Concept Activity 2

Conflict

Youare going to look at the theme of conflict in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and how Mohsin Hamid deftly increases the temperature of the different conflicts through the course of the book. This task hits AO1 – informed interpretations and/or AO2 – how writers shape meanings.

Student guidance

Get into pairs and identify different areas of conflict in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, ready to feedback to the rest of the class.

Fill in the rest of the example table below. The area of conflict is the one Changez feels Underwood Samson. The quotation at the top of the table is (arguably) when this

Choose an area of conflict. Trace this theme through the book. Note how Hamid increases the temperature of the conflict as the story progresses.

Fill in a table, like the one below, with quotations that best illustrate how the temperature (basically the drama and tension) of the conflict increases.

The first table has been started for you below:

Version 11© OCR 2017

The Immigration Experience

Task 1: Temperature of the conflicts Changez faces during his work for Underwood Samson.

Temperature / Quotation / Concepts and terminology
I felt in that moment much closer to the Filipino driver than to him; I felt I was play-acting when in reality I ought to be making my way home, like the people on the street outside. (77) / Repetition of ‘I was from’ suggests that the response Changez gives is almost reflex.
…when asked where I was from, that I was from New York. Did these things trouble me, you ask? Certainly sir; I was often ashamed. (74)
On that day, I did not think of myself as a Pakistani, but as an Underwood Samson trainee, and my firm’s impressive offices made me proud. (38) / Foregrounding of ‘On that day’ emphasizes that this feeling would not last.

Area of conflict:

Temperature / Quotation / Concepts and terminology

Extension task

In this task you will look at how an area of conflict is resolved in The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

1)Find the best quotations to show the path that Changez moves down in the novel, from being proud of America, to being proud of his homeland.

Area of conflict: pride in homeland and host country

Temperature
50°C / On that day, I did not think of myself as a Pakistani, but as an Underwood Samson trainee, and my firm’s impressive offices made me proud.
(38)
75°C
100°C
75°C
50°C / …we were not the crazed and destitute radicals you see on your television channels but rather saints and poets and – yes – conquering

Do the same for other areas of conflict that are resolved during the book. Perhaps some remain unresolved and so the tables will remain incomplete.

Area of conflict:

Temperature
50°C
75°C
100°C
75°C
50°C

Version 11© OCR 2017

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