What does it mean to society if somebody smiles upon the deaths of others? Does it even matter if that person smiling is from a different county? Many Americans would say that it is not right to find pleasure in any death. But if the person being killed is from a rival or hated country, then does this make it okay to smile upon death?

Upon reading Mohsin Hamids’s Novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist , I have found myself to view America from a different perspective once again. Mohsin uses a narrator by the name of Changez, who illustrates many images in my mind that put me in the shoes of an outsider. Sitting on his couch one day watching television, Mohsin watched the 9-11 catastrophe as he smiled while everyone else wept in disbelief.   In his explanation for smiling he stated “I was caught up in the symbolism of it all, the fact that someone had so visibly brought America to her knees.” (p. 83).   I think Changez smiled in disbelief, imagining that America is not invincible after all.

The way Changez sees America is much different than the average American’s view. He explained “I expected to find a city like Lahore-or perhaps Karachi; what I found instead was a place of skyscrapers and superhighways… But Manila’s glittering skyline and walled enclaves for the ultra-rich were unlike anything I had seen in Pakistan.” (p. 73). He goes on to talk about how we have such tall glossy buildings and rich neighborhoods everywhere. It wasn’t what he was used to and there probably was a bit of jealousy for lack of this lifestyle in Pakistan

Changez probably felt like Americans brought this upon ourselves with these skyscraper. From an outsider’s point of view, I would feel like Americans have it the best. Everything about America seems to be better than other countries considering that we lead the world with the newest technology innovations. Maybe Changez feels like Americans were asking for it by daring to build such tall buildings. From an outsider’s point of view, I can see that It’s an easy target and tempting in a way; for example, it’s almost like stacking blocks in front of a young child and telling the child not to knock it down. Some might see it as a tease, but we must remember there were people in those buildings who had loved ones and families at home.  

Changez backed up his smiling and joyful feeling by playing the guilt card. He wanted Americans to see this incident from a different perspective in saying “do you feel no joy at the video clips- so prevalent these days of American munitions laying waste the structures of your enemies?” (p. 84). He is trying to justify his smile by mentioning how Americans find joy in clips showing dead enemies. In a way he is speaking from a patriotic perspective because he obviously loves his country, and he thinks most   Americans love America.

He went on to explain why he smiled and how the deaths of 9-11 weren’t important to him because he didn’t lose anybody that he personally knew in the catastrophe. He compared the deaths of 9-11 to the death of movie characters. He feels that when he watches a movie, he learns about the lives of the movie characters and somehow feels connected.  When a main character dies in a movie, the audience tends to grieve because they feel connected. Since he didn’t know with the people in the towers, he didn’t have any feelings for them.

He must be a Patriot. I can’t imagine smiling during a tragedy like this. I remember I woke up and my parents were standing in front of the television. I quickly figured out the situation and was stuck in confusion. I wondered why somebody would do something like that, but I never found the answer. No matter what country was being attacked, I would feel sorrow for those who lost loved ones.

Just because America stands out as one of the strongest countries, it may make people feel threatened of full of jealousy. For example, pretend the San Francisco Giants baseball team doesn’t lose a single game the whole regular season. There is a good chance that players on the opposing teams will want the Giants to fall to their knees and lose the championship. In a sense, Changez doesn’t want America to be the best, but people are allowed to have opinions! Anybody can smile at whatever they want; it just depends on how other people take it!

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