Exit West Quotes

“Back then people… enjoy[ed] the luxury of wearing… what they wanted to… so these choices meant something.” (Chapter 1)

– Narrator

Analysis: In Exit West’s opening paragraph, the narrator reveals that Nadia likes to wear a black robe and Saeed keeps a short beard, even though they don’t have to. The narrator urges readers to consider what the characters’ choices say about them. Further, the narrator hints that this freedom is about to disappear.

“Helicopters filled the sky like birds startled by… gunshot, or… the blow of an axe [on] … their tree.” (Chapter 2)

– Narrator

Analysis: In Chapter 1, Saeed watches a hawk build a nest. The hawk symbolizes the beginning of his relationship with Nadia and the potential for their marriage. In Chapter 2, however, helicopters mark the beginning of a war that will destroy domestic tranquility for everyone in the city.

“He became present without presence.” (Chapter 3)

– Narrator

Analysis: This observation appears in the middle of the narrator’s discussion of the magic of cell phones. Exit West explores how technology shapes the world and people’s relationships. By becoming present in Nadia’s mind through constant instant messaging, Saeed creates a feeling of being with Nadia even when he isn’t there.

“She left little trace… employing… usernames and avatars, the online equivalents of her black robes.” (Chapter 3)

– Narrator

Analysis: Nadia’s black robes symbolize her personality throughout the novel. Though she likes exploring social media, Nadia holds back from expressing herself online—much the same way that she holds back from fully engaging with the people in her life.

“These three people… splashed and intersected with each other across varied and multiple streams of time.” (Chapter 5)

– Narrator

Analysis: Saeed, Nadia and Saeed’s father learn about each other’s pasts as they share a living space. Things from Saeed’s childhood remind Nadia of her childhood, while sleeping in the sitting room reminds Saeed of his own. Having Nadia there keeps Saeed’s father in the present. Hamid illustrates how the mind can facilitate a form of time travel.

“It was said in those days that the passage was… like dying and like being born.” (Chapter 6)

– Narrator

Analysis: The narrator often describes the magical doors as a death-rebirth experience for the people who pass through them. At this crucial point in the novel, Saeed and Nadia must leave their pasts behind, which is like a death in that they will likely never return or see their loved ones again. Yet it is also like a birth because everything from this moment forward will be new.

“She was startled, and wondered… how she could both read this news and be this news.” (Chapter 8)

– Narrator

Analysis: In Chapter 8, Nadia sits on the steps of a building across from a gathering of government forces, reading the news. She sees herself on the news reading the news in real time. Even though it turns out not to be Nadia on the news, Hamid uses this moment to highlight the immediacy of technology.

“Prayer for him became about being a man… a gentleman, a gentle man.” (Chapter 10)

– Narrator

Analysis: The narrator describes the breadth of Saeed’s prayer life, explaining how it has evolved over his lifetime. Prayer connects Saeed with his mother and father, and with all humanity. For him, it defines what it means to be a good man. Prayer is something intrinsic to Saeed’s character.

“We are all migrants through time.” (Chapter 10)

– Narrator

Analysis: This line in Chapter 10 conveys Exit West’s core message. It comes at the end of a vignette about an old woman from Palo Alto who seems to migrate because she loses touch with the world around her. The line suggests that geographical boundaries are a false construct and that everyone who is born belongs on Earth.

“She felt she was a small plant in a small patch of soil held between the rocks of a dry and windy place.” (Chapter 11)

– Narrator

Analysis: At the end of Exit West, the narrator spends a significant amount of time describing a new character, the maid from Marrakesh. Though she is lonely, the maid refuses to go live with her daughter, preferring the familiar. The maid represents the opposite of migrating—staying put, like a plant. The “rocks of a dry and windy place” represent the maid’s loneliness and a fear of the unknown.