Zadie Smith's “The Waiter's Wife” lends itself to all kinds of possible discussions from the immigrant experience to identity to alienation to racism to power relations. Let's look at a selection of these to get you started on this question.

The immigrant experience is certainly central to the story, for Samad and Alsana are from Bangladesh and are now living in England, trying to make a life for themselves but running into cultural and economic difficulties at every turn. Samad works as a waiter. Alsana sews. They simply cannot get ahead, and it is difficult to adapt, especially for Alsana.

Samad's difficulties also extend to his identity. He is forty-nine years old and working as a waiter in a relative's restaurant. It is humiliating, and he must put on a show every day both for the customers and his boss. He is scoffed at, patronized, and insulted. This leads to significant feelings of alienation for him.

Racism is also part of this story. You should look at Alsana in particular here and her reaction to Clara's race. Notice, too, Alsana's ideas about race and the exceptions she sometimes makes.

Finally, you might look at the power relations in the story. Think in terms of Samad and his boss or Samad and Alsana. The latter may be especially fruitful as a topic, for Samad has married a woman much younger than himself thinking that she will be easy to control. She is not.