Brief biography of mohsin hamid was born in Pakistan, but he spent much of his
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| Once again, Hamid includes a vignette in which the doors bring people together, this time sparking an unlikely romantic connection. And this isn’t the only kind of connection at play in this short set- piece; when the smoking man’s neighbor catches the couple’s first kiss on her camera, she is momentarily part of their budding relationship, fleetingly bound to them by circumstance and simultaneity. As Nadia and Saeed both become more and more involved with their respective crews at work, they drift further and further apart. Indeed, they hardly even touch on their single cot. They put their lack of conversation down to exhaustion Hamid explains, for by the end of the day they were usually so tired they could barely speak Instead of spending time with one another, they pay attention to their phones, because phones themselves have the innate power of distancing one from one’s physical surroundings.” Hamid’s assertion that phones have the innate power of distancing one from one’s physical surroundings recalls Saeed’s original resistance to his phone’s alluring qualities. Although the internet enables these migrants to connect to places and people far, far away, it also gives them an excuse to avoid talking to each other, ultimately driving them apart and building an invisible boundary between them. Hamid asserts that whenever a couple moves, they begin, if their attention is still drawn to one another, to see each other differently This, it seems, has happened to Saeed and Nadia. In the context of the worker camp, Nadia notices that Saeed has grown even more handsome, so handsome that other women gaze at him as he passes. And yet, Nadia herself is strangely unmoved by his handsomeness He also prays on a regular basis, sometimes up to three times per day. But when he talks to Nadia, he only references work and politics, never divulging anything about his feelings or about how he misses his parents. Still, he finds himself gravitating toward people from his country, and Nadia begins to think that the farther they get from home, the more Saeed tries to strengthen his connection to it.” In this section, Nadia and Saeed continue to grow apart, their bond deteriorating as each one gravitates to separate ways of living in the worker camp. Yet again, Saeed’s commitment to religion and prayer seemingly isolates Nadia, who apparently doesn’t understand his invigorated interest in spirituality or even his desire to surround himself with people from their home country. Once more, then, Hamid shows the toll that migration has exacted upon Saeed and Nadia’s relationship, which was apparently not strong enough to endure such seismic change. Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2018 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com Page 48 Saeed also considers Nadia in this new context, finding that she looks the same, though perhaps more tired. Still, she continues to wear her black robes, a fact that begins to annoy him, since she doesn’t even pray, actively avoids speaking their shared language, and even goes out of her way to not spend time with “their people Well take it off then he wants to shout, but this is a sentiment that makes him feel guilty and angry with himself, since he knows he’s supposed to love—and thus respect—her. He wants more than anything to love Nadia the way he used to, but he can’t seem to do this, an idea that leaves him feeling “unmoored, adrift in a world where one could go anywhere but still find nothing.” When Saeed feels the urge to yell at Nadia to takeoff her robes, he displays a certain protectiveness of his home culture, as if Nadia is somehow appropriating customs that no longer belong to her Download 0.56 Mb. Share with your friends:
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