Analyse af 'My son the Fanatic' af Hanif Kureishi

The short story My son the Fanatic is written by Hanif Kureishi and published in “Love in a Blue Time” 1997. The story is generally about a conflict between a boy’s search for an identity and a father’s expectations to his son. It can be very difficult to become integrated and people deal with it in different ways – My son the Fanatic is a short story about what kinds of consequences it can lead to.

The main character is the father Parvez; a hard-working Pakistani with a tendency to alcoholism, who left his native country and settled down in England many years ago. He lives with his wife and son, but most of the time he is at work as a taxi driver at night, which he actually does to avoid being with his wife: They preferred to work at night; the roads were clearer and the money better. They slept during the day, avoiding their wives (p.193 l. 34-36). Parvez and his wife have in general a quite normal and typical Muslim relationship; the wife is a full-time housewife and the husband is working, a relationship without passion and love. When Parvez is at work in his taxi he feels free – he enjoys spending time with his colleagues and has through his work built a close relationship to the prostitute Bettina. He drives her around almost every night; this is the only place he can talk from his heart: He could talk to her about things he’d never be able to discuss with his own wife (p. 195 l. 1-2). The relationship with Bettina pulls him away from the traditional society and culture he left behind in Pakistan, where associations to this kind of women don’t exist, because the prostitutes are looked down at in a much higher degree. In addition to his relationship to Bettina, he does other things that are against his original culture and religion. He drinks alcohol, eats pork and loves the free democratic values in England where he feels free in comparison to Pakistan:”But I love England”, Parvez said, watching his boy in the mirror. “They let you do almost everything here” (p. 198 l. 37-38). The reason why Parvez left his religion behind was a period as a boy in Lahore, when he was degraded in the Koran school: After his indignity Parvez had avoided all religions (p. 196 l. 14). Without any religion it can be easier to take in a new culture with new norms and this could be an explanation to Parvez’s open-minded thoughts about England. As he disclaimed his religion, he was short of belonging and membership in something. Therefore he wanted to get fully integrated in England so he could belong to something.