Characterizations

On this page, we take a look at the two main characters in the short story "The Right Passengers" by Waqar Ahmed. We also explore the conflict between Nadeem Riaz and Faisal.…

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Nadeem Riaz

Nadeem Riaz is an immigrant Pakistani man who works as a taxi driver in New York. He is a man who respects the rules of his adoptive country; he has a green card and his staying there is legal. We find out that, because of his identity, he has to overcome difficulties in his job. The first example is the one of the police car that chased him for a half an hour just because he was a Pakistani and because the police officers needed to catch someone who was bending the rules.

“The traffic from JFK he can li…

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Faisal

Faisal is also a Pakistani boy in his twenties. The first time we see him, he is drunk and accompanied by a girl of the same age. He is impolite and he addresses Nadeem with “Riaz Uncle” ( l. 27). Although he states that he is “just being friendly” ( l. 40), it is obvious that he considers himself superior and that he has the right to speak to Nadeem Riaz in such a way. Nadeem does not believe that the boy is friendly and he feels offended by the way he is spoken to, even tho…

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The conflict between Nadeem Riaz and Faisal

Faisal represents the culture that Nadeem cannot grasp. He is young, he wants to have fun, and he does not care about tradition. Unlike Nadeem, he possesses the ability to integrate perfectly into the American culture, to fit into the country that presumably fits all. The conflict between him and Nadeem (respectively the clash between cultu…