel as if the speaker is talking to them. The speaker mentions, "Do not be frightened by my beard:" which seems like an odd thing to be afraid of. Considering he goes on to state "I am a lover of America." he appears to be reassuring that his beard does not change how he feels about America. Context after this tells us the speaker is a Pakistani man, explaining his beard stands as a metonymy for his overall look and culture. He is reassuring the second character he is not a terrorist or against America just because of how he looks but without stating those specific terms. He's making sure they understand he is a friend, an ally if needed. Our speaker is putting us at ease.