Hamid has spent the entirety of Exit West building the romanticconnection between Saeed and Nadia, but in this moment he allowsthat connection to simply fade away. Indeed, as Nadia and Saeedembark upon their new lives, they lose track of one another, lettingtheir bond stretch until they no longer stay in contact at all. Andthough readers may feel a tinge of sadness about this separation,there’s no arguing that Hamid’s portrayal of a dying romance hasbeen inaccurate, for this is how love fades gradually, gradually, andthen all at once.Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2018 LitCharts LLCwww.LitCharts.com Page 53
In the hills of Marrakesh, a maid whose husband and daughter have both left the country works in a large house owned by a man who might once have been called a prince and a woman who might once have been called a foreigner Perhaps because she can’t speak, the maid refuses to leave her home country. Although she doesn’t know her age, she’s certain that she’s younger than the woman she serves, who—unlike her—still attracts the attention of men. When the maid’s daughter comes to visit during the same summer of Nadia and Saeed’s breakup, the young woman tries to convince her mother to leave Marrakesh, but the maid simply puts her hand on her daughters, smiles, and shakes her head. One day she might go, she thinks. But not today.” The final vignette of Exit West , this short description of an elderlywoman in Marrakesh provides one last look at how people aroundthe world respond to the existence of doors that can transport aperson faraway. Indeed, the maid’s response isn’t to step throughone of these portals, nor is it to wait for others to come to herthrough them. Rather, she ignores their powers, content withstaying exactly where she is, perhaps knowing that, regardless ofwhether or not she leaves her home, she is a migrant through time.”CHAPTER Nadia goes back to her home city for the first time in the half a century after she last saw Saeed. The fires she had witnessed in her youth have now burned themselves out and she finds herself able to explore the city, which is simultaneously “familiar but also unfamiliar As she wends her way through the streets, she’s informed of the proximity of Saeed, and after standing motionless fora considerable moment she communicates with him, and they agree to meet at a nearby café. As they sit together and talk about their lives, they carefully highlight and exclude portions of their respective stories. Fortunately, they’re able to reestablish a rhythm with one another, in part because they parted all those years ago on good terms, all things considered. Hamid doesn’t explain what he means by the fact that Nadia is“informed of the proximity of Saeed,” but the implication is that herphone is somehow capable of signaling to her when he’s nearby. Assuch, Hamid provides one final form of connection, building uponthe idea that technology—with its vast networks and infinitecapacity for surveillance—unites humanity. After all these years,Nadia and Saeed once again find themselves communicating intheir home city using phones, bringing their story full-circle andharkening back to their initial text-message flirtations.Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2018 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com Page 54
Imagine how different life would be if I had agreed to marry you Nadia says. Imagine how different it would be if I had agreed to have sex with you responds Saeed, to which Nadia says, We were having sex After a moment, Saeed smiles and concedes, saying, Yes I suppose we were As they finish their coffees, Nadia asks Saeed if he ever wound up visiting the Chilean deserts to seethe dazzling stars. Nodding, he tells her that if she ever has a free evening, he would love to take her because the sight is astoundingly beautiful. Closing her eyes, Nadia says she’d love to do this, and they both stand, hug, and go their separate ways, not knowing whether or not that evening will ever come.” The novel's ending ingeniously ties up many of its themes. Nadia'scomment about how different things might have been if they gotmarried captures the way that, while the novel focused on Nadiaand Saeed's time together, they didn't end up together or the centerof each other's lives. The connection they shared was in many waysjust like the connections they share with others. The novel's focus ontheir particular connection showed how important that connectionwas, but the fact that the novel also shows the connection endsimplies that all of their connections were also important, or couldhave been similarly important, had they made different choices.Meanwhile, the odd moment when Saeed comments that theyweren't having sex, and then admits rather easily that they were, isimportant. Saeed seems to have built for himself a narrative inwhich he and Nadia followed strict religious rules, and avoided sexbefore marriage. This narrative fits with Saeed's growingreligiousness through the story it is the narrative he needed in orderto be the person he needed himself to be. But now back in his homecountry where the religious strife has backed down, he can suddenlyadmit to himself and to Nadia that in fact they were having sex.Now, in this different context, no longer a refugee, Saeed can be aslightly different, less rigid and even less religious version of himself.Finally, when Saeed offers to take Nadia to the Chilean deserts ifshe ever has a free evening it becomes clear that travel hasbecome so ubiquitous throughout the world that people are able totake casual trips to far-flung destinations, essentially obliteratingthe idea that migration across borders is something that must becontrolled. And when Hamid asserts that neither Saeed nor Nadiaknow if their trip to the desert together will ever transpire, he oncemore relates uncertainty and migration, though this time thecombination is imbued with a sense of possibility, not fear. At thesame time, that these two people, who have had to travel underduress as refugees throughout the novel, can now talk abouttraveling for leisure, it makes clear that the state of being a refugeeis something that comes to an end. While the rest of the world oftentreats refugees as nothing other than refugees, the novel insists thatrefugees are, in fact, humans who just happen to have been forcedto flee their home.Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2018 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com Page 55
To cite this LitChart: MLA MLA Lannamann, Taylor. "Exit West." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 23 Apr. Web. 24 Apr 2018. CHICA CHICAGO MANU GO MANUAL AL Lannamann, Taylor. "Exit West." LitCharts LLC, April 23, Retrieved April 24, 2018. https://www.litcharts.com/lit/exit-west. To cite any of the quotes from Exit West covered in the Quotes section of this LitChart: MLA MLA Hamid, Mohsin. Exit West. Riverhead Books. 2018. CHICA CHICAGO MANU GO MANUAL AL Hamid, Mohsin. Exit West. New York Riverhead Books. HOW T HOW TO CITE O CITE Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2018 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com Page 56
Document Outline - Introduction
- Plot summary
- Characters
- Themes
- Symbols
- Quotes
- Summary and Analysis
- How to Cite
- MLA
- Chicago Manual
- MLA
- Chicago Manual
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