THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST – TEST - M3

NAME: ________________________ DATE: _______________________ ___/44

PART 1- general understanding answer key

Answer the following questions as indicated:

a. Indicate if the following statements are true or false and correct the false ones. ___/6

STATEMENT TRUE FALSE

2 Changez plays soccer. x

3 Changez meets Erica in Central Park N.Y. He meets her while on holiday in Greece. x

4 The American’s name is Jeff. We don’t know the name of the American in Lahore. x

5 Underwood Samsons hires Changez just out of Princeton University. x

6 All the people at Underwood Sasmson are good-looking and tall. x

7 The book is a dialogue. It is a dramatic monologue x

8 Wainwright is one of Changez’s colleagues and a friend. x

b. These words or expressions appear in the book. Match them with their explanation on the right.____/4

WORDS/EXPRESSIONS EXPLANATIONS
1 BULWARK A plain, in poor conditions
2 MUGGER B walls which protect a castle or a city
3 TO WREAK AVOC C an independent, daring person
4 SHABBY D an inhabitant
5 TO LINGER E a person who steals/robs in the streets
6 DWELLER F enthusiastic, really wanting something
7 MAVERIK G to cause a lot of mess, to disrupt
8 EAGER H to spend a lot of time on something or around something
1B 2E 3G 4A 5H 6D 7C 8F

c. On a separate piece of paper, answer the following questions using your own words: ____/18
1. How do the relationships between Changez and Erica and Changez and America compare? Give at least 2
elements? Use between 60 and 80 words. 5 pts – (3.5 content and 1.5 language)

First of all Changez falls in love with America as he falls in love with Erica. Changez has to woe and observe the
ways of America as he has to woe and observe Erica. Changez wants to be with Erica as much as he wants to live
in America. At the same time, he feels that Erica is troubled as, in fact, is the country he now lives in. After 9/11
America refuses to welcome people coming from Asia or Muslim people in the exact same way as Erica refuses
to see Changez. Erica retreats in her problems, spiralling down in her troubles – exactly as America is doing with
the war in Afghanistan and consequently in Iraq. Erica, as America, pushes him away.

2. Why does Changez say that he immediately feels a New Yorker but not necessarily an American? 20 words –
2 points – (1.5 content and 0.5 language)
 New York is cosmopolitan and international. Several different races live there and people are used to that.
Whereas in other parts of America, this is not the case and if you come from another country or you are
perceived as an outsider you may not be welcome.

3. What is the role of Juan-Bautista in Changez’s life? Use approximately 50-60 words. 4 pts – (3 content and 1
language)

He is the tip of the iceberg, the last straw, the one who confronts him with his choices and his origins. Can
Changez really be two people and completely deny his roots? Like in soccer, he has to pick a team /country. Jaun
Bautista plays the role of Changez’s conscience.

4. Describe the role of Jim in the novel. Give at least 3 elements. Use between 50 to 60 words. 4 pts – (3
content and 1 language)

Jim is the American mentor, he is a nice person, the good side of America. He represents the American Dream as
he comes from a poor background but manages to go the top with an excellent job. He cannot deny his dream.
He is a helper and the consistency in Changez’s American life. However, he too, has to pick sides and he is first
and foremost an American. He is also the open-minded society: he is homosexual.

5. “I was a modern-day janissary, a servant of the American Empire” Changez, chapter 10 What does Changez
mean with this sentence? 3 points – (2.5 content and 0.5 language)

He means that by playing the American rules, having an American job, earning dollars from an American
company, he is in fact supporting the USA foreign policy and hence the war in Afghanistan and the role of the
USA in Asia (Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq…). He feels like a soldier fighting for the wrong army and going against his
ancestors. Exactly as a janissary.

