In the present text I am going to analyse The Reluctant Fundamentalist’s first chapter in order to understand which language’s choices are the most relevant and functional to make the reader go on reading.

The first chapter is an introductory one, because it develops themes, like the American prejudice or Americans obsession to reach the gain, that will be topics of discussion in the whole novel. It is also functional to draw the reader’s curiosity and make him/her go on reading the novel. To his aim, the writer uses the narrative technique of the dramatic monologue, a narration based on a one character’s speaking directly addressed to another character or to the reader.

In The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the protagonist is also the narrator of the story. He exploits questions addressed to the reader, who identifies himself with the American listener, in order to attract attention. Starting from the first one: “excuse me sir, but may I be of assistance?”, it immediately projected the reader in an unusual situation. The speaker offers his help to a stranger without he has asked for it before. At the time, both the characters are still unnamed, giving to the reader a reason to go on reading the novel.

On the other hand, other questions are functional to understand the speaker’s attitude. Some examples are: “come, tell me, what were you looking for?” or “how much sugar would you like?”. They highlight Changez’s ambiguity. He would like to help a stranger, who he has not met yet, proving to be generous, altruistic and open-minded, but he uses a formal language, conveying the opposite meaning. He creates a distance between him and the reader also with an excessive politeness. The reader but-notices he offers his assistance unwillingly. The protagonist’s attitude is also conveyed through his actions and reactions to different situations, while he is telling his story. He is thoughtful, because he has been able to identify the listener’s nationality through his bearing, and he is a believer of the American dream of grandiosity. Attending curses in Princeton is “a dream come true […]. I have access to this beautiful campus, to professors who are titans in their fields and fellow students who are philosopher-kings in the making”. The statement’s relevance is underlined by the use of a different writing style and by the use of the present tense instead of the past one. It seems a quote, something he has been forced to say, an expression already made. It stands for the imagine that America desires to convey of their institutions. Nevertheless, the idea of America’s greatness is immediately reversed through the following statement: “I was, I must admit, overly generous in my initial assumptions”. Something unknown happened and changed the protagonist’s opinion, forcing the reader to go on reading to discover it. Change’s character is also portrayed through other statements as: “I myself had among the top exams results in Pakistan”, “I knew in my senior year that I was something special. I was perfectly breast […] and I was confident of getting any job I wanted” and “I would be free, free of doubts and limits, free of focus on nothing but the game. […] I felt unstoppable”. More in details, they highlight Changez’s self-confidence. He feels as a warrior who is fighting against other competitors in the business battle to reach a job. He is “hungry” of having his own position. Nevertheless, he is not exempt from disturbance. During Jim’s interview Changez was panicking. He conveys the tension through expressions as: “I feel silent. I am, as you can see, normally quite happy to chat, but in that moment I did not know what to say” or “it could not have been more than a minute, but it felt longer”. It was his occasion to entre in the world of finance, so he was expected to do perfect. Finally, since from the start of the chapter, the writer draws the attention on the protagonist’s interior struggle between two cultures: Pakistan and America. “I am both a native of this city (Lahore) and a speaker of your language”, “confronted with this reality, one has two choices: pretend all is well or work hard to restore things to what they were. I chose both” or “but it did not, could not, make me forget such things as how much I enjoy the tea in this, the city of my birth” are statements which reveal Changez’s inability to choose between these two cultures. Attending school in America and living four and half years in a foreign country, have conditioned his mentality. He has adapted himself to a culture and customs completely different from his own, changing also his perception of the world of work. Nevertheless his change he will be always proud of his own traditions. For this reason, he feels annoyed for the stranger’s prejudice towards him.

American racism is conveyed through the two characters of the stranger and Jim. Changez’s unnamed interlocutor appears immediately stranger. He was searching for some help, but he was alarmed by the view of the protagonist because of his beard. He seems to be on a mission, identifying himself with probably a sort of spy or priest and, finally, he was frightened by everything happen during the conversation. His obsession ultimately brought him to think he could be poisoned by the waiter. His jacked is a further element of discussion. There, he searched something unknown each time he was alarmed by something. Assuming that he is an American spy, that object can be identify with a pistol. He has the attitude of someone who feels uncomfortable because he has made something wrong or he is going to make it soon or after. He is hiding something the reader is not able to understand at the time, forcing him to go on reading. The only thing sure about him is his nationality and his belief in America’s cultural superiority. He differentiates people for their appearance, the color of their skin and for the way they dress, without paying attention to their interiority. According to Changez’s opinion, it is the only thing that makes somebody different from another human being. He named it “the bearing”. Also Jim conveys a sense of superiority while he was interviewing the protagonist. He uses an informal language and he tests Changez’s temperament accusing him of applying for a financial aid. To answer, Changez makes a minor digression, a narrative technique functional to rise up the reader’s attention. He compares his own state’s financial decadence to the one of other countries, showing that there were not differences and demolishing racism’s unfounded prejudices.