Magical Realism as a Politics of Deterritorialization in Mohsin Hamid's Exit West

Abstract

This thesis discusses the deterritorialization delivered within magical realism as its tool in Exit West. The novel takes setting in separated different locations around the world including Mykonos, London, and California. The story revolves around the refugee problem faced by Saeed and Nadia as the main characters due to the identity conflict happened in their town, as a result they are forced to flee their home land through the supernatural door in order to get a decent life in the other hemisphere. Having such characteristic of magical realism, this research applies Faris’ five key elements of magical realism in approaching these elements served in the novel as well as its function in deterritorializing the main characters cultural practices from the local territory. The goal of this study is to reveal the construction of deterritorialization served in the novel in order to get the better understanding of the ideological context behind the creation of the novel. This research finds that the author uses magical realism narrative to negotiate his idea towards the dominant discourse of territorial border by deterritorializing the main characters cultural practice as the spirit of postmodernism.