Traversing the Interstices: The “Doors” in Exit West through the Lens of Homi Bhabha’s Third Space Theory

Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s “Third Space” theory, this article examines the imagery of “doors” in Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West. In the novel, “doors” serve as symbolic thresholds to the “Third Space”, thrusting the protagonists into a series of “interstitial” zones and forcing them into arduous cultural negotiation. The analysis of their divergent paths reveals that “hybridity” is not a harmonious fusion but a dynamic construction fraught with alienation and pain. The dissolution of their relationship proves that this identity reconstruction is a painful “rebirth” predicated on sacrifice. While illustrating Bhabha’s theory, the novel also provides a literary reflection on its abstraction through meticulous realistic depiction.