Discuss how Karim and Charlie contribute to the themes of personal identity and of social advancement in "The Buddha of Suburbia".

One of the major themes in the novel is identity and how a person may changes his or her behavior to portray a certain identity. Karim is the main character in the novel who tries to find his true self during the course of the book. He grew up to be an Indian man in a country that was unwilling to accept him so he did everything he could to be accepted. For a long time, Karim saw himself as being an English man and he was affected in a negative way when his friends and those close to him did not perceived him in the same manner. For a long time, Karim harbored the belief that the only way he could be happy is by becoming as English as possible but his efforts only made him even unhappier. In the end, Karim realizes how true happiness is not given by some stranger’s approval but rather by the sense of belonging to a group and by knowing he was accepted by the people he cared about. Thus, Karim discovered how his true identity is not English, but rather a mix of everything he experienced in his life.