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Currency and Border Crossings: The Role
of  Social Class in Exit West and Girl at War

Erin McKee, Ball State University

Girl at WarGirl at War by Sara Nović and  by Sara Nović and Exit WestExit West  
by Mohsin Hamid both tell the stories by Mohsin Hamid both tell the stories 
of characters in war-torn countries that of characters in war-torn countries that 
are trying to survive day by day. In are trying to survive day by day. In 
these novels, there are many physical these novels, there are many physical 
and intangible borders that impact the and intangible borders that impact the 
main characters’ lives in significant main characters’ lives in significant 
ways. Ana Jurić from ways. Ana Jurić from Girl at WarGirl at War is a  is a 
Croatian girl from the former Yugoslavia Croatian girl from the former Yugoslavia 
who lives in poverty in the midst of a who lives in poverty in the midst of a 
civil war at just 10 years old. civil war at just 10 years old. Exit WestExit West  
follows young, working-class couple follows young, working-class couple 
Saeed and Nadia from an unspecified Saeed and Nadia from an unspecified 
country who are experiencing a violent country who are experiencing a violent 
war within the streets of their city while war within the streets of their city while 
also trying to navigate their forming also trying to navigate their forming 
romantic relationship. Although romantic relationship. Although Exit Exit 
WestWest differs significantly from  differs significantly from Girl at WarGirl at War  
due to its elements of magical realism, due to its elements of magical realism, 
the two novels are very similar in that the two novels are very similar in that 
they both show that money can be used they both show that money can be used 
to cross borders. Class borders and the to cross borders. Class borders and the 
importance of money to go from one importance of money to go from one 
place to another play a key role in these place to another play a key role in these 

novels and in the main characters’ novels and in the main characters’ 
lives. A lack of money also creates a lives. A lack of money also creates a 
border for these characters in many border for these characters in many 
ways. In addition, Ana, Saeed, and Nadia ways. In addition, Ana, Saeed, and Nadia 
are all moving westward throughout are all moving westward throughout 
their journeys out of their countries; their journeys out of their countries; 
borders become more restrictive and borders become more restrictive and 
more dependent on money to cross. more dependent on money to cross. 
This paper will focus on comparing the This paper will focus on comparing the 
experiences of Ana Jurić from experiences of Ana Jurić from Girl at WarGirl at War  
and Saeed and Nadia from and Saeed and Nadia from Exit WestExit West and  and 
how these characters use money to cross how these characters use money to cross 
borders and escape the traumatic living borders and escape the traumatic living 
conditions of their home countries, how conditions of their home countries, how 
the lack of money impacts their lives the lack of money impacts their lives 
and ability to cross borders, and the and ability to cross borders, and the 
connection between the western world connection between the western world 
and the importance of money in border and the importance of money in border 
crossings. Furthermore, crossings. Furthermore, Girl at WarGirl at War and  and 
Exit WestExit West both suggest that resources and  both suggest that resources and 
opportunities should be more accessible opportunities should be more accessible 
to everyone, not just the affluent, and to everyone, not just the affluent, and 
that wealth distribution would secure that wealth distribution would secure 
the well-being of the working class. the well-being of the working class. 



 Currency is an essential passageway through which to cross everyday borders, and 
social class is one of  the most substantial borders between groups of  people in our society. 
Those with money have access to the tools necessary to live a fruitful and happy life, 
whereas those with less money do not have as much access and live in a cutthroat world in 
which they must work very hard to survive. For people seeking a better life outside of  their 
country, this is especially true. Girl at War by Sara Nović and Exit West by Mohsin Hamid are 
two texts that exemplify how social class impacts one’s ability to migrate and have access to 
basic needs. The novel Girl at War follows Ana Jurić, a Croatian girl from Zagreb, who lives 
through the trauma of  civil war in former Yugoslavia at just 10 years old. Eventually, Ana 
immigrates to America after her parents are killed, but faces barriers along the way. There are 
many instances where money is needed to cross a border, whether it’s a border of  hunger or 
a physical border. 
 Likewise, the characters in Exit West also struggle with class borders. The novel 
follows young, working-class couple Saeed and Nadia from an unknown country, who are 
experiencing a violent war within the streets of  their city while also trying to navigate their 
forming romantic relationship. Unlike Girl at War, Exit West contains elements of  magical 
realism; in Saeed and Nadia’s world there are magical, one-way doors that allow for a person 
to teleport to a distant place in the world. Although this world has magical elements, there 
are still borders for marginalized groups to gain access to these doors to escape war torn 
areas. 
 These novels tell very different stories, but they are similar because both display how 
currency plays a role in immigration and the necessity of  immigration reform to ensure that 
impoverished people can migrate out of  countries on the brink of  disaster or war. The main 
characters in Exit West and Girl at War both face borders to seeking refuge in other countries 
due to their financial circumstances and must find alternative and often illegal methods of  
escaping. After comparing the experiences of  the characters in Exit West and Girl at War, it is 
easy to see that social class is one of  the largest determining factors in one’s ability to cross a 
border.
 One of  the first encounters with class borders in Nović’s Girl at War is the struggle of  
Ana’s family to gain access to basic necessities. Ana describes how her parents cannot afford 
much and often go hungry: 

