Brief biography of mohsin hamid was born in Pakistan, but he spent much of his
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| brings together different Englishes to make a composite whole, an amalgamation of language and meaning with which people from all over the world can engage. This stands in stark contrast to the divided nature of the Mykonos refugee camp, where groups only formed according to nationality. Here, it seems, Nadia has a chance to branch out and truly become involved in the refugee community. Nadia begins to look forward to council meetings because they represent something new in her mind, the birth of something new These people, she discovers, are both familiar and unfamiliar and their acceptance of her feels like an “achievement” of sorts. She even gains respect among the younger Nigerians because of her involvement with the elders. The only person who doesn’t spare her is a young Nigerian woman with a leather jacket and a chipped tooth who stands like a gunslinger and verbally harasses everybody in the house. The council represents the birth of something new in Nadia’s life because she has never before experienced a unification of different cultures and nationalities. After all, she comes from a country that was divided between the government and a group of radical militants, a place where everybody had to profess loyalty to whichever faction was in power. But here (or in the mansion, at least), Nadia can exist as an individual in a diverse group, thus allowing her to be whomever she wants. Unlike Nadia, Saeed is uncomfortable in the mansion, disliking the fact that he’s the sole male representative of his country. “Those sizing him up were from another country Hamid writes, and there were far more of them, and he was alone. This touched upon something basic, something tribal, and evoked tension and a sort of suppressed fear Feeling this way, Saeed doesn’t know when he can relax or if he even can relax. For Saeed, isolation from his culture isn’t liberating, like it is for Nadia. Rather, he suffers from the uncertainty that comes along with entering a foreign environment. Not knowing when he can “relax,” he is constantly on his guard, a reality exacerbated by the fact that people are always sizing him up because he’s the only man from his country. In this moment, Saeed ascribes to a stereotypically macho notion of manhood, believing that he must—as a man—represent his culture in some strong or powerful fashion. Nadia, on the other hand, doesn’t pay attention to such hang-ups, thereby allowing herself to actually enjoy the refugee community’s multicultural unity. Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2018 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com Page 43 One evening, while Nadia is in the courtyard with the council, Saeed is stopped in the hallway by the woman in the leather jacket, her foot planted on the wall, barring him from passing. “Excuse me he says, to which she replies, Why should I excuse you She also utters something else, but he can’t understand what she says. Behind him, he notices a “tough-looking Nigerian man a man he’s heard has a gun. Just as Saeed starts to truly fret, the woman in the leather jacket takes her foot from the wall and allows him to pass, though in order to do so he must brush against her body—a movement that makes him feel emasculated Once in the bedroom, he wants to “shout” and huddle in a corner though he doesn’t do either of these things. While Saeed’s notions regarding masculinity and the way it affects his integration into the refugee community are perhaps antiquated and partly imagined, in this moment they manifest themselves as true. When the woman in the leather jacket challenges him, it’s clear Download 0.56 Mb. Share with your friends:
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