Brief biography of mohsin hamid was born in Pakistan, but he spent much of his
Download 0.56 Mb. View original pdf
|
| prayers and, thus, playing directly into his assumption that her religious beliefs will factor into their interaction. Saeed stammers to find an excuse, telling Nadia that he doesn’t always get around to praying but that nobody’s perfect. I think it’s personal he says. Each of us has his own way Ashe struggles to speak, she interrupts. I don’t pray she states, adding, Maybe another time With this, she walks into the parking lot, where she finds her motorcycle, puts on her helmet, and roars away. When Nadia reveals that she doesn’t pray, she defies Saeed’s assumption that she is devoutly religious. Getting on her motorcycle, she further shatters his belief that he can judge a person based on her clothing. To be fair, his assumptions aren’t ludicrous—after all, religious robes are one of the few kinds of clothing that actually do signal a certain kind of worldview or belief. On another note, Saeed’s suggestion that prayer is personal and that everybody has his or her own way of practicing religion is worth keeping in mind, since Exit West is a book that explores the ways in which different cultural and religious practices differ and intersect with one another. In this moment, Saeed reveals his belief that spiritual practice can be flexible and specific to each person. SUMMARY AND ANAL SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS YSIS Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2018 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com Page 20 After their confusing conversation about prayer, Saeed can’t stop thinking about Nadia. The next day, he finds himself distracted at work, unable to write a sales pitch to a soap company. Although he’s one of the younger employees at his agency, which sells outdoor advertising placements to local companies, his boss has taken a liking to him, which is why he asked him to pitch the soap company. The task is rather important, since the economy is sluggish from mounting unrest but Saeed can’t focus. By the end of the day, he has only barely scraped together enough information and research to submit for his boss’s approval. Nonetheless, when he hands it in at the last possible moment, his boss seems “preoccupied,” writing several small suggestions in the margins and telling Saeed to send it to the company. Something about his expression made Saeed feel sorry for him Hamid notes. In this scene, readers witness the initial effects of Nadia on Saeed. Judging by his inability to concentrate at work, it’s clear he feels connected to Nadia, though at this point this connection is more of an idea than an actual bond. Still, the percolating romance gives him something to focus on, an escape from his current reality, which is perhaps a healthy thing, since clearly other elements of his everyday lifelike having to contend with the failing economy—are less than ideal. Indeed, the mounting tension in the city brings itself to bear on Saeed’s company, worrying his boss so much that he doesn’t even notice Saeed’s sloppy work. In this way, Hamid subtly shows readers the pervasive effects of the violence spreading through the city. As Saeed’s sales pitch makes its way through the internet, a married woman sleeps in a wealthy neighborhood in Australia. Her husband is away, and her house’s alarm system is off because she forgot to turn it on. Although it’s dark outside, her bedroom is suffused in the faint illumination of her charging laptop. However, the door to her closet, which opens into the bedroom, is a rectangle of complete darkness—the heart of darkness From this elemental blackness, a man is emerging. First his head and woolly hair appear in the frame, “wriggl[ing] with great effort as his hands clutch either side of the doorjamb, pulling him into the faintly lit room. Slowly but surely, his body emerges from the black door until he’s fully in the room, at which point he slips by the sleeping woman and escapes through the open window. Download 0.56 Mb. Share with your friends:
|