DISSENT AS ASSERTION
Abstract
Life
process appears to be carried out through a cycle of conflict and resolution,
tension and relief, dissent and assertion. So too are we
mute witnesses to the unfolding of histories in the lives of a father and son
–Parvez and Ali - in the poignant short story
“My Son-The Fanatic “ penned by the Pakistani writer, Hanif Qureishi.
The father has
left his motherland in a spirit of dissent against the dogmatic practice of
religion and life there. He settles in England and earns his livelihood as a
taxi driver. He finds solace in the fact that he is able to live his life as he
desires, doing his best for his family, finding comfort in the materialistic life
in what is evidently an imitation of the white man’s lifestyle.
The story
begins with the discovery by the father that his son Ali who had been a good
student, a good son and good friend had suddenly changed into a stranger with
extremist tendencies. The father-son relationship is brutally shaken with each
individual trying to come to terms with the situation which threatens to get
out of control. The son protests, perhaps because he felt the lacuna of living
amidst strangers and his sense of identity was slipping away from him under his
father’s tutelage. His attempts at asserting his individuality, however, evokes
outrage in his father who sees his hard work and toil coming to naught.
The paper
traces the borderless (? ) contemporary scenario, especially that of immigrants
in a foreign land. It also aims to analyse a few of the causes that give rise
to the turmoil of dissent and assertion.
No comments:
Post a Comment