Chapter 2:
1) introduce the character of Erica, explaining the setting, deals with the intimacy of Erica and Changez, Changez difference with his American friends, difference between Pakistani and American point of view, set in the reader the suspicious figure of the American.
2) Hamid starts the second chapter of the novel having Changez talking with the American. The protagonist enters the discourse concerning his past relationship refering to some girls wearing "speckled jeans" and comparing them with others girls dressed in a traditional way. From the start all the second chapter is based on the oppositions between two different cultures (the Pakistani one and the American one). Changez begins his conversation by asking a question to the interlocutor. He asks if he "left behind a love", from here Changez keep going on talking about his past love: her name was Erica, the name finishes the country name America, also the names (Changez and Erica) imply the contraposition of the two countries. Going on with the reading the reader can find out that she was a " member of the most prestigious eating club", so she was coming from an healthy and rich family. The protagonist and his lover met the first time in Greece on a holiday with a group of Princeton, but while Erica went there as a gift, Changez went there thanks to a "sign-on bonus". Here the intelligent reader can notice how different was the economical situation between the two, the novelist makes this result more evident when Changez said that he was a little  bothered by the free spending of money of his friends. Another basic difference between the two cultures may be the conception of families, Changez explained to Erica the the used to have a big family "there were eight of us, eight cousins, tree dogs and a duck"; this is a conception of family typical from oriental not so wealthy people. The conversation between the two lovers became very seriously, but when the westerns joined them the conversation turned into "beaches, hangovers and timing of ferries". Another thing to notice is Changez ( and the oriental) "traditional sense of deference to one's senior", while his American friends were presumptuous to poor and older people. The intelligent reader can understand that the protagonist idealized his lover, he described Erica as a "regal" figure, as a belonging to the "camp of Paltrow" for saying that she appears very elegant and refined. Lately Hamid makes coming on surface some cultural differences, as the female skin appearance; Changez talks with the American again about the girls in jeans that seemed to be being bothered by a man by showing just their face, neck and lower arms. Changez explains how, on the other side, westerns females use to sunbath topless, and when it happened with Erica, the protagonist says that he was "uncomfortable with her nudity". He also says that Pakistani people are very sensitive for the "sight of a woman's body". Reading about Changez and Erica's moments together the reader can find out that the protagonist is very "polite" and "respectful", this behavior is described as "unusual" by Erica. On the trip in Greece Changez find out about Chris, Erica ex boyfriend, the reader can wonder about the name Chris and find out a correlation with Christ and the wester Christianity. Others things that differences the two worlds are the writings and the law about alcohol (that was illegal in Pakistan). In the chapter there is also a physical division of the different countries they come from: the island of Rhodes, which has cities fortified and ancient castles built to protect them-self from the East population; Changez find himself growing up "on the other side" of the wall. The chapter ends in a suspicious way: the American mobile phone rang but he didn't answered back, he preferred to send a text message maybe because he had something shady to hide from Changez.