A link between "The rainbow sign" Y "My son the fanatic" by Hanif Kureshi
Hanif Kureshi encountered many complications as a diaspora identity in a place where the people of his lot are greatly hated and looked down upon. His works represent everything he found. “The Rainbow Sign” and “My Son the Fanatic” also keep the traces of their life experiences. One of the many things in common in both works is the shadow and impression of the West in the minds of the “Others”. In “My Son the Fanatic”, we are indirectly told that Parvez wanted to do well in England “His dream of doing well in England would have come true.” Similar is in “The Rainbow Sign”, the narrator tells that his father “… married here and never returned to India” and “the young people continually asked me about the possibility of entering Great Britain”. In my opinion, there is this socially constructed image of the West that resides in people’s minds.
Parvez and even the narrator of “The Rainbow Sign” are prone to Western customs. Apparently it seems that they have no major problems living there. They have been through a lot and have largely adopted the lifestyle presented to them by the Western world, regardless of the suffering inflicted on them. As the narrator of “The Rainbow Sign” tells us, “… This is where the boys congregated to hunt down and beat up the Pakistanis.” Despite the mistreatment, racial abuse, and discrimination, the narrator is fine with being in England. “… But despite all this there remains a certain identification with England.”
Parvez knows what trouble he or his son can get into, but does not take into account the idea that he is in a society that offers less to the “Others.” His son Ali tells him: “Western materialists hate us,” Ali said. “Dad, how can you love something that hates you?” Giving us a vision that despite knowing this, it is as if they have been tied up. forced to accept the western world. Something very similar happens with the narrator of “The sign of the rainbow.” The attitude of the West towards the “Others” is seen in both works.
The problem of being a “mestizo” arises, indirectly, if not directly. Being a mestizo, you don’t completely belong anywhere. They make you sit on the fence without being able to decide where to belong. This is exactly what has been presented, according to me. Culturally hybrid individuals are presented. The historical and cultural conflict between East and West, in one way or another, is exposed in both works. Parvez has totally become a part of the western world, when his son acts in the way he doesn’t expect him to, gets upset, interrogates him, and even kicks him by then.
There is a clash between the East and the West. The base is oriental and they are in a completely different world; A world opposite to “his” world. Residence in a foreign country and the problems faced by those who live there present us with a point of similarity in both. The perspective of “fitting in” is seen in addition to the Cultural Domain, which remains a persistent theme in both.