The Books “Exit West” by Hamid, “The Garden Party” by Mansfield and “Pygmalion” by Shaw Essay

Analysis: Exit West

Exit West is a novel written by Mohsin Hamid, an outstanding Pakistani author, in 2017. It is set “in a near-future dystopia of unfettered migration” where people may instantly move across the globe through particular doors¹. The main protagonists of the story are Saeed and Nadia, a young couple from an unnamed country who are forced to escape their home by a disastrous civil war. They have to overcome multiple challenges and change several places until they finally find themselves in life. The importance of this novel may be reflected in its actuality and the recognizability of described realities. In other words, it is possible to state that this wonderfully written, well-paced work peculiar for its exquisite third-person narration voice addresses multiple disturbing issues and tendencies that may be observed in the present day.

It goes without saying that the central themes of the novel are migration, nationalism, and related inequality. In the world of the future created by the author, borders have become insufficient, and traveling has stopped to consume time as specific magic doors may instantly transport people anywhere across the globe². At the same time, the issues of asylum seekers, social acceptance, and sociocultural identity remain unchanged, and people are forced to stay in controlled refugee or work camps on the cities’ outskirts. When Nadia and Saeed move to Mykonos, they realize that the encampment there is a beautiful though a dangerous place where people experience a lack of employment and constant shortages of food and money. In addition, inequality in the novel is not only racial and religious – in the intertwined and connected world, where borders became delusive, peoples’ traditional division on the basis of their races, languages, and cultures is less significant. In turn, with the presence of magic doors, people are divided into those who have power and control these doors and refugees’ passage through them and those who are controlled and have to obey rules in order to receive a right to escape catastrophes.

Other major themes of Hamid’s work are violence, especially against refugees, and solidarity against discrimination. Nadia and Saeed face violence and lose their families in their country that suffers from a civil war between the government and militant radicals. Subsequently, the attitude of host countries to migrants who do not want to give up and fight for their civil rights is reflected through their governments’ intentions to banish them. When Saeed and Nadia find themselves in an empty luxurious mansion in London, they and other migrants who come later are forced by the police to leave the house and the city’s center in general. Moreover, the couple is aware of attacks organized by citizens in order to suppress and expel refugees. At the same time, despite their potential differences, the groups of migrants from various countries find the strength to gather, defend their civil rights, and stand against xenophobic attitudes.

In addition, the author addresses such delicate topics as religion and its perception by people in the present day. In Exit West, Saeed and Nadia reflect two opposite attitudes to religion. Saeed is an educated independent-minded young man from a respectful family. He respects his religion and family traditions and cares about Nadia’s honor and rules that define the expression of emotions by women and men in public places according to Islam³. At the same time, Nadia is a strong young woman who may be called a feminist. Grown-up in a religious family, she, however, values her independence, desires, and freedom more than faith. “Her constant questioning and growing irreverence in matters of faith upset and frightened him” – in this way Nadia’s father saw her.⁴ Thus, she has chosen to live alone despite being unmarried, refused to compromise, and destroyed relationships with her family. Although Nadia wears long concealing black robes, she does it not for her religion but to avoid harassment from men. When Saeed invites her for a coffee and asks “If you don’t pray, why do you wear it?” she answers “So men don’t fuck with me.”⁵ In addition, she openly expresses her feelings to Saeed and is disappointed by his shyness.

As previously mentioned, the importance of the novel is in its ability to reflect and attract attention to modern issues. Thus, almost all realities described in the book resemble the current situation related to the migration and refugee crisis in Europe, and even the novel’s title addresses the escape of people to western countries. In the same way, people are forced to seek asylum in other countries, moving from civil wars and prosecution. They have to live in refugee camps, frequently experiencing a shortage of food, medicine, and money. Those refugees who have a more comfortable living in host countries face negative attitudes, racism, and xenophobia from natively born citizens often promoted by mass media. At the same time, not all migrants tolerate this situation. Thus, they refuse to assimilate and gather in order to keep and even spread their cultural and religious values and beliefs.

To conclude, Exit West, an outstanding work of Mohsin Hamid, is a novel that addresses multiple essential themes that do not lose their actuality in the present day. The description of migration, inequity, discrimination, intolerance, violence, racism and biased attitude to religion in an imaginary world of the future may be traced in modern realities as well. Using an exquisite style of narration, the author creates a tense atmosphere with highly vivid images and immerse readers in the story full of love and violence, challenges and faith, intolerance and hope for a better future.

Analysis: “The Garden Party”

“The Garden Party” is a short story written by Katherine Mansfield, a prominent modernist poet and writer, in 1922. In her peculiar manner that may be characterized by the modernist mode with multiple narration shifts and a set structure, the author address Laura Sheridan, a young woman from a wealthy upper-class family. During one day, when it is preparing for a garden tea party, Laura faces the reality that exists independently from the perception of life by noblemen. In her short story, Mansfield focuses on social class conflict, inequities, class consciousness, and attitude of people from various social classes to each other and life aspects.

