Chapters 7-8 Summary

Saeed and Nadia find themselves in a mansion in London with migrants from Nigeria. Nadia takes a long shower, and the high-quality towels in this new setting make her feel like the “daughter of a dictator… willing to kill… for his children to pamper themselves.”

On Monday, the housekeeper arrives and calls the police, who show up in riot gear demanding the migrants vacate the mansion. A million migrants live all over the city, the narrator says, but the “native-born” are “vanishingly few.” Soon, the city launches an operation “to reclaim Britain for Britain” while “nativist extremists” form “their own legions.” However, life continues. Migrant children play in the cherry trees like monkeys, and Nadia and Saeed watch a fox nightly from their balcony until the authorities cut off the electricity one evening.

The mansion becomes known as the “Nigerian house,” and Nadia attends their council meetings. Saeed gravitates toward a house on Vicarage Gate, where people from his home country are staying. Nadia and the Nigerian elders plan a nonviolent resistance, while Saeed seeks counsel at the Vicarage Gate house. A man with a white-marked beard urges “martyrdom” and “banding together… along religious principles.” Saeed is attracted to this ideology, but it also makes him feels as though he is “rotting from within.”

The “operation to clear the migrant ghetto” begins. After rumors spread that police have burned down a cinema full of children, the government ends the onslaught. Two weeks later, “decency… and bravery” win out, and the electricity and water return.

Chapters 7-8 Analysis

Hamid evokes the legacy of colonialism in these chapters. Britain practiced a policy of imperialism from the 17th century into the 20th. The 17th and 18th centuries saw Britain build up its empire in India and North America. The 19th century witnessed British expansion on the African continent, where Nigeria is located. Nigeria fought and gained independence from Britain in 1960. Hamid uses situational irony to reveal the hypocrisy of Britain’s treatment of the Nigerian refugees. They are treated as outcasts even though Britain profited from Nigeria for the better part of a century.

Hamid shows how being “native” is a matter of perception, and the perception of “nativeness” can lead to violence. Britain’s “native-born” and government forces mirror the militants from Saeed and Nadia’s homeland. Saeed and Nadia’s plotline reflects this tension as well. Nadia embraces Nigerian culture, while Saeed reveals tribal instincts when he finds comfort only with people from his homeland.

The author emphasizes the presence of nature to underscore the ways in which Saeed and Nadia are following their innate preferences. Children play like monkeys, and a fox, another wild creature, shows up. Saeed is becoming more religious and guided by tradition, while Nadia is reaching for the new and unfamiliar.