Characterization of Changez
Changez professes himself a ‘lover’ of America to his anonymous listener at the start of the novel.
To
begin with, for
Changez,
the journey from
Pakistan
to
Princeton
(and then to
Underwood
Samson) was about
“a
dream come true.
Princeton
inspired in me the feeling that my life was a Rilm in which
I
was the star and everything was possible.”
Later,
Changez calls the dream his
“American
dream.”
Changez’s
life before 9/11 is a life of possibilities, not the least of which is the possibility of achieving status
–
“Underwood
Samson
had the potential to transform my life as surely as it had transformed his, making my concerns about money and status things of the distant past.” Status is particularly important for
Changez.
As
Jim
points out to him a number of times, Changez’s motivations are often founded in his feelings of being an
‘outsider’
-‐
“You’re
a watchful guy.
You
know where that comes from?...It comes from feeling out of place…Believe me. I know.” Status and power, then, offer
Changez
a chance to
‘transform’
(a word that is signiRicantly used a number of times throughout the novel to describe him) himself from an outsider to an insider.
The
motivation of status for Changez, though, isn’t simply a symptom of
Rinding
himself an outsider in a foreign country.
It
comes from the feeling that his own country is powerless in the world
–
“Nothing prepared me for the drama, the power of their view from the lobby. This,
I
realized, was another world from
Pakistan;
supporting my feet were the
The
Reluctant
Fundamentalist-‐
Study
Notes3
achievements of the most technologically advanced civilization our species had ever known…Often, during my stay in your country, such comparisons troubled
To
begin with, for
Changez,
the journey from
Pakistan
to
Princeton
(and then to
Underwood
Samson) was about
“a
dream come true.
Princeton
inspired in me the feeling that my life was a Rilm in which
I
was the star and everything was possible.”
Later,
Changez calls the dream his
“American
dream.”
Changez’s
life before 9/11 is a life of possibilities, not the least of which is the possibility of achieving status
–
“Underwood
Samson
had the potential to transform my life as surely as it had transformed his, making my concerns about money and status things of the distant past.” Status is particularly important for
Changez.
As
Jim
points out to him a number of times, Changez’s motivations are often founded in his feelings of being an
‘outsider’
-‐
“You’re
a watchful guy.
You
know where that comes from?...It comes from feeling out of place…Believe me. I know.” Status and power, then, offer
Changez
a chance to
‘transform’
(a word that is signiRicantly used a number of times throughout the novel to describe him) himself from an outsider to an insider.
The
motivation of status for Changez, though, isn’t simply a symptom of
Rinding
himself an outsider in a foreign country.
It
comes from the feeling that his own country is powerless in the world
–
“Nothing prepared me for the drama, the power of their view from the lobby. This,
I
realized, was another world from
Pakistan;
supporting my feet were the
The
Reluctant
Fundamentalist-‐
Study
Notes3
achievements of the most technologically advanced civilization our species had ever known…Often, during my stay in your country, such comparisons troubled