Dehumanisation Essay

Compare the ways the immigration process dehumanises people in ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ and ‘The Inheritance of Loss’.

In both of these texts, the process of immigration is seen to dehumanise those who pass through it. In ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ the process is relatively impersonal and detached, taking place in an American airport’s immigration department. Conversely , in ‘The Inheritance of Loss’, the manner in which the characters are dehumanised is on a much more raw and emotional level, as they apply for visas at the American Embassy in India. The way in which the character is treated in ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ is largely attributed to the setting and context of the novel. Set largely in post-9/11 America; a time where immigrants, particularly those from the middle east and Asia, were vilified due to the events of the World Trade Centre Attacks in 2001. In the novel, the writer tells the story in a first person narrative through two characters engaging in a monologue. These two characters, Changes and the American, are often viewed as representations of different ‘sides’ of the author, Mohsin Hamid.

The dehumanisation of immigrants in post-9/11 America is illustrated by Hamid in ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ through a 1^st person dramatic monologue, in which the character, upon entering America, is subject to immigration checks. The author uses the protagonist, Changez to show how the immigration process affected those who were foreign after 9/11. As Changez goes through immigration he is faced with a woman, whom Hamid describes as: “a solidly built woman with a pistol at her hip and a mastery of English inferior to mine”. The way the first person narrative is used to describe woman is a reflection of the character himself. Changez is certainly far better educated than this woman appears to be, but due the inherent unreliability of a first person narrative, we have no way of truly verifying this. Hamid then goes on to say that Changez: “attempted to disarm her with a smile.” The word ‘disarm’ is an interesting word choice, especially considering the fact that the officer was carrying a gun. It could be construed from this that the militaristic appearance of the women drew a similarly militaristic response out of the protagonist. However, this attempt at charming the character fails, and takes some inter-personal humanity out of the interaction. This could be viewed as the exchange that starts the process of dehumanising Changez. In the ensuing conversation, all attempts made by Changez to reinvigorate the conversation in one way or another are quashed by the cold detachment of the immigration officer, which has the effect of reducing Changez to less than equal, debatably less than human. However, it is not just Changez that is being dehumanised in this exchange. One could argue that, due to the constraints placed on her by her job and the recent events of 9/11, the immigration officer was being forced into acting in such a cold and impersonal manner, thus dehumanising her, in turn.

Hamid’s representation of the process of dehumanisation is at odds with that which is displayed in Desai’s ‘The Inheritance of Loss’. In Desai’s novel, the perspective is that of a 3^rd person narrative, told from the viewpoints of several different characters. This extract takes place at an American embassy in India, with many Indians waiting to apply for visas so they can legally enter the country. This novel is set in the late 1980’s, and despite the independence of India almost 40 years prior to this, the effects of the British colonialism were still being felt. As a result, it was next to impossible to qualify for a visa unless you were relatively wealthy, and had an assortment of valid documents to verify various things about you. In response to this, many people resorted to acquiring falsified documents such as birth certificates and vaccination records, as well as using their family to make it seem as if they had far more money than they actually did. However, this couldn’t really be said to dehumanise people. The dehumanisation truly begins when the office opens to visa applications. Knowing that the office will only take so many applicants in a day, there is a mad rush to be first in line. Desai uses many animalistic and inhuman terms to describe the actions taken by those who are rushing to be first in line. Desai describes their actions: “They knew what they should do. Stink and spit and scream and charge;” This representation of the visa applicants very literally dehumanises them, as opposed to the more subliminal form of dehumanisation displayed in 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist'. This continues in much the same vein, with even more animalistic imagery and actions being described. "Young men mowing through, tossing aside toothless grannies, trampling babies underfoot." This shows the lengths to which this system has pushed people. It shows the utter lack of regard that these people have for human life and wellbeing, and how this fervour is attributed to the application process they have to go through.


Despite their differences, there are several notable similarities between the two texts in terms of how the immigration process is represented. One such similarity is the fact that in both texts, the American government is the involved power inflicting the process of dehumanisation on the immigrants. Another contributing factor shared between the two texts is the use of distance or impersonality by those in charge. In 'The Inheritance of Loss', Desai shows this distance in two ways. First by the announcement made from the "invisible loudspeaker". This 'invisibility' creates a sense of tension amongst the applicants, it also portrays the immigration officers as a sort of higher being, in an almost Godly sense. The other way in which this is carried out is by the separation of the immigration officers and the applicants by a glass window. This detachment makes it seem as though the officers are on the outside of a glass cage looking in on the 'animals' that the applicants have become.
In 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' this detachment comes in the form of the officer Changez encounters in the airport. Her uniform speech patterns detach her from any form of meaningful conversation with Changez on a human level, thus dehumanising him, albeit in a different way to the more prominent dehumanisation presented in 'The Inheritance of Loss'.