Alternatively, you can comment on the theme as you relate to it personally.

Strict conservative religious lifestyles and college life many times conflict with one another. I relate to Ali's struggle as a practicing Muslim trying to adjust to college through my boyfriend. He underwent many of the same conflicts when he came to UT. He also lost himself in a social environment where partying, drinking and sex were exposed to him on a more regular surreal basis than just what he witnessed on television. Slowly, he felt more and more pressure to fall into a lifestyle that his parents had warned him to resist, one that he himself knew deep down in his heart was not the right one for him. Slowly, he found himself slacking in his prayers, finally to the point where he quit his religious practice altogether. He had undertaken a lifestyle that he had tried so hard to fight. Due to this unfamiliar almost unbearable peer pressure, combined with the lack of guidance to put himself back on the right path, he found it a true struggle to motivate himself to pray and even to practice the fundamentals of his own religion.

Ali's problem is not so much lonliness per se, or a lack of faith, but a lack of clarity. There is conflict between the life he seems to want (in which he does good work with the Mosque and receives plenty of reinforcement of his beliefs by watching the shallow parties and hookups next door) and the lifestyle he must pursue to get good grades and succeed in his life back home post graduation. At Wesleyan he is cut off both from his social network and from the clearcut examples of evil to distance himself from: he is slowly and reluctantly forming friendships with people he cannot truly relate to, yet cannot easily despise, either. It is this confusion that seems to distress him most. By attending the party (and perhaps finding someone else "pure" there he might relate to) he is starting to recognize the more complex situation he finds himself in, rather than avoiding it by immersion in schoolwork or the mosque.

Snow is written in the third person point of view with the narrator being omnicient to Ali's thoughts. The problem is Donna wants Ali to meet her friend that he could possibly date at one of her parties and he dosen't want to get involved. I would say Ali is major character and is flat and Vickie is also a major character because she is the whole reason ali is having this dilemna even though we don't know her thoughts and feelings.

First Snow is told from a 3rd person narrative. Ali is the major character and and the rest are minor characters. He was struggling with Donna wanting him to go to the party, and he was struggling with getting off the phone with Vickie. But he finally got off the phone, and even though he told himself he was not going to go to the party, he wanted to see what the friend looked like.
I think this story is about a guy who has his own beliefs and values. But, he is tempted to see what everything else is about from the inside, rather than looking at it from far away and judging it based on that. Even though he already had his opinions on the world outside of his, it seemed that he needed to experience it for himself.

Ali is the only major character in First Snow, and the minor characters are Donna, Mike, and Vickie. It is told by a narrator in third person point of view. The problem/complication is that Ali is not living the typical college life because he is very religious and prefers to pray instead of party; however, Ali is not praying so he is not participating in either lifestyle. Ali feels excluded from both worlds, his college life in America and his family life at home.

"First Snow" is told from a 3rd person point of view. This has a similar effect to the narrative as "The Tempation of Lugman Abdallah". Although we know the central character's thoughts it is still a distant point of view that allows us took look at the story from a sociological perspective instead of personal. It gives a more objective view of the experience of a Muslim immigrant in an American university. Ali is the major character, while Donna, Vickie, Mike, and Amjad are minor characters because we do not know their thoughts or experiences.

First Snow
problem/complication: Donna wanting Ali to meet her friend and go to the party, and Ali not wanting to talk to Vickie on the phone.
Resolution: Ali finally got off the phone with Vickie, and he ended up stopping by the party to see Donna's friend.
Narrator: 3rd person, all knowing and has access to Ali's thoughts.
Character: Ali-major, Donna-minor, Vickie-minor, Mike-minor

I think the main moving part of the story isn't necessarily the characters or the resolution. I think it's the problem or complication. Ali is in college but does not attend parties. He also does not seem to have much of a social life. This is extremely interesting in the college setting. The resolution seems to be what is supposed to affect the reader the most though. The entire story builds Ali's character and builds the complications. In the end, Ali goes against everything the reader had just been told and enters the party. I was surprised that he went to the party, which I suppose is the intended effect.