• Alaa' Kayed Abu-Rumman

  Author

This paper employs globalization and travel as two concepts that are related to postcolonial theory in order to trace the development and changes in the character and vision of Changez Khan about himself and the other. They are joined together because what prompts the protagonist to opt for America as his travel's destination is his infatuation with the global, multicultural American society that he assumes is ready to welcome him. As the protagonist belongs basically to a colonized nation, his travel is similar to the travel and exploration of the colonizer but in a reversed direction; that is, it is not a journey from the metropolis to the colonies but from a colony to the centre of the Empire. Thus, the rapid process of economic, political and social globalization opens the door for travel and migration from previously colonized countries, contributing to the formation of Changez's character as both the novel's narrator and protagonist. The study tends to prove that Changez is encouraged to travel by his early naïve assumptions about America as an example of heterogeneity in its social fabric, as an icon in the global economy and policy, and as an agent of maintaining equal human rights. However, his travels lead him to the truth of this global and multicultural society, where illusions are demystified.

• pdf