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Exit West is primarily a book about people immigrating to new countries as refugees. The immigration process is different than the one now, as it is controlled by the appearance of doors that connect countries, which are completely random. The two characters the novel follows find themselves leaving their home country for somewhere they do not have to worry about their life every minute. Yet, them moving countries brings up other issues, such as language barriers. In Rome we experienced this first hand. While in the book this does not come across explicitly, it is implicit in the way that the people who speak the same language or at least ones that are similar enough to be mutually intelligible stuck together wherever they were. This is particularly evident in Saeed, as he remains with his countrymen when he can find them, trying to keep a connection to his place of birth and childhood. This is more easily understood after Rome. We had trouble communicating, as none of us spoke Italian, which at least for me, created a need to travel with at least one other person who could understand me. On the other hand, travelling is exciting in and of itself, giving me new experiences that would not be possible if I just stayed at home. I am somewhat independent and travelling in a group, even of a few people can at times be hindersome depending on what everyone wants to see. In that case I can see Nadia’s point of view. She is independent and tries to find different communities to become a part of in each new place she and Saeed travel to, rather than just finding fellows from their own country. She still manages to find languages that are intelligible but finds ways to fit in that Saeed never truly understands. These two ways of dealing with being somewhere new are emphasized by Saeed and Nadia’s argument on page 152.

“‘Why do 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.’

‘You haven’t met them.’”

This argument happens in London after Saeed finds some people from their home country and wants to move in with them rather than living in their own room in a house that is not with people from their country. This gives a clear distinction between the two personalities. However, going to Rome emphasized that the two characters of Nadia and Saeed represent the two main ways people react to switching countries, especially to ones where the main language is not their native one.

Obviously, the situation that caused these two characters to leave was incredibly different than our own, but some of the same principles apply. Saeed and Nadia are refugees fleeing a country where it has become too dangerous for them to live a good life. We are merely travelers and thus privileged in what we are doing. However, some of their experiences are comparable, particularly with the idea of home and language incompatibility. All of us were ready to go home by the end of the weekend because of how little sleep we had gotten, but also because of how hot and tiring the weekend was, even though it was incredibly fun as well. The language incompatibility added to that, because we were happy to come back to somewhere we would be able to understand and be understood easily.

Both Saeed and Nadia brought only small bags with them through the doors because they could not successfully leave if they had more than that. This limited what they could take that would remind them of the home they had left. This, coupled with the difference in personalities is what resulted in their two different experiences with new countries. Saeed wanted to remember his country and family, as he had a good life when he was younger, while Nadia was okay with finding a new life for herself somewhere else. The memories that they each individually made in their home country affected how much they wanted to be connected to it later. Since Nadia had already been living on her own and had a huge fight with her family, she was more adjusted to change and less likely to think that her country should be super connected to her. Saeed had a good life and had been living with his parents, which meant he had a harder time adjusting to the change. While Exit West deals with refugees, the ideas of being in a new place where you are different than anybody else can be applied to various other situations and can be understood by almost anyone who has travelled to a country where they don’t speak the language.