Essays

Comparison between the short story „My Son the Fanatic“, and Selim’s Story in “Hearts and Minds”
The narrative “My Son the Fanatic” by Harnif Kureishi has been published in 1994 and deals with the life of the Pakistani Immigrant Parvez and his son Ali. Parvez has emigrated to London in the hope to find a better life abroad. His attempts to settle down succeeded. His son Ali seemed to fit the new country and to adopt its customs. But when Ali suddenly begins to change, Parvez is concerned.
There are many parallels between Ali’s and Selim’s story. Selim is also the son of a Pakistani Immigrant in Great Britain, he also adapted his surroundings in his childhood and then changed. Both, the Father of Selim and Ali earn their living by driving taxi. Both Immigrant families can afford a proper living. But the process, of how Ali and Selim arouse fanaticsm, is different.
Selim used to be a very good student when he was a child. He was one of the most talented pupils in science to ever have attended Samuel Smiles. But when he grew up and started to meet up with “toxic” friends, he began to consume drugs and to neglect school. His father, who noticed the changes, sent Selim back to Pakistan. In Pakistan Selim started to pray five times a day and to develop radical Islamic beliefs. So Pakistan was not the beneficial boot camp as Tariq hoped. When his son came back to London he had not learned to appreciate the wealthy life style of the west, but to hate it.
Ali was a good child also. His Father was proud on how well his son was integrated into the british society. But then Ali started to throw out the luxury toys his father bought him and became very tidy. He began to attend certain mosques more frequently and started to grow a beard, he drifted into radical islamistic circles within London. He adjudged his father’s consume of pork and alcohol. He began to develop an antipathy towards the western lifestyle, just as Selim did.
Another parallel is that Ali and Selim interact with a prostitute. Whereas Ali is unwillingly forced into a conversation to Bettina in his fathers’ cab, Selim goes to a brothel voluntarily. Ali tells Bettina off because of her non-Islamic lifestyle and thereby causes the escalation of the conflict with his father. Ali goes to the brothel drunk and enjoys its services.
Also the two stories end differently. Selim tries, as a suicide-bomber, to blow up the “Rambler” Party (In before the “Rambler” published a Mohammed caricature). His attack can only just be prohibited by Job. Furthermore Ali is not intending any illegal action in “My Son the Fanatic”.
The topic of both stories is Multiculturalism. Even though Ali and Selim both were able to integrate in the British society as they were children, they do not feel home in London when they are young adults, but foreign. They fear is losing their Muslim Identity by adapting the British lifestyle. They do not understand why their parents have given up parts of their Muslim traditions and begin to refocus on their religion. They have the impression that Muslims are not welcome in the British society and don’t want to betray their own values or culture by becoming too European.
In the worst case this body of thought leads to “homegrown Terrorism” as Selim Stories in “Hearts and Minds” is meant to outline. “Homegrown Terrorism” means that the terrorists are recruited within the targets nation. At the latest the dramatic events of the 7th July 2005 illuminated that “Homegrown Terrorism” has become a serious problem in our western civilizations. On that date, a co-ordinated series of suicide attacks took the life of 52 Londoners and four suicide Bombers. Over 700 people were injured.
In my view both authors criticize the social circumstances which lead to such fatal actions. In the scene “Dinner Party” which we discussed in class, Amanda Craig wrote down how deeply racial tensions are rooted in wide parts of Britain’s white population. Also she is revealing the deplorable conditions in public schools in London, which cannot cope with their task to offer a good and safe education system to everyone non depending on their social background. Both authors appeal to their readers to rethink their prejudices towards immigrants. Both Authors strongly criticize how poor the interaction of different cultures within Great Britain is.
The conclusion of Selim and Ali’s story is that something has to change. And of course politics are in duty to step up. There have to be more efforts to offer a proper educational system to everyone, there has to be a dialogue on fanatism in every school and people need to understand why second generation migrants still feel foreign. But also the immigrants need to fit in to western culture. They need to learn that the western way of life is different to their culture. And even if they do not need to take over those values, they need at least to respect them, just as the British need to accept their different lifestyle. The clash of cultures does not automatically need to end in a dilemma. People should learn to live next to each other and should not fear to lose their traditions and identity as a result of Integration. Integration does not mean that you give up your old values and take over new ones, but that you try to fit your personality into your new social surrounding.
When Margret Thatcher says “There is no such thing as society (&hellip People must look after themselves first” she is not right. There is such a thing as society and if it wants to work out everybody needs to be part of it. I think that it is a sad fact that in the 21st century religion still causes the split of this society. It is sad that Immigrants feel the need to found their own society within the society they emigrated to and that some cannot feel home even though they have been living in the new society all their lives, just as Selim and Ali did.