Migrant status in America feels perpetually provisional, driving investment in identity and status.

Evidence

Indeed, throughout the text Changez himself is keen to invest in identities and status symbols that will secure his in fact always provisional and tenuous position as a migrant in America. From Princeton to Underwood Samson via a fascination with smart suits, high living, and easy credit for the rich, Changez in the first half of the novel is in thrall to what globalization has to offer him personally. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 451

Categorization

• XREF: Directly speaks to Changez in The Reluctant Fundamentalist — the author’s claim that Hamid’s protagonist performs identity investment to secure a tenuous migrant position.