There are lots of significant elements of the language in the Reluctant Fundamentalist’s first chapter.

Some relevant words are:

-I (repetition in the same sentence) it refers to thecentral roleof the narrator, the speech is entirely reported by him and it is written in first person;

-Beard, it shows American’s prejudice against somebody who wears a beard, as he is a terrorist;

-That, it refers to the distance between the interlocutors, a cultural distance;

-Mission, it refers to American’s purpose of visiting Lahore, as he is an agent;

-Dream, it refers to Changez’s utopic vision of America’s system.

Some important sentences:

In “Excuseme, sir, but mayI be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I ama lover of America.” Changez uses highly formal language, he uses words like“sir” and “mayI …”. The reader see the protagonist is taking some distancesfrom the interlocutor

In “Now that is not typical of Americans at least not in my experience. And my experienceIs substantial: I spent four and a half years in yourcountry” the speaker creates expectations about his experience.

In “Sell yourself” Jim expresses an implicit concept, the importance of the business in America’s society.

In “So I get where you’re coming from, Changez. You’re hungry, and that’s a good thing in my book” Jim shows the American idea, by the word hungry, of a desire of beating your enemies to excel.

Other meaningful choices are:

-To put the name “Changez” at the end of the chapter otherwise an intelligent reader will understand from his name what kind of person could be, with also the similarity with “changes”;

-The threatening and hostile behaviour of the waiter in American’s eyes as a distrustful and reluctant relationship between different culture’s people.