My mother sent me to the butcher with a wad of  new dinar and instructions to buy 
a bag of  bones, and I watched as she made soup from the flavor of  meat. She ladled 
out ever-shrinking portions, sometimes skipping meals completely herself  ...After 
dinner I was never full. (Nović 56)

Ana also wears hand-me-down clothing from her neighbors because they cannot afford 

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anything else. This is an example of  how currency is used to cross a border: money pays 
for food, clothing, sanitary products, and much more. When one cannot afford such items 
due to their financial circumstances, it not only puts a strain on their physical health, but 
also their mental health and motivation. If  someone goes hungry or is unable to clothe and 
clean themselves, this puts a border between them and their health, which impacts their 
ability to keep working and afford basic necessities, creating a vicious cycle that is difficult to 
overcome. 
 As her family grapples with the problem of  putting food on the table, there is also 
the matter of  Ana’s younger sister Rahela becoming very ill; the family must send her to 
America through a charity called MediMission as they struggle to get medical care in their 
own country. Although the main reason the Jurić family might not have access to resources 
such as food, clothing, and healthcare is the civil war that tore through their city, the border 
of  class is still an issue. If  Ana’s family had more money, they likely would have been able 
to get out of  Yugoslavia and seek refuge in another country. However, Ana’s father applied 
for visas to America, but they were unfortunately denied. This is also a demonstration of  
how there needs to be serious immigration reform in many nations to ensure that there 
are fair opportunities for everyone to seek a better life in a different country. If  this does 
not happen, social class will continue to be a border for impoverished people who need to 
immigrate. 
 Ana’s family traveled from their home in Zagreb to Sarajevo in order to deliver Rahela 
to MediMission. Since the Jurić family is denied access to visas to travel with Rahela to 
America, she is separated from her loved ones and must stay with a foster family. On their 
trip back to Zagreb, Ana’s family is stopped by some Serbian soldiers. During this stop, Ana’s 
parents are killed by these men. It is never revealed why their visas were denied, but again it 
begs the question of, if  they had more money, would they have been granted access to visas 
and thus to safety? If  there were immigration policies in place in America to help refugees, 
would things have turned out differently? Would the Jurić family have been able to go on 
and live better lives in America? In her essay “Borders of  Class: Migration and Citizenship 
in the Capitalist State”, author Lea Ypi states, “[T]he inconveniences of  assembling 
paperwork, waiting for a response, living with enormous uncertainty, and all of  the other 
familiar troubles associated with immigration bureaucracy are unevenly distributed across 
the immigrant population” (143). Ana’s family is just one example of  those impacted by the 
discriminatory practices of  immigration systems that favor wealthy immigrants over poor 
ones. A significant problem in Girl at War is being unable to leave despite a desperate need 
to, but as Ypi states, borders are easy to cross for some, and impossible for others (142). 
Those who do not have as much money face more borders when trying to migrate, while 

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wealthy immigrants have an easier and quicker visa processing procedure. 
 As the war continues around them, Petar, Ana’s godfather, decides it would be best 
for Ana to go live in America with the foster parents that had taken in Rahela. However, the 
border of  class stands in the way of  Ana getting a better life for herself. All the legal routes 
through which Ana could go to America are unavailable: 

Petar contacted MediMission, who offered a terse response that family reunification 
cases were not within the scope of  their work ...Then he considered refugee status, 
but there wasn’t an American embassy in Croatia yet. The consulate in Belgrade was 
running a looping voice mail that apologized for the wait time and said, due to the 
high volume of  inquiries, they were working through a backlog of  applications at this 
time. (Nović 266-267)

Again, if  Ana’s family had more money, perhaps they would have been able to get visas 
earlier or might have connections to get the family to safety. However, crossing this financial 
border was practically impossible, and not crossing the border could be a matter of  life and 
death. Therefore, legal migration routes were no longer on the table. However, these illegal 
routes still cost money, demonstrating how it is necessary to have money in order to cross 
many types of  borders.
 One of  the illegal routes that Petar can afford to take is to buy fake documents for 
Ana. Petar’s friend helps make a fake American visa and Yugoslavian passport for Ana, since 
hers was lost. Petar then risks his life to take Ana to Otočac to meet with a United Nations 
Peacekeeper, who is set to take her to the airport in Frankfurt, Germany. On the trip to 
Otočac, Petar gives Ana an envelope with dinar, a currency used in former Yugoslavia, and 
tells her: “You’ll find that powerful men can often be persuaded. At least they can here. I 
don’t know about America” (Nović 273). Currency plays a huge role in this scene because 
bribery is a valid way to go from one side of  a border to another. Wealth equals power, and 
wealth inequality has allowed the rich to seize opportunities, sometimes through bribery, 
while the impoverished do not have that option. There are many takeaways from Girl at 
War, but most significant is how class borders and wealth inequality impact quality of  life, 
immigration, and other notable opportunities. 
 Much like in Girl at War, Hamid’s Exit West depicts the same phenomenon of  people 
coming to the realization that a war is worsening and there’s a desperate need to leave, but 
not everyone has access to the resources necessary to make their escape. The beauty of  
Exit West is its unconventional way to get out of  a country; however, much like in the non-
magical world, access is denied to marginalized groups of  people. There are magical one-way 
doors to get to better places, but the best places that everyone wants to go to are typically 
heavily guarded once the knowledge of  their destinations has spread. According to Ypi, 