PART 2- passage analysis Name: _________________

Read the following passage and answer the questions below. For the open questions, 3 points out of 10 will be
counted for language. ___/10
1 I see from your expression that you do not believe me. No matter, I am confident of the truth of my words. In any case, it was
impossible to ask the boy himself about the matter, as he had disappeared—whisked away to a secret detention facility, no
doubt, in some lawless limbo between your country and mine. He and I were not particularly well acquainted, as I have
repeatedly testified, but I remembered his shy smile and aptitude for cash-flow statements, and I found myself filled with rage
5 at the mystery surrounding his treatment. When the international television news networks came to our campus, I stated to
them among other things that no country inflicts death so readily upon the inhabitants of other countries, frightens so many
people so far away, as America. I was perhaps more forceful on this topic than I intended.
Later, it occurred to me that in addition to expressing my dismay, I was possibly trying to attract attention to myself; I had, in
my own manner, issued a firefly’s glow bright enough to transcend the boundaries of continents and civilizations. If Erica was
10 watching—which rationally, I knew, she almost certainly was not—she might have seen me and been moved to correspond. I
was tugged at by an undercurrent of loss when she did not do so. But my brief interview appeared to resonate: it was replayed
for days, and even now an excerpt of it can be seen in the occasional war-on-terror montage. Such was its impact that I was
warned by my comrades that America might react to my admittedly intemperate remarks by sending an emissary to intimidate
me or worse.
15 Since then, I have felt rather like a Kurtz waiting for his Marlow. I have endeavored to live normally, as though nothing has
changed, but I have been plagued by paranoia, by an intermittent sense that I am being observed. I even tried to vary my
routines—the times I left for work, for example, and the streets I took—but I have come to realize that all this serves no
purpose. I must meet my fate when it confronts me, and in the meantime I must conduct myself without panic.
Most of all, I must avoid doing what you are doing in this instant, namely constantly looking over my shoulder. It seems to me
20 that you have ceased to listen to my chatter; perhaps you are convinced that I am an inveterate liar, or perhaps you are under
the impression that we are being pursued. Really, sir, you would do well to relax. Yes, those men are now rather close, and
yes, the expression on the face of that one—what a coincidence; it is our waiter; he has offered me a nod of recognition—is
rather grim. But they mean you no harm, I assure you. It seems an obvious thing to say, but you should not imagine that we
Pakistanis are all potential terrorists, just as we should not imagine that you Americans are all undercover assassins.
25 Ah, we are about to arrive at the gates of your hotel. It is here that you and I shall at last part company. Perhaps our waiter
wants to say goodbye as well, for he is rapidly closing in. Yes, he is waving at me to detain you. I know you have found some
of my views offensive; I hope you will not resist my attempt to shake you by the hand. But why are you reaching into your
jacket, sir? I detect a glint of metal. Given that you and I are now bound by a certain shared intimacy, I trust it is from the
holder of your business cards.
 1. Situate the passage in the book (say what comes before and after, briefly explain what is happening)2 points
The passage is really the end of the book. It is its climax. Will the American kill Chnagez? Will Changez kidnap
/ kill the American?
2. On line 1, Changez repeats that he is telling the truth. Do we believe him? Why? 2 points
Changez keeps emphasising that he is telling the truth. For the reader, it is difficult to believe him. It’s really
up to the reader to decide as we only have his version of the story. We need at least two points of view to
make up her minds.
3. Comment the underlined quote of line 18: What does Changez mean, in your opinion? 2 points
Changez seems to be confident and fearless. He knows in his heart he has made the right choices in life. But he is not
silly and so he has maybe, thought about protecting himself (see the waiter for example who may be a sort of body
guard)
4. Comment on the open ending of the passage/book. Are there any instances of open ending? Why do you
think the author chose this technique? – 4 points
Nothing in life is white or black. Sometimes there are grey areas, and nothing is definite. Changez has 2 countries for
example. The open ending is a mirror of Changez’s situation: nothing is definite. Will he be killed? Or not? Is he
telling the truth or not? Is Erica dead or not? Is he actually a terrorist or not? Moshin Hamid really wants the reader
to make up their minds, exactly as the American people did. He is just giving another version of the story.

Find synonyms for the following words in the passage: ____/6