FROM KNOWING TO CREATING YOURSELF: IDENTITY CRISIS IN EXIT WEST BY MOHSIN HAMID

Dr. Asma Iqbal Qazi

Assistant Professor, Deptt  of English( GS), H_9, Islamabad

Ms Munazza Mehmood

Lecturer, Deptt of English, (UGS), NUML, H-9, Islamabad

Dr. Qasim Shafiq

Assistant Professor, Department of Language and Literature,  The University  of Faisalabad.

Abstract

Scholars most often tend to associate both terms, migration, and identity. People who migrate from one country to another carry their knowledge and the feeling of distress with them. Their identity tends to shift into a new one because they try to assimilate into a new country. Mohsin Hamid is a transactional author and has been preoccupied with the critical issues of global relevance like the mass migration of people, identity crises, and racism. This article is mainly focusing Hamid’s novel Exit West. This study aims to analyze the theme of identity crises portrayed through the central character Saeed and Nadia. This theme has the foundation of post-colonial era, so the relevant literature is also given in this article. The analysis has elucidated that protagonist of the novel face a condition that places them at their identity in being at crossroads. They try to intimate and assimilate to the new culture portrayed through their ways to blend with contemporary society in attaining their identity. The qualitative research method is adopted to examine the identity crises in “Exit West” through descriptive analysis—this research was analyzed using online research journals, research papers, and books. For the investigation of the study, as a sample, those lines are selected from the novel that best describes the idea.

Keywords : South Asian fiction, identity crisis, assimilation