In the novel, Hamid also explores Changez's relationship with Erica as a metaphor for the challenges faced by South Asian Americans in their efforts to assimilate and "become" American in through only one, the morning after the descent from Changez. for breakfast, he and Erica were the only ones there and so they had a conversation. During their conversation, Erica asked him about his family life in Pakistan, to which Changez replied: "When I was a kid, there were eight of us, eight cousins, all in the same compound - one wall of "The enclosure surrounded the plot of land that my grandfather left to his sons..." She laughed, then she said: "So being alone was a luxury, huh? (Hamid 19) a building. Another interaction with Erica took place when they were both in the ocean and Erica comments, "I don't think so," she finally says, "I've ever met someone our age as polite as you” (Hamid 25 years old). What this tells us, or rather the challenges facing South Asian Americans, is that they have to be extremely kind and polite in order to compensate for their "barbaric and backward" view that Americans tend to associate with this group of people. And this situation was further accentuated after the September 11 attacks. Another interaction with Erica took place when she invited Changez to her parents' apartment for the very first time and during a conversation with Erica's father, he asked Changez how things were going at the house, to which he replied “pretty good, thank you” (Hamid 54). Erica's father's response to this: The economy is collapsing, right? Corruption, d...... middle of paper ...... another post from 9/11. Furthermore, through Amaney Jamal's excerpt Civil Liberties and the Alteration of Arab and Muslim Americans (Chapter Four), and Nadine Naber's excerpt Arab Americans and American Racial Formations (Introduction), we see at how much of this clash occurred before and after 9/11. . Although the aftermath of 9/11 saw a rise in the racialization of Muslim and Arab Americans, we must not forget that these groups of people were not so much invisible because America (i.e. the “mainstream” (Jamal 119) has always considered inferior those they consider “other” (i.e. a minority). Because of this framework, they have racialized any group of people who are not considered American as “other.” However (as noted) following an event like 9/11, the racialization of Muslims and Arab Americans has been further perpetuated; and at an even more dangerous level.