My son, the fanatic by Hanif Kureishi - Essay Example

The author hints at this,”His dreams of doing well in England….” Here ‘Parvez’ the father in the story has his vision of perfectness only in a place like Britain. The story can only be viewed as the clash between a father and a son and not as the clash between two different culture and religion because the father and son both belong to the same culture and religion. According to Patricia Pisters “In My Son the Fanatic however the generational conflict is complicated culturally, most particularly by Parvez, who doesn’t belong to the old British tradition and doesn’t fit into his own newly found home in religious fundamentalism either”.

The difference of opinion arises when Ali begins to turn away from his father’s wishes by breaking with the “British girlfriend” and throwing away his possessions saying that “there are more important things to be done”. Later he abandons his studies in accounting also. An understanding of the Muslim religion is essential to unravel the inconsistency between father and son. Parvez fails to stick to the strict rules followed by a Muslim throughout his life. This is evident from his childhood studies.

Being a Muslim is not easy especially in British culture. He was taught ‘Koran’ in Lahore but his faith in the Holy Script is shallow unlike that of his son Ali. The ‘father’ is an admirer of British culture. His eager efforts to assimilate himself to the British culture do not always please his college going son. Parvez exhibits some non Islamic qualities like alcoholism and fondness for pork. It is obvious from the words of Parvez “ You are not in the village now, this is England ,we have to fit in “.

The ‘fanatic ‘Ali fuses to the olden traditional ways of his religion and mocks his father for worshipping the alien culture. Ali slowly grows to a perfect Muslim but that was misunderstood by his son as behavioral problem. The