“My Son the Fanatic” by Hanif Kureshi

Hanif Kureishi, My Son the Fanatic (Critical Quarterly vol. 37, no.1), 62.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

HANIF KURESHI was born in South London to a Pakistani father and an English mother (Audrey Buss). His father, Rafiushan, was from a wealthy Madras family, most of whose members moved to Pakistan after the Partition of British India in 1947. After his parents married, the family settled in Bromley where Kureishi was born.

SUMMARY

My Son the Fanatic is a short story which revolves around the relationship between Pakistani- migrant Parvez and his newly converted son, Ali.

CHARACTERS

Parvez  

Parvez is the main character, he is an Anglo- Pakistani cab driver who enjoys the rights which come with living in Britain, for example having the freedom to drink alcohol, eat pork and associate with women- all of which would be forbidden in Islamic ruled Pakistan.

Parvez wants the best for his son Ali and for Parvez that means western prosperity. So he projects this idea of success onto Ali, pushing Ali to become an accountant, “marry the right girl, and start a family?” (58) However this dream is rejected by Ali when he converts to Islam and rejects his father and western society.

Ali

Parvez’s son who was once a popular, outgoing model with a white girlfriend, who then rejects his old life to convert to Islam.   

@ Trailer of "My Son the Fanatic" directed by Udayan Prasad and starring Om Puri.  

THEMES

Themes 1:  Generational tensions

Throughout the story Parvez emerges as a sympathetic figure because his attempts to understand his son’s new found faith are met with confrontation. For instance, when Parvez takes his son out to dinner, Ali immediately goes on the defensive, questioning: “Don’t you know it’s wrong to drink alcohol?” (61) In this scene the roles of parent and child seem to be reversed, with Ali scolding, criticizing and lecturing Parvez on what he sees as Parvez’s immoral life style. However, Parvez is unwilling to allow his son to dominate him. Parvez says “he wouldn’t stand for his own son telling him the difference between right and wrong.” (62)

Suggestion: compare the theme of generational tensions in Kureshi’s “My Son the Fanatic” with Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde.  

 Theme 2: Culture Clashes

In a conversation between Parvez and his son, Ali, Parvez says: “‘I love England….They let you do almost anything here.” Ali, replies: “That is the problem”. (62) For Ali that is the problem; he believes his father has sold out on his culture for the West. Thus, while Parvez has adopted an Anglo- Pakistani, hybrid culture, which is more concerned with the values of his adopted country, and with Ali reverting back to Parvez’s original culture, there emerges a kind of ‘culture clash’ between father and son. This is seen when Ali talks about how, “the skin of the infidel would burn off…”  (62) and Parvez looks “out of the window as if to check that they were still in London.” (62) There views seem incompatible; Parvez cannot believe that these words are coming from his own son (62).

Theme 3: Identity

Ali says: “‘[m]y people have taken enough. If the persecution doesn’t stop, there will be jihad...’” (62) Ali is using typical Islamic fundamentalist rhetoric, and here Ali says “My people” and not “our people”, which shows that he sees his father as part of the West, since he accuses, “you’re too implicated in Western society”. (61) Ali, on the other hand identifies with the ‘East’, thus with Parvez symbolizing the West and Ali symbolizing the East, Kureishi creates binaries which, although polar opposites on the map, are situated within Britain.

Question: Why does Ali convert to Islam? Why does Parvez see England as his home, while England- born Ali doesn’t?

Further Reading

Kureishi, Hanif. My Beautiful Laundrette and The Rainbow Sign. London: Faber and Faber, 1986.

Moore-Gilbert, Bart. Hanif Kureishi. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001. 

Prasad, Udayan.  directed the 1997 film adaptation of the story, starring Om Puri, Akbar Kurtha and Rachel Griffiths.

Powell, J. Enoch. “Speech at Birmingham, 20 April 1968,” in Freedom and Reality, ed. John Wood. London: Arlington House Press, 1969.

Thatcher, Margaret. TV interview for Granada World in Action. 27 January, 1978.