Quote 3

‘Why would we want to move?' she said.
'To be among our own kind,' Saeed answered.
'What makes them our kind?'
'They’re from our country.'
'From the country we used to be from.'
'Yes.' Saeed tried not to sound annoyed.
'We’ve left that place.'
'That doesn’t mean we have no connection.'
'They’re not like me.'

This conversation between Nadia and Saeed occurs in Chapter 8, after Saeed suggests that they move into a different house in Dark London that is full of people from their country. Saeed has felt uncomfortable in the house they live in, which primarily houses Nigerian refugees. Here, we see the fundamental difference between Saeed and Nadia’s relationship to migration and their concept of home. Even before violence swallows their home country, Nadia must constantly adjust how she dresses and behaves in order to avoid censure and violence. When she thinks of life in her home country, she uses words like “stifled” because the cultural norms there hampered her personal freedom. Because she never felt at home in her home country, when she leaves it, she focuses on the possibilities ahead of her. In this sense, Nadia’s desire to make friends with the Nigerians in their house and the girl from Mykonos functions as a quest to find her “kind.” Therefore, for Nadia, to move into a house with people from their home country would mean a return to living amongst people with whom she has never felt connected. 

Conversely, Saeed’s feelings toward migration tend to gaze backward on what he left behind. In their home country, Saeed grew up with a loving family who always supported and understood him. Although he’s not as religious or conservative as some people in his country, his feelings about religion and social issues like premarital sex align with the accepted mainstream views there. Furthermore, his family apartment is a beautiful place, with cherished heirlooms like the telescope that has passed from father to son for three generations. With so much left behind, Saeed actively seeks out people from their country in London in order to assuage this sense of loss. In addition, whereas discomfort and alienation are familiar to Nadia, Saeed did not experience these feelings to the same degree in his home country. Therefore, he doesn’t know how to cope with being a minority in the Nigerian house or how to approach new people with the same spirit of curiosity and adventure Nadia does. Without this skill, he seeks out connections with people of his own culture because he already understands how to behave and be with them.

Previous page Important Quotations Explained page 2 Next page Important Quotations Explained page 4

Popular pages: Exit West

Take a Study Break