Hanif Kureishi’s, “My Son the Fanatic”, is about the relationship between a father and son. The father, Parvez, is a taxi driver in England whom is originally from Lahore. Lahore is a Pakistani city in the Punjab religion (Greenblatt,) Parvez is concerned for his son because his behavior has changed. The son, Ali, has been getting rid of his possessions and “his old friends stopped ringing” (Greenblatt, p.1202). Being the concerned parent, Parvez turned to a friend for advice and explained his observations about his son; he suspected his son was on drugs. His friend, Bettina, informed him of the signs to look for to see if his son really was taking drugs. After observing Ali for a few days, Parvez came to the conclusion that his son was not taking drugs, in fact Ali seemed to be quite alert and focused. Parvez gazed at his son and “he returned his father’s long looks with more than a hint of criticism, of reproach even, so much that Parvez began to feel that it was he who was in the wrong and not the boy (Greenblatt, p.1204). Parvez continued to spy on Ali’s every move in the house but couldn’t find anything wrong; his son prayed five times a day as it was custom for their religion and wasn’t doing anything illegal. The time came when Parvez took Ali put to eat discuss what was going on. Ali could only give Parvez a look full of disgust as he watched his father drink alcohol as it was against their religion. Ali mad it clear to his father that he was very religious and would not stray against its customs. Parvez “wouldn’t stand for his own son telling him the difference between right and wrong” (Greenblatt, p1205). Ali told Parvez, “you are too implicated in Western civilization…The Western materialists hate us, Papa, how can you love something which hates you? ...Western education cultivates an anti-religious attitude” (Greenblatt, p.1206-1207). Parvez had grown to love England because of the freedom to do almost anything in the country. In a drunk state and in anger of the conflict, Parvez beats his son bloody; Ali did not fight back but only asked, “so who’s the fanatic now” (Greenblatt, p.1209). The title calls the son the fanatic, but it seems his father is more the fanatic. Parvez became obsessed with everything his son was doing. The son was never the fanatic and it seems like Parvez projected his fanatic behavior onto his sons change in behavior. The conflict between the father and son, was over religion and beliefs. Ali was very strict about following the rules while Parvez was quite lax about the rules. Parvez wanted to enjoy life since he worked long hours and never took a holiday. Parvez couldn’t seem to get Ali to see his point of view on the conflict and both father and son were unmovable in their beliefs. This is a similar problem parents and children face with each other in todays time. Its not always about religion, but beliefs are a strong cause of conflict between parents and their kids. Neither Parvez or Ali were open minded to each other’s perspectives which led to a violent ending and the conflict still wasn’t resolved.
Work Cited:
Greenblatt, Stephen, and Catherine Robson. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 10th ed., E, W.W. Norton, 2018.
I enjoyed reading this, I too saw the old conflicts of religion and belief, as well as the relationship between father and son is often filled with poor communication.