Getting Out

Entangle, Evade, Escape. These words show Saeed and Nadia’s untold mindset in Mohsin Hamid’s novel, Exit West. Entangle themselves in the place that they appear from the doors by meeting people and becoming part of what is going on around, evading the problems that go on in the place, like war and being killed, and then escaping through a door to become entangled again in the new place. While the novel is directly about people escaping from bad places of war to become a refugee in a safe place, Hamid indirectly shows that escape is more than this. Hamid uses Saeed’s father, Nadia, and Saeed to illustrate that by escaping their past or their future, one can find their true selves and expand on their values. 

Sometimes letting go and escaping from another person’s life is better than hanging on to them. In Exit West, Saeed’s father decides he must escape Saeed’s life in order for him to be safe. Although both Saeed and his father really don’t want this to happen, Saeed’s father insists, saying he wants to stay with his dead wife, although in reality he knows Saeed and Nadia will be more likely to live without him. This shows that Saeed’s father is willing to sacrifice anything for Saeed, as he is willing to let him go for Saeed to have a better life. Had he not cared as much, he would selfishly go with him, slowing them down and causing more problems in the future. By escaping from Saeed’s life, sneaking away before Saeed and Nadia leave, he keeps the two from slowing down and feeling immense sadness when he does eventually die. Also, by escaping, he helps the others find their true selves, for if they still had him around to take care of, their relationship would likely be much different, and they still might be together at the end of the novel. This isn’t the only way escaping is shown in the novel, as one can also escape from the future. 

Sometimes escaping from someone’s life is better than living in the future that is bound to happen, and by escaping, one can find their true self. In the novel, Nadia and Saeed find themselves in a slowly failing relationship, and although early on they were talking about marriage, they now find themselves out of love with each other and confused. Mirroring Hamid’s seemingly throw away writing style of using litotes and other techniques to describe things with an air of uncertainty, the couple are unsure of their feelings toward one another. They awkwardly dodge around the topic of falling out of love, although both feel it happening. They think that maybe it will get better some times while other times they don’t even try, showing a lack of communication that hurts the relationship. In the end, by escaping an inevitably unhappy future together, they part ways, finding their true selves in doing so. Nadia accepts her lesbian side and gets with a cook after living in an apartment like her old one in her original city. Saeed begins to pray more, and finds love in the pastor’s daughter while being able to mourn his parents more freely with someone who understands him more. By breaking their ties with each other, the two open doors to their true selves, and walk through in order to live happier lives separate from each other. 

Hamid’s novel Exit West shows that while escaping from danger is an important thing to do, escaping to someone’s true self is often more relatable to people today. Sometimes change can seem bad at first, but by accepting change and escaping the present, one can open a door to the future that they want. In a world full of sickness and disease not unlike the war and death in the novel, by finding a door, one can walk into a new, different, yet safer life, finding themselves and helping those around them.