In “My Son the Fanatic,” whiskey symbolizes Parvez’s intoxication with the West, and his deep desire to assimilate into English culture at the expense of the ties to his past life and culture in Pakistan. Throughout the story it’s implied that Parvez is an alcoholic. He uses alcohol to cope and gets drunk on whiskey from the very beginning of the story when he first becomes concerned about Ali’s behavior through to the final scene when, completely drunk, he physically attacks Ali. Parvez’s drinking puts strain on his relationship with Ali—who berates his father for drinking because it violates a basic tenet of the Koran—and thus represents his departure from his Pakistani life and culture. Parvez’s inability to quit drinking mirrors what Ali describes as Parvez’s deep implication in Western culture. Parvez is as physically intoxicated with whiskey as he is metaphorically intoxicated by the materialistic and hedonistic culture of the West that he is so desperate to fully assimilate into.
Whiskey Symbol Timeline in My Son the Fanatic
