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-answer Craciuns questions

-use data from the Cheveresan paper, but mask the key concepts of personal and social
identity(perhaps replace with the glocal thing)
-use key words from the slide thing
-use a maximum of two points from the pdf paper
-skim the film review for extra ideas
-browse the wiki page for postcolonialism to find other key terms
PLOT POINTS
Changez is a Pakistani, who was granted a Princeton scholarship and graduated
with accolades. He secured a job with Underwood Samson, a prestigious economical
valuation company and was highly regarded by both his superiors and colleagues.
Changez became infatuated with an American girl named Erica, while vacationing
with other Princeton students in Greece. Their relationship is filled with turmoil,
due to Ericas feelings for her deceased former boyfriend.
In the beginning of the novel, we see Changez in an interview with Jim for
Underwood Samson. (Mohsin, 2006: 8) When asked about his abilities and
qualities, Changez focuses on his determination and intellect, traits which are
universally lauded, especially in American societies. However, Jim is more interested
in the fact that Changez managed to overcome obstacles imposed by his personal
identity in order to achieve his goals with concern to his social identity. Changez
notes that he is one of the two Pakistani students to have been accepted by Princeton
and highlights the fact that only the best from other cultures are accepted into elite
American universities. Changez believes this is illustrative of Americas pragmatism
and its goal to continue improving itself.
While vacationing in Greece, Changez notes that there are many cultural differences
between himself and his Princeton colleagues. He can not understand how his
American classmates can disregard their elders and speak to them as if they were on
the same level. He can also fail to grasp how they can part with money so easily.
After he begins working at Underwood Samson, Changez describes the view from
his window, 42 stories high, and notes that his view reminds him of the vast
discrepancy between 21th century America and Pakistan. While in the past,
America was just a group of 13 colonies that had yet to form a nation, Pakistan was
thriving as a nation.
Nowadays, the roles have been reversed, but what is interesting is the fact that
Changez does not feel pleasure at escaping his lower social condition and his success
at climbing the socio-economical ladder. On the contrary, he feels ashamed for
himself and his country, so once again, his personal identity trumps his social
identity. We can say that this is the part of the novel where Changez begins to

experience the first symptoms of an identity crisis. His inner essence remains
unchanged by his exterior development.
After this first instance of displeasure targeted at America, many similar incidents
arise. When Erica takes him to meet her parents, her father comments on the
current political and economical climate in Pakistan. (Mohsin, 2006: 87) Changez
does not dispute the veridicity of Ericas fathers claim, but he does confess that the
tone of condescension bothered him and he underlines the fact that this tone is
specifically American. We could say that Changez is ashamed to have his countrys
shortcomings pointed out by an outsider.
After this initial bout of humiliation and shame, while on his trip to Manila,
Changez begins to act more and more like an American. His goal in doing this was
to gain the respect of his co-workers and his inferiors. He even begins to break his
moral code and addresses his superiors by using a tone he would have condemned in
the past. Also, when asked where he is from, he begins to answer with New York, as
opposed to Lahore. He confesses that this change in behaviour made him feel
ashamed, but that he gave no outward sign of it. (Mohsin, 2006: 115)
Many people consider the destruction of the twin towers as the turning point of the
novel. However, as we have already illustrated, the change in Changez identity
began much sooner. The reaction of the protagonist after seeing the towers collapse
is to laugh. Changez hastens to reassure the reader that he is not displaying
sociopathic tendencies and that he does not revel in the death and suffering of
thousands of Americans. But as a foreigner, that has lived all his life under the
shadow that is the great country of America, he can not help but be pleased to see
that someone managed to bring America to its knees. Changez is as perplexed as the
readers at this initial reaction, but can not help feeling that way. He displays a mask
of shock and concern when he meets his colleagues, but does not share their dismay.
(Mohsin, 2006: 140) Here, Changez personal identity clearly overcomes his social
one.
Even though everything about his social life: his New York apartment, his Princeton
education, his American girlfriend speak of a firm social standing and identity,
somehow, his personal background overcomes all these statistics and becomes
dominant.
After the 9/11 attack, while returning to Manhattan, Changez is treated differently
from his co-workers. He is detained and searched, both while leaving Manila and
arriving in Manhattan. He is constantly aware of being under suspicion and can not
help but behave self-consciously. On arriving in New York he hears rumours about
Pakistani cabdrivers being beaten and the FBI raiding mosques, but he chooses to
disregard these rumours and continue with his job. (Mohsin, 2006: 162)

