Narrator and point of view

The short story “My Son the Fanatic” by Hanif Kureishi is a third-person narration and is told entirely in the past tense. The narrator is limited to Parvez' perspective, which means that he shares facts and various important points in the story, but does not reveal everything. 

The narrator focuses on the main character’s perspective, describing his actions, feelings, and thoughts. Because the same level of detail is not provided about the other characters as well, readers get a subjective overall view on the events.: “Parvez wasn’t able to bring up the subject of Ali’s unusual behavior. He was aware that he had become slightly afraid of his son” (p. 193, ll. 14-16); “Parvez staggered out into the early morning air, terrified they were right. His boy - the drug addict killer!” (p. 194, ll. 30-31)  

The narration starts at a point where Ali’s change in behaviour had already been going on for some time: “Surreptitiously the father began going into his son’s bedroom. (…) What bewildered him was that Ali was getting tidier.” (p. 193, ll. 1-3); “Also without explanation, Ali had parted from the English girlfriend who used to come often to the house. His old friends had stopped ringing.” (p. 193, ll...