final essay

In the novel, Hamid also explores Changez’s relationship with Erica as a metaphor of the challenges faced by South Asian Americans in their efforts to assimilate and “become” American through one, the morning after Changez came down for breakfast, he and Erica were the only two there and so they had a conversation. In their conversation, Erica asked him about his home life in Pakistan, to which Changez replied,
When I was a child, there were eight of us, eight cousins, all in the same compound --- a single boundary wall surrounded the plot of land my grandfather left to his sons…” She laughed, and then she said, “So being alone was a luxury, huh? (Hamid 19).
What this tells us, or rather the challenges faced by South Asian Americans through the lens of Americans is that they are barbaric, living in close quarters, with more than the “normal” number of individuals in a room or even a building. Another interaction with Erica was when they were both in the ocean and Erica comments “I don’t think,” she said finally, “I’ve ever met someone our age as polite as you” (Hamid 25). What this tells us, or rather the challenges faced by South Asian Americans is that they have to be extra nice and polite in order to compensate for their “barbaric and backwardness” view that Americans tend to associate with these group of people. And of which has been heightened following the aftermath of 9/11. Another interaction with Erica was when she invited Changez over her parent’s apartment for the very first time and during a conversation with Erica’s father, he asked Changez how things were back home, to which he had replied back as “quite good, thank you” (Hamid 54). Erica’s father response to this:
Economy’s falling apart though, no? Corruption, d...

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... another post 9/11. Furthermore, through both Amaney Jamal excerpt Civil Liberties and the Otherization of Arab and Muslim Americans (chapter four), and Nadine Naber excerpt Arab Americans and U.S. Racial Formations (Introduction), we see just how this clash came about pre and post 9/11. That while the aftermath of 9/11 saw the rise in the racialization of Muslim and Arab Americans, we must not forget that these groups of people were not so much invisible due to the fact that America (i.e. “dominant mainstream” (Jamal 119)) has always viewed those they deem as “other” (i.e. minority) as inferior. Due to this framework, they have racialized any group of people that are not considered American as “other.” However (as stated) following an event like 9/11, the racialization of Muslims and Arabs Americans became perpetuated more so; and at an even more dangerous level.