I wish there had been a bigger moment of insight for the reader, but maybe that's asking too much, and asking for the integrity of the story to be compromised. I like, of course, that Changez isn't a militant, crazy person intent on destroying countries, but I also wanted to hear more about why he'd decided he was disenchanted and consequently disgusted by America. I wanted to feel like he was justified in what he believed at the end of his narrative, but I couldn't believe him. That's not to say I would have thought that he was right, but as it was, I just felt like he'd basically been beaten by The Man and he was feeling down about himself. I think I took his turn of sentiment sort of personally, though, because I've got Muslim relatives and ties to the Middle East and Muslim world, and I'm not sitting in classrooms denouncing my country. I guess that's the difference, though; it's my country, and it wasn't Changez's. But his story is one remarkably like my dad's--leaving his whole family behind, coming to go to school, facing discrimination, staying, falling in love. My dad's relationship with an American girl went much better, of course. Marriage, two adorable children. Citizenship. This is my dad's country.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is this: Why couldn't it have been Changez's, too?
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I think the point of your confusion lies in describing Changez as "beaten down by the Man." If I'm not mistaken, Changez was the Man, and he gets hints at how this life would make him unhappy throughout the novel. Remember the hateful taxi driver and Jaun Bautista's telling Changez of the jannissaries. Once Changez realizes that he's becoming disconnected from not only what makes him an individual, but also his roots which make up such a large part of his identity, he knows that he has to leave Underwood Samson
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