Loss, Rupture, and Displacement

Why did Mohsin Hamid choose to place his narrative within the fictional realm of magical realism in the novel Exit West and not within a creative non-fiction piece?

First off, I think the reason why Hamid may have chosen magical realism and a fictional narrative is due to the idea called the curse of knowledge. Curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that occurs when an individual, communicating with other individuals, unknowingly assumes that the others have the background to understand. So, by creating a fictional and magical realm where the story takes place, he allows every reader to start out on the same page without bias. This way, even if we see similarities to factual events, we can never be quite sure which events he is referring to. So, this allows every reader to feel what Hamid presents us with in his fictional narration. It is common empathic grounding. If he had placed it into a singular real event, then we all would use what we already know as a background to the narrative, potentially missing any point by Hamid as author. He not only offers those with no knowledge a leg up, he also cuts down the knowledge of those readers who know quite a bit about the subjects he is conveying.

The second question I would like to address is: Why did Nadia and Saeed separate, eventually after journeying through the portal? I think the clue is in the birth scene as Nadia enters the portal. They both need to leave their old lives behind as they enter the new worlds. I think Hamid's message is pointed. We need to live the experience with the characters, in order to understand what they go through and how that affects them in the end. Moving to new places and entirely different environments unlike home is bound to change a person in many ways. Can a relationship survive this? Maybe. But if the bond between the individuals is dependent upon prior conditions and for these to still be in existence, then the grounding that relationship has gained would fall away. The Novel The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton comes to mind.  The last chapter (ch.12) deals with their reuniting "half a century later" (pg. 229). They returned to the place of their birth, the city where they came from. I do think it is telling that this reuniting occurs here in this place. The novel is left uncertain, and I believe this was purposeful, because it gives the reader hope and possibility that they will embrace their lives anew in this old place called home:
"He nodded and said if she had an evening free he would take her, it was a sight worth seeing in this life, and she shut her eyes and she said she would like that very much, and they rose and embraced and parted, and did not know if that evening would ever come." (pg. 231)

They both had been changed by their journey away and the return home. Can they reconcile the changes now in the aftermath? I think the rekindling of their love may be the answer to the question of : Can they recover the home that they had lost a long time ago, or is it gone forever?

Hamid wants the reader to answer this question, and I do think he purposely created this narrative in order for the reader to ultimately decide the answer to this question.

In times like these where our future is uncertain and we wonder how we will survive some very profound changes to our ways of life, reading a narrative of migration enables us to place ourselves within a fictional world of displacement. There is a rupturing that occurs each time we move and we change. Like a birth, we are asked to enter (in many ways only with our souls to guide us) into the unknown. What happens and how we survive is the real story. Who falls away and who is regained is the important question that should ultimately be adressed? Can our relationships survive this rupture? There is a Pablo Neruda poem that is called to mind as I write this:

It is called The Dream.

The Dream

Walking on the sands

I decided to leave you.

I was treading a dark clay
that trembled
and I, sinking and coming out,’
decided that you should come out
of me, that you were weighing me down
like a cutting stone,
and I worked out your loss
step by step:
to cut off your roots,
to release you alone into the wind.

Ah in that minute,
my dear, a dream
with its terrible wings
was covering you.

You felt yourself swallowed by the clay,
and you called to me and I did not come,
you were going, motionless,
without defending yourself
until you were smothered in the quicksand.

Afterwards
my decision encountered your dream,
and from the rupture
that was breaking our hearts
we came forth clean again, naked,
loving each other,
without dream, without sand,
complete and radiant,
sealed by fire.

And I have also written a poem about change and loss.

Troy Burns



The pretty picture

In our shaded thoughts becomes

Vapid and empty

As the flames take it over

And burn it to the core.



Well, what for?

No reason

Just the season of war.



More more more

Now this is history

There was no before

Only the hunter and his lithesome companion

So true

As they walk through the ruins

And dust of yore

Soaked through.


conclusion: What is left after everything has been destroyed?

Answer:  A Sea of  Possibility.