The Reluctant Fundamentalist Response

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The second time we get to see the effects of nostalgia is when Changez learns that he and Erica can’t be together because of her nostalgia and ever more after she dies. The first time the narrative is effect by nostalgia is whenever he talks about his homeland when he is in the United States and he wants to go home. The nostalgia that Changez suffers from is passed to him from Erica when he tries to save her form her past. Changez nostalgia about his relationship with Erica causes him to lose his job because he cannot focus on the projects that he is assign to at the company. Later on in the book we find out that he is still living in the past and cannot let go of his relationship with Erica even though she is dead.

The novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist shows that not letting go of the past is a very dangerous thing to do. I fell that when people try to live in nostalgia they only remember the good things about the past and not the bad times that coincides with the memory. When people try to live in nostalgia they try to create an environment in which they can live their past memories in peace. We see this in the book when Erica moves into the mental hospital she is able to live in her nostalgia without being disrupted by anyone. When chose to live in the past they make it impossible for them to have a successful future or even have a decent present. I feel that people try to escape into nostalgia to avoid the problems in their current situation. We see this when Erica is afraid to let go of Chris and moves into a new relationship with Changez, we see the same thing when Changez is afraid to let Erica go and move on with his life.