In the present text i am going to analyse an extract taken from chapter 3 from The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.

The passage considers the moment when the protagonist is telling the interlocutor about the new Lahore's district.

The dramatic monologue is the best option as fictional choice: it's the most appropriate to silence the stranger , his interlocutor. The speaking voice, Changez, points out similarities/differences between Lahore's new districts and Manhattan.You can see it in the use of exclamation mark : “like Manhattan? Yes, precisely” But doing this Changez sounds ironical. With a urban commparision, he expresses a personal, social and political point of view about social divide.

Indeed, the divide, a social one, has been anticipated by the contrast sending back to an “ancient hierarchy”. Then he tries to convince the stranger of his feeling at home in Manhattan. He tries to find common features, as his mother tongue, typical dishes, songs from his homeland to overcome his nostalgia. The cultural shockthat he has faced underlines a cultural difference between his homeland, Pakistan, and Manhattan.

The extract brings to surface how the intelligent reader can understand the ambiguity of Manhattan/Lahore descriptions. You can immediately note how the poor corresponds to Pakistan while the rich recollects America, especially Manhattan.