‘Erica represents her nation but she also mirrors Changez.’ Do you agree?

In Mohsin Hamid’s novel , The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the character Erica plays a vital part in
expression of the changes that occur within both America and Changez. Throughout the novel the
relationship between Erica and Changez closely follows that same course as the relationship
between Changez and the American nation, furthering the allegorical link between Erica and
America. Changez constantly faces rejection from both Erica and America despite his devotion to
both of them. However, Erica does not only represent her nation, she also often mirrors aspects of
Changez throughout much of the novel. Both Erica and Changez share a similar sense of nostalgia for
the past and are both searching for a sense of home within each other that has previously been lost.
Erica and Changez also follow the same detrimental path after the attacks of September 11 and both
fall into a similar state of isolation and detachment. Whilst the ends of their stories are different,
they follow a closely linked path throughout much of the novel.

Changez is constantly trying to gain Erica’s acceptance, but is continually faced with rejection. This
closely mirrors his relationship with America. Changez is trying to gain acceptance in America by
becoming a part of its society. This starts when he attends one of America’s most prestigious
universities and how he devotes himself to a job in the corporate world of America, committing
much of his time to this company. His relationship with Erica follows a similar path. He falls in love
with the sight and idea of her, much as he did with America; he works tirelessly to gain her love and
acceptance, much as the time and energy he devoted to Princeton; and he can only gain love and
affection from Erica when he pretends to be her lost love Chris, much as his personality changed
when he joined the Underwood Samson company. Changez implores Erica to pretend that he is her
late boyfriend Chris by asking her to “Pretend I am him.” His method of pretending to be someone
else is also followed in respect to his nationality when he is in Manila, as he “attempted to act and
speak, as much as [his] dignity would permit, more like an American.” The constant rejection that
Changez faces from Erica and America continues to test him throughout the majority of the novel.

After the event of 9/11, the allegorical tie between Erica and America develops further as Changez’s
rejection further deepens. Erica begins to completely reject every aspect of her relationship with
Changez, including their friendship. America also rejects Changez as an accepted member of their
society due to his appearance and he suddenly becomes an outsider in the city that he had loved so
much in his time there. Hamid shows America’s immediate rejection of Changez in his experiences at
the airport after he returns from Manilla when Changez is asked “‘what is the purpose of your trip to
the united states?’” at immigration. Changez’s relationship with Erica strongly mirrors that of
Changez’s relationship with America. Both relationships are eternally strained and Changez is always
fighting for an acceptance that he struggles to gain and to retain; a sense of ‘old time values’ in a
constantly changing world.

Erica mirrors Changez in the way that they share a similar sense of nostalgia for the old times values
that have been lost and seek a sense of home in each other that they no longer have in their life.
Throughout the novel both characters share a constant nostalgia for the past. Changez often shows a
longing for the day when his home city was the height of class and excellence and comments on the
fact that “Four thousand years ago, we... had cities…while the ancestors of...America were illiterate
barbarians. Now… America [has] universities with individual endowments greater than our national
budget for education.” Changez’s sense of nostalgia for the loss of glory of his home country is
mirrored by Erica’s sense of nostalgia for her lost love Chris. As the narrative develops, we see
changes in Erica as her deep desire to return to the life she had with Chris makes her spiral into a
deep bout of introspection, ultimately leading to her downfall. Changez comments on the deepening
of her internalisation saying “I knew... that she was disappearing into a powerful nostalgia, one from
which only she could choose whether or not to return.” As well as both presenting the same sense of
nostalgia, Changez and Erica both simultaneously searched for a sense of comfort and home within
each other. Erica searched for a sense home within Changez, however this proves difficult as her
sense of home was not a physical place but is with “a guy with long, skinny fingers.” Erica sought the
sense of love and comfort that she had experienced with Chris in Changez, but could never gain the
same connection. In turn, Changez sought after a sense of home within Erica. However even though
Erica never gained the same sense of home in Changez as she did in Chris, Changez developed such
strong feelings for Erica that when he was around her he “felt at home”. The resemblances between
Erica and Changez’s stories continue to deepen after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Erica’s reaction to the September 11 events also parallels that of Changez’s response. After 9/11,
Erica becomes increasingly withdrawn and distances herself from Changez. Despite Changez’s
attempts to regain their connection and preserve the relationship that he perceived they had, Erica
fell further into her introspective state. Whilst Changez often tried to help Erica out of her
disconnected state he recognised that it was “difficult for Erica to be out in the world…when in her
mind she was experiencing things... more meaningful than the things she could experience with the
rest of us.” Whilst Erica’s demise and withdrawal was much more severe and immediate, Changez
also went through the same process in a more gradual period. In the way that Erica felt detached
and out of place in normal everyday life, Changez began to feel isolated and foreign in the country
he had called home for several years. He became withdrawn from the beliefs of the company in
which he used to gain much pride from and pushes it away through methods of protest, such as the
refusal to shave off his beard despite the distance it will create between him and his colleagues. On
the topic of his beard, Changez stated that he “did not wish to blend in with the army of clean shaven
youngsters...and inside of [him], for multiple reasons, [he] was angry”. The anger that he felt for a
country that he initially aspired to be a part of is what inevitably leads to his distance and
resentment of America. Changez could no longer see the American dream that he had sought when
he had initially to come to the U.S and began to view America through the “eyes of a foreigner.”
Erica and Changez’s paths are often closely related to each other, as Erica is used to symbolize the
American nation and mirror Changez.

Hamid uses Erica in a number of symbolic ways to represent the changes in America as a nation both
before and following the 9/11 attacks. However, her path within the novel often follows that of
Changez. In many ways they follow the same path because they are both searching for a lost desire
that they both struggle to find and seeking comfort within each other. Both Erica and Changez are
vital to each other’s story and play a large part in the evolution of each other’s character throughout
the novel.

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