"Global Rejects/Refugees as Liminal Nomads in Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West" | ||
| هرمس | ||
| Article 6, Volume 13, Issue 3 - Serial Number 49, July 2024, Pages 75-102 PDF (658.56 K) | ||
| Document Type: المقالة الأصلية | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/herms.2024.393360 | ||
| Author | ||
| Noura Al-Abbady | ||
| Faculty of Arts- Cairo University | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Throughout history, humans have consistently engaged in perpetual migration, driven by the pursuit of a more prosperous existence or the need to escape perilous areas. However, in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of displaced individuals, and the topic of the ‘refugee crisis’ is frequently discussed in public. Refugees, who may be either outcasts or persecuted in their homeland, are compelled to migrate and face several challenges in quest of a welcoming destination. However, they often encounter resistance and are viewed as a potential danger to the social fabric and culture of the host country. This paper examines the plight of Saeed and Nadia the protagonists of the novel Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (2017) who embark on a journey from their war-torn city through magical doors that start appearing in various places and can teleport people instantly to the more developed and stable first-world countries. Saeed and Nadia are in a constant mode of movement enforced by the rejection they encounter at each border/door crossing in their journeys, thus caught in a perpetual state of liminality and ‘in-betweenness.’ The analysis draws on the concepts of liminality and nomadism as defined by Arnold van Gennep (1960) and Deleuze and Guattari (1987) respectively. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Refugees; Journey; Liminality; Nomadism; Mohsin Hamid; In-Betweenness; Gennep; Deleuze and Guattari | ||
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