In Zadie Smith's White Teeth and Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the authors demonstrate the different ways in which religion can become a factor in cultural tradition and in the friction between different racial groups and nationalities. The character of Changez Khan in The Reluctant Fundamentalist becomes an advocate of jihadist "fundamentalist" actions through external events and as a reaction to American aggression, rather than as an expression of true domestic Islamic beliefs. Other characters, however, associate him with the Muslim faith due to his country of origin and culture, and religion appears inextricable from culture throughout the novel. Smith's approach diverges to some extent from Hamid's, as White Teeth explores the extent to which its characters seek to form precise identities through tension with their original religions and cultures. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. For example, in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the first physical characterization of Changez given to the reader is his "beard", in the opening paragraph. Although the jargon here, which Changez maintains throughout, is extremely polite and initially effortful (given that his first sentence is 'Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance?': a sentence that might even appear willingly submissive) the unnamed American is 'alarmed'. Hamid then lays out the implicit assumptions the American supposedly made to be afraid in the line, “Don't let my beard scare you: I'm a lover of America.” A beard within the Lahore milieu implies a commitment to the Islamic faith, as the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi, Hanbali, and Shia schools of religious law encourage men to grow beards to emulate the Prophet. However, the setting is only revealed to the reader later, so all he or she has to deduce from Changez's alarming qualities is the second half of the sentence: "I'm a lover of America." As this implicit affirmation of his foreignness completes the description of his traditionally religious appearance, Hamid links culture and religion as associated and equal threats to a white American citizen. Changez describes Erica and Chris's past relationship after she left him, saying "Maybe the reality of their time together was as wonderful as she had described to me, on more than one occasion. Or maybe theirs was a much more powerful past because it was imaginary. I didn't know if I believed in the truth of their love; after all, it was a religion that didn't accept me as a convert. But I knew it did, and I felt small for not being able to offer it anything comparable to splendor.' If the relationship between Erica and Changez is interpreted as representing his ultimately failed infatuation with the West, then it is significant that the previous love between two Americans is a "religion that would not accept him as a convert": it cannot replace the American Chris or truly emulate his life. Hamid may therefore imply that for the West, religion and culture are inextricable The description of the relationship of these two Americans focuses specifically on the ambiguity about how “imaginary” it was, although Changez wonders through an emphatic italics whether the truth of this American religion is as important as this particular individual's faith: "I knew she believed in it." Hamid continues the lexical field of religion by also mentioning its 'splendor,' a word often associated with the 'light of God', and when Changez sees Erica later at the clinic, he describes her as 'devout' and hungry, as if although she has been 'too consumed with prayer' toeat. Changez also describes Erica's fall as “powerful nostalgia,” clearly echoing the condemnation of “paralyzing nostalgia” in America. This force is a connection that Changez cannot understand, because he is outside of it, and it acts as an illogical compulsion. This conceptual metaphor, which extends throughout the novel, frames the American presence as a religious presence, as if to make clear to Hamid's Western audience that the patriotic connection to the United States could be equally mystifying and threatening to someone from Pakistan (even one capable of feeling as comfortable in America) as Islam could potentially be for them. Arguably, since personal religion does not influence Changez's life in isolation, but the confusion and reliance on faith over the logic of American nostalgia harms Erica, Hamid even describes the allure of America as a dogmatic religious force within the more powerful novel than Islam itself. Changez identifies with the "janissaries" of the Ottoman Empire, noting "I was a modern-day janissary, a servant of the American empire at a time when it was invading a country with a kinship to my own." This “kinship” is both of race and religion, forming a more compelling familial connection than geographic to America when he lived there. Although the Janissaries were Christians forced to serve for a Muslim army, suggesting that the Islamic religion itself is not inherently exploited by others or even necessary to the allegory, the fact that he sees himself metaphorically serving another religion as well as a rival nation reinforces the idea of ​​Americanism as a religion. The location of this epiphany corroborates the priority of ideological "kinship" over geographic loyalty: there is no one in Chile he knows or cares about, but Juan-Batista influences