In general, a short story that describes only one day gives a clear perspective of social class distinctions and people’s relationships. From a detailed description of the Sheridan family’s intensively cultivated garden, it is clear that the representatives of high-class society focus on their status and its attributes more than on reality connected with other people. When Laura comes to her mother and informs that Mr. Scott died, “Not in the garden?” was her first question⁶. In her passive-aggressive parenting style, Laura’s mother tries to control everything in the organization of an ideal party. Thus, news related to the death of Mr. Scott, a cart-driver and working-class neighbor, does not bother the family and is not regarded as a reason to cancel the party⁷. Only after it, Mrs. Sheridan asks Laura to bring a basket with leftovers to the Scotts in order to take care of the etiquette’s formalities.

At the same time, the contempt, both direct and indirect, of people from high society to the members of the working class is emphasized in the story, and its distinctiveness is enhanced by Laura’s perception of social class inequity. In the garden, a young woman talks with workingmen responsible for the marquee’s maintenance and admires their friendliness, manner of speaking, and intelligence. Thus, she expresses her disappointment in the system of social classes that restricts her ability to communicate with such nice people. “Why couldn’t she have workmen for her friends rather than the silly boys she danced with and who came to Sunday night supper?” Laura thinks.⁸ At the same time, Laura’s family finds her attachment to people from the working class ridiculous. Her siblings even believe that entering streets where the representatives of lower classes live may expose them to foul language and multiple diseases⁹.

Throughout the whole story, Laura serves as the author’s attempt to represent a huge difference between social classes. A young girl tries to express compassion to working-class people as to equals, however, she constantly faces a lack of understanding from her family and has to behave in accordance with her status. For example, Laura asks Jose how to stop the tea party after she got aware of Mr. Scott’s death. In turn, Jose states that it is absurd to change their plans due to an impoverished working family. Laura conforms, however, later, when she sees Mr. Scott’s body, she realized all unfairness of the social class system as all people are equal for the death.

To conclude, Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party” is a short though a thoughtful and wise story that makes readers reflect on highly essential social issues. It addresses rigid class distinctions, inequality, and biased attitude of high-class society toward lower-class workers. At the same time, the author emphasizes the existence of humanity and good nature that is above social prejudice through Laura, who starts to realize the senselessness of class division.

Analysis: Pygmalion

Pygmalion is a world-famous play written by an Irish critic and playwright George Bernard Shaw, that was presented to the public for the first time in 1913. Based on ancient Greek mythology that addresses the love of Pygmalion to a sculpture he created, the play tells the story of a professor of phonetics Henry Higgins who makes a bet with his friend that he will transform Eliza Doolittle, a cockney speaking flower girl, into well-spoken and poised as a duchess lady to convince the high society of London. “Yes: in six months—in three if she has a good ear and a quick tongue—I’ll take her anywhere and pass her off as anything,” he claims.¹⁰ In general, this outstanding play helps understand the peculiar features of life during the Victorian era as it addresses many of its essential elements.

First of all, this period was characterized by rigid social hierarchy and social class distinctions enforced by proper behavior, manners, and unwritten codes of ethics. In particular, these distinctions were more obvious between poor and rich people. That is why Eliza would never be able to convince the high society that she is an aristocrat talking cockney dialect traditional for London’s working class. In general, language plays a highly essential role in class distinctions, and in Pygmalion, there is a direct connection between language and a person’s place in the social hierarchy. For instance, as a professor of phonetics, Higgins may effortlessly guess people’s origin on the basis of their dialect, accent, and particular slang’s use¹¹. The importance of language for social classes in the Victorian era was so strong that in the play, Eliza makes noble people believe in her upper-class background mainly through proper English.

At the beginning of the 20th century, general appearance formed social identity as well. In other words, it signaled social class and differentiated people, especially rich and poor individuals. Moreover, in the play, Pickering states that according to noble people, a person’s appearance displays his or her character and identity as style comes naturally in accordance with a social position¹². Similar to language which defined status, clothing and physical appearance served as an indicator of belonging to a particular society while genuine personality was underestimated. That is why Eliza Doolittle successfully convinces noblemen by changing not only her language but appearance as well.