Due to the terrorist attack, a change envelops Changez life. His personal identity and his
social identity trade places. If before, people saw Changez as an intellectual and a
businessman, now they only see a foreigner, a Pakistani that presents a threat.
As the media begins documenting every aspect of the aftermath of the 9/11 attack,
Changez begins to grow more and more disenchanted with America. He resents the
medias portrayal of Pakistan and its neighbouring countries as uneducated and
begins to clearly see Americas imperialistic tendencies.
Throughout the novel, Changez draws a clear comparison between Erica and her inability
to let go of the idea of her former lover and America and its nostalgic tendencies. The
name Erica could be considered a contracted version of America. When describing
America, Changez notes typical American beauty elements. Both Erica and America are
beautiful on the exterior, but on closer inspection, they couldnt be more intangible for
Changez. After the 9/11 attack, America begins to narrow its sense of identity and begins
excluding multiculturalism.
At one point, Changez visits his hometown and family in Lahore, Pakistan. He is shocked
when he sees all the changes that have taken place in his absence, but after a period of
reflection he realizes that actually, the change came from him. He was no longer looking
at his country through the sphere of his personal identity. His social identity had affected
his perception. He is able to shake off his superficial view and begins to see his country
not as a foreigner, but as a native. After this change in perception, Changez returns to
America. He is no longer able to revert to his former point of view. His personal identity
has overtaken his social one. The clear symbol of this change is his beard. Even though
Americans began to associate the beard with terrorism and began treating him with
increasing amounts of disrespect, he refused to shave it. This refusal symbolizes the fact
that the protagonist needs to value his life by his personal standards, rather than by the
standards that have been instilled in him by Princeton and his workplace. When Changez
refuses to shave his beard, this, in the eyes of Americans, constitutes a social insult.
The protagonists appearance and attitude are not the only things that undergo
transformations. Changez begins to have poor results at work, because he begins to see
the futility of it all and the discordance between his work and his moral code and personal
preoccupations. The culmination of this is instigated by Juan-Bautista, the head of a
publishing company that Changez is evaluating. Juan-Bautista tells him about the
janissaries, who were Christian boys that were capture by the Ottoman army and trained
to be soldiers in a Muslim army. They were very loyal and because they had helped
destroy their own civilization, they had nothing to go back to.(Moshin, 2007:183)
Juan-Bautista acts as a catalyst for Changez introspection. At the end of his deliberation,
Changez realizes that Bautista was right and chooses to resign from his job with
Underwood Samson and return to Pakistan.
THEORETICAL POINTS

Glocal identity-mixture of global and local


A newly coined term by postcolonial scholars to show the ever clashing mixture of global
and local dualities in immigrants personalities (dress, language)
New York: changez says he is from NY, he is focued on his career, he is a businessman
and wears a suit
Pakistan: Changez is a university lecturer and an advocate for disengagement from the
USA. His special traits are his beard and kurta
Slide 6- assuring the reader of the fact that his otherness is not overwhelming
The east meets the west: changez tells erica to pretend that he is Chris, her ex boyfriend
Hegemony= the power of the rulling class to convince other classes that their interests are
the interests of all, domination by consent.
-Globalization is a myth and what is actually taking place is the spread of American
values, power and products across the globe=> American hegemony
-Juan-Bautista, make a living by disrupting the lives of others.
Hybridity= creation of new transcultural forms
- cross-cultural exchange
-white and western superiority versus coloured and colonial inferiority
Alterity=the state of being different or other/otherness

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