Terrorist - John Updike
John Updike's Terrorist is a tale of the times that we live in. At first look, it is the story of the Ahmad - an inner city teenager who turns into a terrorist. However, it is interesting to note that the actual story could have been summed up in five pages. What forms the meat of the book is Updike's examination of the various characters that occupy this drama. On each occasion the characters are seen through the lens of the identity that they represent rather than their individuality. Somewhat paradoxically, Ahmad is radically different from most people that he shares his surroundings with, yet he is what he is due to the same surroundings.
Born to an absent Egyptian immigrant father and an irresponsible Irish American mother, Ahmad is another one of those inner city kids who have little direction in their lives. So he latches on to his absent father's identity - adopting his last name in favour of his mother's and even his(?) muslim faith. His world view seems to have been moulded by his Imam, whom he visits regularly for his religious lessons. He spurns a college education ("bad philosophy and bad literature.) and questions the "Western religion of freedom" :
"I see to walk the Straight Path," Ahmad admits. "In this country, it is not easy. There are too many paths, too much selling of many useless things. They brag of freedom, but freedom to no purpose becomes a kind of prison."
"She is a victim of the American religion of freedom, freedom above all, though freedom to do what and to what purpose is left up in the air."
Updike clearly sees it as a "Us versus Them" conundrum, yet it is sometimes interesting how much the two sides agree on. Similar to the radical views on American freedom above,some of the "Us" voices have the following to say:
"Even out vaunted freedom is nothing much to be proud of, with the Commies out of the running; it just makes it easier for terrorists to move about, renting airplanes and vans and settings up Web sites."
"If there's anything wrong with this country -- and I'm not saying there is, compared to any other, France and Norway included -- is we have too many rights and not enough duties. Well, when the Arab League takes over the country, people'll learn what duties are."
Both sides have a pretty gloomy view of the world they live in. Jack Levy, Ahmad's guidance counselor, and his wife Beth (some of the "Us" voices) yearn for the time gone by; times had once "loving parents innermost and a moralistic popular culture outermost, with lots of advice between." to "children who seem to have no flesh-and-blood parents". On the other hand, the "Them" voices of Ahmad and his Imam see America as a materialistic, hedonist and Godless society whose total obsession with "this life" appears arrogant to them.
Another occasion when Updike makes an interesting comparison is when he talks about George Washington and the Revolutionary War:
"The was Georgie. He learned to take what came, to fight guerilla-style. .... He was the Ho Chi Minh of his day. We were like Hamas. We were Al-Qaida"
Ahmad's paradoxical journey makes for a very interesting read : It is at the same time very bewildering - his faith, his absolute conviction and yet the path he takes appears predictable, even natural. I'll wrap up with a passage from the book that sums it up nicely:
"All I'm saying is that kids like Ahmad need to have something they don't get from society any more. Society doesn't let them be innocent any more. The crazy Arabs are right -- hedonism, nihilism, that's all we offer. Listen to the lyrics of these rock and rap stars -- just kids themselves, with smart agents. Kids have to make more decisions then they used to, because adults can't tell tem what to do. We don't know what to do, we don't have the answers we used to; we just futz along, trying not to think. Nobody accpets responsibility , so the kids, some of the kids, take it on. Even at a dump like Central High, where the demographics are stacked against the whole school population, you see it -- this wish to do right, to be good, to sign up for something -- the Army, the marching band, the gang, the choir, the student council, the Boy Scouts even"
Born to an absent Egyptian immigrant father and an irresponsible Irish American mother, Ahmad is another one of those inner city kids who have little direction in their lives. So he latches on to his absent father's identity - adopting his last name in favour of his mother's and even his(?) muslim faith. His world view seems to have been moulded by his Imam, whom he visits regularly for his religious lessons. He spurns a college education ("bad philosophy and bad literature.) and questions the "Western religion of freedom" :
"I see to walk the Straight Path," Ahmad admits. "In this country, it is not easy. There are too many paths, too much selling of many useless things. They brag of freedom, but freedom to no purpose becomes a kind of prison."
"She is a victim of the American religion of freedom, freedom above all, though freedom to do what and to what purpose is left up in the air."
Updike clearly sees it as a "Us versus Them" conundrum, yet it is sometimes interesting how much the two sides agree on. Similar to the radical views on American freedom above,some of the "Us" voices have the following to say:
"Even out vaunted freedom is nothing much to be proud of, with the Commies out of the running; it just makes it easier for terrorists to move about, renting airplanes and vans and settings up Web sites."
"If there's anything wrong with this country -- and I'm not saying there is, compared to any other, France and Norway included -- is we have too many rights and not enough duties. Well, when the Arab League takes over the country, people'll learn what duties are."
Both sides have a pretty gloomy view of the world they live in. Jack Levy, Ahmad's guidance counselor, and his wife Beth (some of the "Us" voices) yearn for the time gone by; times had once "loving parents innermost and a moralistic popular culture outermost, with lots of advice between." to "children who seem to have no flesh-and-blood parents". On the other hand, the "Them" voices of Ahmad and his Imam see America as a materialistic, hedonist and Godless society whose total obsession with "this life" appears arrogant to them.
Another occasion when Updike makes an interesting comparison is when he talks about George Washington and the Revolutionary War:
"The was Georgie. He learned to take what came, to fight guerilla-style. .... He was the Ho Chi Minh of his day. We were like Hamas. We were Al-Qaida"
Ahmad's paradoxical journey makes for a very interesting read : It is at the same time very bewildering - his faith, his absolute conviction and yet the path he takes appears predictable, even natural. I'll wrap up with a passage from the book that sums it up nicely:
"All I'm saying is that kids like Ahmad need to have something they don't get from society any more. Society doesn't let them be innocent any more. The crazy Arabs are right -- hedonism, nihilism, that's all we offer. Listen to the lyrics of these rock and rap stars -- just kids themselves, with smart agents. Kids have to make more decisions then they used to, because adults can't tell tem what to do. We don't know what to do, we don't have the answers we used to; we just futz along, trying not to think. Nobody accpets responsibility , so the kids, some of the kids, take it on. Even at a dump like Central High, where the demographics are stacked against the whole school population, you see it -- this wish to do right, to be good, to sign up for something -- the Army, the marching band, the gang, the choir, the student council, the Boy Scouts even"