Finally, the author addresses the woman’s role in the Victorian era, disturbing standards, and unrealistic expectations of society concerning femininity and an ideal lady. In the same way as Pygmalion created a sculpture in the belief that real women cannot be ideal, Higgins molds Eliza transforming her into an ideal lady of her time with appropriate language, manners, and appearance. In addition, in relation to femininity, it is obvious as well that at the beginning of the 20th century, women’s identity was ignored while only external social attributes were considered. Thus, Eliza is disciplined, taught, and coach to play the role of an aristocrat and pretend to be another socially acceptable woman. In addition, the play demonstrates women’s restrictions of the Victorian era and a lack of choice for them. For example, when the play finishes, Eliza has several choices, including living with Higgins or her father or marrying Freddy. Any variant presupposes socially approved dependence from men and highly limited freedom for women.

Pygmalion, an outstanding work of George Bernard Shaw, addresses multiple aspects of English society that existed at the beginning of the 20th century. The transformation of a poor flower girl into an ideal lady with exquisite manners, proper language, and noble appearance reflects the significance of social classes and their attributes, social divisions, and roles in the Victorian era. The author creates a vivid atmosphere and presents his own vision of multiple social issues of his time.

Comparison of Works

It goes without saying that all three works have multiple differences. First of all, they are from different genres – the novel, a short story, and the play. Their authors are from different historical periods and describe various times – while Shaw and Mansfield represent European literature and realism, putting their narration at the beginning of the 20th century, Hamid is a modern Eastern writer from another cultural background with a novel that is set in the imaginary future. However, there are probably more similarities of these works than differences in relation to the themes they address.

First of all, all works address a highly disturbing issue of social class distinctions and inequities. In Exit West, people are divided into those who control migration and refugees who constantly face negative attitudes, violence, and discrimination, having to fight for their civil rights. “The Garden Party” depicts rigid class division that limits people’s ability to interact with each other. In addition, similar to Exit West, “The Garden Party” addresses the negative attitude of people from more privileged classes toward the less privileged representatives of impoverished lower classes. In Pygmalion, social classes have particular distinctive attributes, including language, behavior, and appearance, that define people’s status.

Another essential concept that is reflected in all works is the conflict between expectations and reality. To be precise, they describe how social roles and social expectations differ from genuine nature, people’s wishes, and life in general. Thus, in Exit West, this conflict is expressed through Nadia, whose nature is against religious rules she follows nominally. In “The Garden Party,” the world of high-class society where people value status and social attributes does not correspond to the reality where other people live and die. In Pygmalion, Shaw addresses the expediency of appearance, unrealistic standards and expectations, and social class division. In his play, he wants to show that the person’s character, identity, and nature are more important in comparison with external attributes that may even be changed, playing a role, to convince the public.

Concerning the language, in all works it may be regarded as exquisite. All authors use multiple stylistic figures in order to create vivid images and involve readers into the narration. At the same time, the peculiar features of every work are different – thus, Hamid applies detailed descriptions, continuous narration in considerably long sentences, metaphors, and comparisons for readers’ imagination (“He had, as he often did, an amused expression in his bright eyes, not mocking, but as though he saw the humor in things, and this in turn amused her and made her warm to him./ helicopters filled the sky like birds startled by a gunshot, or by the blow of an axe at the base of their tree”).¹³ In turn, in Shaw’s play, metaphors and comparisons are used to represent the power of language and submerge the audience in the work’s historical period (“the bravado of genteel poverty/ he contemplates the river and the flowers in Battersea Park on the opposite bank as if they were a frozen dessert”).¹⁴ Finally, Mansfield uses multiple rhetorical questions and explanations not only to present the way how the main heroine thinks but to communicate with readers as well making them the participants of the story (“But the air! If you stopped to notice, was the air always like this?”).¹⁵

References

Hamid, Mohsin. “Exit West.” n.d. Web.

Mansfield, Katherine. “The Garden Party.”n.d. Web.

Preston, Alex. “Mohsin Hamid: ‘It’s important not to live one’s life gazing towards the future’.” The Guardian. n.d. Web.

Shaw, George Bernard. “Pygmalion.”n.d. Web.

Footnotes

1. Alex Preston, “Mohsin Hamid: ‘It’s important not to live one’s life gazing towards the future’,” The Guardian. n.d. Web.
2. Mohsin Hamid, “Exit West,” n.d. Web.
3. Mohsin Hamid, “Exit West,” n.d. Web.
4. Mohsin Hamid, “Exit West,” n.d. Web.
5. Mohsin Hamid, “Exit West,” n.d. Web.
6. Katherine Mansfield, “The Garden Party,” n.d. Web.
7. Katherine Mansfield, “The Garden Party,” n.d. Web.
8. Katherine Mansfield, “The Garden Party,” n.d. Web.
9. Katherine Mansfield, “The Garden Party,” n.d. Web.
10. George Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion,” n.d. Web.
11. George Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion,” n.d. Web.
12. George Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion,” n.d. Web.
13. Mohsin Hamid, “Exit West,” n.d. Web.
14. George Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion,” n.d. Web.
15. Katherine Mansfield, “The Garden Party,” n.d. Web.