Pablo Neruda 2.0

Pablo Neruda was a famous poet and influential politician in Chile. He is considered to be one of the best poets of his time and played a role in the turning point of Changez in the Reluctant Fundamentalist.  Pablo Neruda, and his place of residence in particular put Changez’s situation in perspective, eventually leading him to come to a conclusion that would challenge the life he had made in America for himself, as well as recognizing that he would continue no longer as a member of both societies due to the fact he wasn’t able to keep his internal core and the balance needed to stay sane.  Juan-Barista had reached out to Changez and suggested that he visit the house of Pablo Neruda while in Chile. It was at that house that Changez was finally able to come to terms with himself and recognize that he “lacked a stable core, I was not certain where I belonged- in New York, in Lahore, in both, in neither.” (148) I think that this ties in with Pablo Neruda as well, due to the fact that Neruda too traveled all over the world, from Chile to Spain to Paris, and as he had significant posts wherever he went may have faced similar conflict as Changez.  Despite this, I think it was less to do with Pablo Neruda’s accomplishments and standing in society that effected Changez than it was his home and the journey it took to get there. Once he reached the house, Changez was able to reflect on what was going on in his life and face the imminent decision he would eventually have to make.
The poem I have selected out of Pablo Neruda’s extensive works was Bird. I found it to be synonymous with Changez’s journey throughout the novel. In the poem, Neruda describes a bird who went on a journey and after the journey he would remain suspended “between sun and geography” observing and learning about what was going on around him. I think that throughout Changez’s journey between America and Pakistan, he learned lessons and made observations that would change his opinions on the world. He became “the small bird on fire” and was ignited with a desire to embrace his culture and eventually pushed to a point where he would scorn what he learned to be negative qualities of America, which he left in order to return to his life in Pakistan.  When Neruda writes of the bird “which dances out of the pollen”, I see a metaphor of Changez who had to emerge from his life in America, filled with confusion, experience; “pollen” in order to come to peace with himself, a peace he achieved hidden away from the rest of the world, left only with his thoughts perched high at Pablo Neruda’s house.