him significantly because of the anti-American vision they share. His decision to grow a beard also stems from this visit: religion is once again an instrument of resentment against a nation. In White Teeth, Smith portrays Islam as disconnected from culture through the character of Millat Iqbal, while Smith contextualizes his conversion to the fundamentalist group KEVIN from Western culture rather than from the traditional Muslim upbringing Samad has had, which he seeks to bestow on the more academic Magid by sending him to Bangladesh. Millat's obsession with American gangster films influences his journey into fundamentalism: when he tries to reject the idea of ​​the films, the recurring reference to Goodfellas in his mind, "As far as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster", becomes "For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be Muslim'. This obvious parallel may underline the lack of an original, purely introspective motivation behind his desire to join KEVIN, but Smith is also showing that this decision arises from a compulsion towards the clear order of an organization like the mafia, Millat has remained in multicultural and confusing London as a second-generation immigrant with little sense of his roots, and consequently his mind is a "mess" of West and East, requiring any structure or connection to his own culture. Ironically, by joining this organization, he also rejects his cultural roots by distancing himself from his father's form of Islam. The youth organization all seek their religious origins through the "fundamentals", as Millat describes "clean living, prayer (five times a day without fail), fasting, working for the cause, spreading the message" , although he admits that 'it pissed him off that it didn'twere pious thoughts' and adds hesitantly 'And that was enough, wasn't it? Perhaps. Be that as it may, the adolescent jargon that permeates his introversion with a dismissive and superficial attitude towards a deeper faith. The missing connection with culture and faith here is therefore in the mind, and in the deeper contemplation or compassion that these directionless young people lack. Samad is a displaced Muslim character, similar to Changez. Although he has moved towards a Western culture, Samad clings to his faith despite Smith's diverse London, what Irene Pérez Fernández describes as a "multicultural space in which a homogeneous cultural identity is questioned" or "a hybrid reality that for (Smith) it is not extraordinary or magical but part of (his) ordinary life." He maintains a single identity, unlike the more confused second generation characters, through his religion and his deeper mental connection, uncontaminated by Western contextualization unlike his son. He sees his roots as intrinsic, as he explains to Arthur: ""I don't eat [pork] for the same reason that you, as an Englishman, will never really satisfy a woman... It's in our culture, my friend." He thought for a minute. "Maybe deeper. Maybe in our bones."' His pause for reflection, replicated by an actual break in reported speech, and the anaphora of "Maybe" subverts his actual word, as if he is uncertain about this seemingly certain fact of his identity . Smith also appears to criticize this interpretation within the text, having him drink and commit adultery: his loyalty appears to be to a cultural ideal of religion rather than to religious principles themselves. Smith further states: "If religion is opium of peoples, tradition is an even more sinister analgesic, simply because it rarely appears sinister." Here religion does not act alone; Samad commits the "sinister" act of actually kidnapping his son because of an idea of ​​cultural tradition in his head rather than out of a commitment to Allah, as the surrounding environment provides an external cultural force: Magid could have simply become more pious anywhere He appears to be much more secure in his religious identity than Millat, but the maintenance of cultural traditions in combination with Islam leads him to divide his family. In contrast, Smith evokes a complete rejection of roots through the character of Clara Bowden and her decision to abandon religion. Her family is also inextricably linked to their identity as Jamaican Jehovah's Witnesses, so Clara made a conscious decision to sever that emotional connection and their inherited culture. Smith suggests, however, that because of his upbringing, he could always resist the urge to fall back into faith. When she scolds her mother for influencing Irie, Smith belittles her words: "Hortense, I don't want you to fill her head with a lot of nonsense. Do you hear me? Your mother was foolish, and you were foolish too, but her It's my responsibility and it doesn't go any further. Irie comes home saying any of that nonsense, you can forget about the Second Coming, because by the time it comes you'll already be dead." Great words. But how fragile is Clara's atheism!" The mention of "the buck" stopping with Clara acknowledges that faith is her cultural heritage, and while "it will go no further" it seems to emphatically deny the possibility of Irie succumbing , the fact that she has to violently warn her mother demonstrates how "fragile" Clara's resolution is. The abrupt two-word phrase "Great words" also gives a cynical and uncaring narrative voice through a bathetic contrast with the dramatic invocation. of the "Second Coming" of the previous sentences."..