Power Abuse in "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" and Other Books

Categories: The Reluctant Fundamentalist

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Society is filled with few powerful people, and the ones they have power over. Although so many people feel powerless, they are incorrect to feel that way. In one’s daily life, the responsibility to look out for and help one's fellow person, even if they are a stranger is always present. This can be seen in many ways, some positive and some negative. Whether it be helping an old woman across the street or committing acts of hate against one's fellow citizen.

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Everyone has more power than they believe. However, when these people are raised to higher positions of power, they may feel pressured to use it more in a negative way. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt, Behavior Study of Obedience by Stanley Milgram are examples of what happens when more power is dangled in front of someone’s face, and the corruption and wrongdoings it leads to.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist tells the story of a man named Changez, who went from living in the war-torn country of Pakistan to attending Princeton University to landing a job at a high-level consulting firm in New York.

At this job, Changez improved failing companies budgets through the harsh method of laying off hard-working employees. Chanez went from being on the lower level of the power scale and being respectful to his fellow man, to being raised to a level of power where he was pressured into firing people he could once relate to. After 9/11, Changez realizes what he has become and risks everything, his visa, his job, to stop.

When Changez goes home for his sister’s wedding, he recognizes this change and says: ‘“ it occurred to me that the house had not changed in my absence. I had changed; I was looking about me with the eyes of a foreigner; and not just any foreigner, but that particular type of entitled and unsympathetic American,” ( Mosin 124). Changez realizes that he now feels that he is better than his family, even though years ago, they were the ones he felt closest to. Power makes people change in negative ways. It makes them think and behave in an entitled manner.

Power makes good people do bad things. What happens if people who are already bad get power? How far can they abuse it. Arendt examines this question in her book, Eichmann in Jerusalem. Arendt tells the story of her witnessing the trial of a man who took part in the Hellcats. He ran the train systems and organized the times that the Jewish people would be bored to be sent to the concentration camps that could be the site of their death. Eichman justifies his actions by saying, he did what everyone else was doing, he should not take responsibility, for he was just following orders. However, Eichmann seems proud of what he did in the book. In her book, Arendt portrays Eichmann as someone who was granted power, and not only did he say no to anything, he also enjoyed what he did. Arendt describes how Eichman was able to do what he did when she says: “So Eichmann’s opportunities for feeling like Pontius Pilate were many, and as the months and years went by, he lost the need to feel anything at all,” (Arendt, 135).

To be a part of killing so many innocent people when given the chance, one must have been a bad person on a smaller scale in the past. Power is a corrupting force, especially those who already abused the small amount of power they had.

Stanley Milgram wanted to see how psychologically, the Hellcats would be possible. In Milgrim’s Behavioral Study of Obedience, he examines the idea of a Pontius Pilate moment through the method of an experiment. Although this may not have been ethical, he discovers many scary conclusions. The main one being, when an authority figure gives you some of their power and says the blame for anything wrong will be on them, most people will go through with killing, or almost killing someone. So it seems that in human nature, as long as there are relatively no punishments for our actions and an authority figure tells us to do something, most people will. When writing on the conclusion of his experiment, Milgrim says: “with few exceptions subjects were convinced of the reality of the ex- pedimental situation, that they were administered- ing shocks to another person, and the most potent shocks were extremely painful,” (Milgrim, 6).

This is scary and means another version of the Hellcats could theoretically happen again.

Look at all the genocides in history, there is a pattern and now, scientific proof to show it.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt, Behavior Study of Obedience by Stanley Milgram all show examples of when and how power can be abused. Changez understands what he has become and tries to change it. However, Eichmann does not, he separates from reality and even seems to think of his actions in the Holocaust as an accomplishment. Milgrim examines this and proves that scientifically, the phenomenon of power corrupting people is not unique or new, and can happen to anyone at any time.