THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST: ERICA ANALYSIS

THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST: ERICA ANALYSIS

Introduction

Erica is one of the main characters in the novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist. She suffers a psychosis after her boyfriend dies, which comes back after some time. Clinging to the perfect relationship she once had or imagined it, Erica finds it had to move forward with life, and even after meeting other people, she still looks back, affecting her current relationship and health. Symbolically, America is fighting an internal war after an attack on the world trade center, with the nation looking back at the perfect time it had where there were safety and certainty.

Erica’s Analysis

Erica suffers emotionally from her previous relationship. When the author is with Erica in Greece, she confesses to him that she does not like to be alone. Close observation by The author found that Erica was rarely alone, as she had a way of attracting people to her, making her presence known. Despite all the attention she received, the author notes that some parts of her were lost in some unsaid thoughts (Hamid, 2007). Her inner life was a direct opposite of her social life, where she removed those around her emotionally.

Erica is romantic and finds it hard to let go of lost love. In Greece, after having a good time swimming with the author, she wears a shirt that belongs to her past boyfriend, Chris. Even with Chris gone, Erica still has feelings for him, and the shirt acts as a reminder of their love. When the author visits Erica at her home, he finds painting done by Chris almost two decades before, when both Chris and Erica were children (Hamid, 2007). After Chris died, she broke down emotionally that she went into medication, and her mother had to take work leave to stay with her. Holding on to the past makes the author feel as if there is something broken about Erica, an observation he makes on many occasions, Greece being one of them. Even with the feelings of her lost boyfriend, Erica is still romantic with the author, taking him to various social joints where they share emotional connections, even in the presence of a crowd (Hamid, 2007). She also takes the author to a picnic where she used to go with Chris. The author still thinks of her the same way again, a s having a crack inside her.

Having being brought up in an upper-class environment, Erica is social and has all the connections, but she is respectful, honest, and a decent person. Her wealthy parent and upbringing never spoilt her. She takes the author to various parties and fundraisers in wealthy houses and private clubs in New York. Her degree from Princeton makes her a good catch with the perfect background, but she never rubs all that to people. Erica’s ability to be honest with others can be one of the factors that attract others to her.

With a loss of the love of her life, Erica is a fighter. She fought the loss of her boyfriend, who meant a lot to her. She has fought her diseases for years and still is strong. Physically, Erica is a fighter doing training for martial arts. When celebrating her success in finding an agent, Erica tells the author of her female friend who is quicker than her and ended up hurting her when they were training. Also, when the author first goes to visit Erica’s residence, he finds a punching bag hanging from the ceiling, meaning that Erica trained continuously in the comfort of her bedroom.

Erica’s name and psychological state symbolize America at the time. Her name comes from the word America, and her health deteriorated after the 9/11 attack on the world trade center. Erica, after the 9/11 attack, falls back to her medical problem, which makes her weak that the author does not seem to recognize her when she invites him out. Later, her health problem becomes worse that she is bedridden at home, where she was weak and declining (Hamid, 2007). The author states that Erica seemed to disappear into a powerful nostalgia, which she was the only person to chose if to return from it or not. Symbolically, America was facing such a situation at the time. After 9/11, America, according to the author, was also giving itself to a dangerous nostalgia. With the military leaders in war rooms being the front headlines in the news, talks about duty and honor, America was now looking back. The author was aware of the changes in the nation, which used to always look forward, according to the author. America after the attack, quickly started to wear costumes from a different era, where they were concerned with certainty, dominance, and safety. The looking back of America after a catastrophe is similar to how Erica looked back to the safety and certainty of the love she had with Chris. She longed for the safety of she had with Chris, but his cancer diagnosis and death made her aware of mortality and the temporary nature of life and its situations. She always looked back, and the loss made her lose her future.

In conclusion, being an honest, lovable, and a girl of excellent character, Erica was fragile, with the cracks of her life displaying itself, mostly when she is in the company of people she knows. The loss of her boyfriend while still young destroyed her psychologically. Everything that Erica did had a way of being reflected in her past perfect life. Erica’s experience is similar to America’s past, who started to be obsessed about the past of their nation, where it was safe and sure and with the 9/11 tragedy, the nation became sick, trying to look back into the past, wondering what triggered the problem in the first place (Hamid, 2007). As in Erica’s case, America had the power to get itself out of the nostalgia of looking back.

References

Hamid, M. (2007). The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Harcourt Inc.