Brief biography of mohsin hamid was born in Pakistan, but he spent much of his
Download 0.56 Mb. View original pdf
|
| This short scene introduces anew element to Exit West, putting the idea of escape and transition into readers minds. Without fully explaining what’s happening, Hamid presents a mysterious door, a portal through which a man with woolly hair enters into a wealthy woman’s private bedroom. As such, two people who are typically separated either geographically or culturally come into close contact with one another, though the woman herself is asleep and is thus unaware of what’s going on. Still, the idea of her privacy—her right to declare her bedroom as her own—is destabilized in this moment, as this unknown man passes through it. Thankfully, it’s clear he doesn’t want to do her any harm, since he immediately escapes through her open window, suggesting that his presence in the bedroom is nothing more than a transitory momenta stop on the way to some other place. The moment thus plays with the stereotype of the scary immigrant, who turns out not to be scary at all. And at the same time shows how the white people of the world are metaphorically asleep and unable to see what is actually going on, while still seeing immigrants as being threats. Meanwhile, Saeed goes to a bakery to get bread for dinner, which he will have with his parents—with whom he lives. Hamid notes that this is common amongst “independent-minded” single men in his city with decent posts and good educations.” And in any case, Saeed likes his parents. His mother has the “commanding air of schoolteacher, and his father has the “slightly lost bearing of a university professor Although his mother no longer works, his father still teaches, despite the fact that he’s forced to accept lower wages and lesser positions because he’s past the age of retirement. Indeed, Hamid’s parents originally chose respectable professions in a country that would windup doing rather badly by its respected professionals Unfortunately, they have almost no security or “status” after having toiled in otherwise commendable jobs for the entire lives. The fact that Saeed’s parents chose respectable professions in a country that would windup doing rather badly by its respected professionals” once more illustrates the decline of Saeed and Nadia’s country. Not only has the city itself fallen on uncertain times marked by sporadic violence and unrest, but Saeed’s parents have no security when it comes to their careers, rendering them especially vulnerable to the slow deterioration of their previous lives. This lack of stability is ultimately denotes alack of cohesiveness and unity in their home community, since the values that once bound their city—values that informed their respective decisions to pursue careers as teachers—have fallen away, leaving them with nothing but fear and uncertainty in a shifting socioeconomic context. Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2018 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com Page 21 Saeed and his parents live in a small apartment in a building that used to be elegant and ornate though it’s now “crumbling” and overcrowded. Because it’s in a highly commercial area, what was once upscale about their home has now become undesirable especially because the location itself is squarely in the path of heavy machine-gun and rocket fire when fighters advance into this part of town “Location, location, location, the realtors say writes Hamid. Geography is destiny, respond the historians In due time, he notes, Saeed’s home will erode under the stress of war and conflict, a day’s toll outpacing that of a decade as the façade slips to ruin. Once again, Hamid underlines the effects of violence and discord on Download 0.56 Mb. Share with your friends:
|