Brief biography of mohsin hamid was born in Pakistan, but he spent much of his
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| When Saeed’s family hears gunshots in the street, the threat of violence encroaches not only upon their geographical location, but also upon their everyday lives. No longer can they sit outside and casually enjoy the evening without hearing intermittent reminders of the city’s plunge into violence. In this moment, Hamid once again illustrates the very tangible effects of unrest on a city’s inhabitants, suggesting that the division between safety and danger—the division between tranquility and fear—is growing weaker and weaker. When they finally get coffee, Saeed asks Nadia why she wears long black robes even though she doesn’t pray. Both of their phones are on the table, resting face-down between them like the weapons of desperadoes at parley Nadia smiles, takes a sip of coffee, and says, So men don’t fuck with me.” The position of Saeed and Nadia’s phones is noteworthy in this scene. Having placed their screens face-down on the table, they’ve essentially closed themselves off to the outside world, the distractions that might otherwise threaten to interrupt the connection they’re busy forming in real life. This willingness to make a personal connection is, it seems, something of a big deal for Nadia. After all, it’s clear she’s accustomed to putting up boundaries between herself and others, as evidenced by the fact that she only wears her religious robes to keep men away. CHAPTER Nadia grew up in a devoutly religious house where the walls were lined by excerpts of sacred texts. Her constant questioning and growing irreverence in matters of faith” worried her father, a serious and ill-tempered man. Still, he and the rest of her family—her mother and sister—were beside themselves when Nadia announced, even to her own surprise, that she was going to move out to live on her own. This sparked a terrible argument and, as a result, Nadia hasn’t spoken to her family since leaving home, though everybody—her father included—regrets this. Unfortunately, there’s noway for them to repair the rift, for they never again see one another because of the impending descent of their city into the abyss which comes before they realize they have lost the chance to repair their relationship. Nadia’s experience losing her connection with her family shows that she’s accustomed to putting boundaries between herself and others, boundaries often related to differing worldviews. Indeed, Nadia’s family stifles her sense of independence, forcing religion on her in a way that encourages her to leave them behind once and for all. Once on her own, though, she actually wields religion to her benefit, dressing as if she’s highly devout as away of keeping others at bay. In this way, she empowers herself by calling upon the same tradition that previously kept her from living the way she wanted. Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2018 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com Page 23 These days, Nadia works at an insurance company and lives alone in an apartment above her landlord, a widow. One day, while absentmindedly drawing at work, she receives an instant message from Saeed, who asks if she wants to get dinner. That night, they visit a Chinese restaurant that has been operated for three generations by the same family until they recently “sold up and emigrated to Canada During the meal, Saeed and Nadia talk about their dreams of travel—neither of them has ever left the country. Still, Nadia wants to go to Cuba to seethe beautiful old buildings and the sea and Saeed wants to go to Chile and the Atacama desert, where there is virtually no light pollution, meaning that a person can lie down and look at the Milky Way in the clear sky. Download 0.56 Mb. Share with your friends:
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