“Like Dying and Like Being Born”: The Portal, the Door, and the Closet in Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West

Authors

Lynn Nichols, Cleveland State UniversityFollow

Abstract

This paper analyzes Exit West by Mohsin Hamid through the lens of queer theory and LGBT symbolism. Scholarship surrounding Exit West has focused on the novel's magical realism as a commentary on xenophobia and colonialism. By drawing on noted texts in queer theory including Sedgwick's Epistemology of the Closet, this paper draws further connections between Hamid's portal plot and the experience of coming out. This argument considers the intersectionality of migration and coming out to demonstrate that for characters like Nadia, these experiences must overlap.

Recommended Citation

Nichols, Lynn. "“Like Dying and Like Being Born”: The Portal, the Door, and the Closet in Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West." The Downtown Review. Vol. 7. Iss. 2 (2021) .
Available at: https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/tdr/vol7/iss2/5