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Bettina’s Perfume
Parvez’s taxicab, specifically the seating arrangements in the cab, represent the growing distance between Parvez and Ali that is the cost of Parvez’s unwavering desire to assimilate fully into English culture. From the first mention of Bettina, the narrator specifically notes that she sits not in the back of Parvez’s cab, like a customer would, but in front beside him. This alone indicates the closeness of their relationship. At the end of the story, when Parvez, Bettina, and Ali are all in the cab together, Bettina is already sitting in the front seat, so Ali sits in the back like a customer would. The physical distance between Parvez and Ali, in comparison to the closeness he shares both physically and metaphorically with Bettina, symbolizes that Parvez’s relationship with his son has become distant because he privileges proximity to the West over maintaining connections to his Pakistani past and heritage.
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The Seating Arrangements in Parvez’s Taxicab Symbol Timeline in My Son the Fanatic
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Seating Arrangements in Parvez’s Taxicab appears in My Son the Fanatic. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
My Son the Fanatic
...one of his regular riders, Bettina, waiting for him in the front seat of his taxicab.
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On the way home, Ali sits in the back seat of his father’s taxicab, as if he is a customer. Parvez asks what inspired him to adopt this radicalized...
(full context)
...wants a chance to talk to him. Ali gets into the back seat of the taxicab, as Bettina is sitting in the front seat. Parvez becomes suddenly aware of Bettina’s “short...
(full context)