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“Borders have always been (and will continue to be) open for some and closed for others. 
They are open if  you are white, educated, and middle and upper class; they are closed (or 
much less open) if  you are not” (142). Saeed and Nadia face many borders to migrate seeing 
that they are not wealthy and not white. 
 As Saeed and Nadia start forming their romantic relationship, they notice that people 
are disappearing around them at work: 

At Saeed’s office work was slow even though three of  his fellow employees had 
stopped showing up ...visas, which had long been near-impossible, were now truly 
impossible for non-wealthy people to secure, and journeys on passenger planes and 
ships were therefore out of  the question ...At Nadia’s workplace it was much the 
same, with the added intrigue that came from her boss and her boss’s boss being 
among those rumored to have fled abroad. (Hamid 52-53)

Much like in Girl at War, the characters in Exit West notice that the desire to leave the 
country has heightened. Those who have more money, such as the C-level executives at 
Nadia’s workplace, have been able to make their way out of  the country, but many working-
class citizens applying for visas are unable to secure them due to their social class. In her 
essay, “Borders of  Class: Migration and Citizenship in the Capitalist State,” Ypi talks about 
the advantages that wealthy immigrants have over non-wealthy ones:

[U]nder the U.K.’s Tier (Investor) visa program, those with the ability to invest two 
million pounds in the United Kingdom can come and stay in the country for more 
than three years, and those who invest ten million pounds may apply for indefinite 
leave to remain after only two years of  residence (compared to five years for those 
who have reason to naturalize because of  family ties). (Ypi 143)

Again, visas are not accessible to those seeking refuge unless they are of  a higher social class. 
This issue shows how non-wealthy immigrants face more borders because immigrants are 
often only seen as valuable if  they have something to offer the host country, such as money 
or labor. 
  Saeed and Nadia get desperate in their search for ways to exit their city. The couple 
risk their lives to meet a man who called himself  an agent and claims to be able to find 
doorways that are not already occupied by militants. He requires payment for his services, 
which resembles how bribery functions as a passageway much like in Girl at War. While 
they wait for the agent to contact them, Saeed and Nadia continue to struggle in their living 
conditions. They no longer have electricity in their building and have to use the bathroom 
outside. This is another example of  how there are borders to gain access to basic resources 
for those with less money. Saeed and Nadia meet the agent at a converted house, fearing 
for their lives, as the agent could have sold them out to militants. Much like how Petar has 

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to risk his life to get Ana out of  Croatia, Saeed and Nadia have to risk their lives in order to 
gain access to safe living conditions, while the wealthy bypass borders with relative ease. To 
Saeed and Nadia’s relief, they are able to get through the door and arrive on the Greek island 
of  Mykonos, yet they still face borders as poor immigrants trying to survive in a country they 
have never been to before. 
 As Saeed and Nadia continue to move west, they run into borders to receive help 
as struggling refugees. This is largely due to the fact that impoverished immigrants are not 
welcomed by the native people of  many places such as the United Kingdom. The couple 
travels through another door and arrives in an empty mansion in London. As they explore 
their surroundings, more people start to appear in the house through the door. However, 
when a housekeeper comes to the mansion and sees that it is occupied by people, she calls 
the police (Hamid 127). From then on, London natives and authorities are on a mission 
to remove migrants from the city. The instant response of  trying to rid the city of  poor 
migrants shows how much of  a distaste there is for immigrants in need. There is no 
response from the government showing empathy or asking how these people might need 
help. The impoverished immigrants are seen as a threat, especially since they are occupying 
a space owned by affluent people. No one stops to question why migrants were forced into 
this position to begin with. This puts a border between the migrants and their ability to have 
access to basic needs, resulting in the need to forage for resources.
 It is rumored that millions of  migrants have come into the city and occupied many 
empty homes and spaces. Although police show up to where Saeed and Nadia are staying, 
the couple remain there along with others who came through the magical door because 
there is nowhere else they can go, and London is a good place to search for food and other 
necessities. One night, when Saeed and Nadia are returning to the mansion, they find 
themselves up against an angry nativist mob that is intent on harming those they perceive as 
migrants. After the altercation, Nadia’s eye is swollen shut from the bruising and Saeed has a 
bloody, busted lip (Hamid 134). Three people die that night from rioters across the city, and 
soon the authorities cut electricity as an attack on the immigrants. Hamid begins to describe 
the border between the dark and light sides of  London. The affluent are on the light side 
and the impoverished immigrants are on the dark side without electricity (Hamid 141). Saeed 
and Nadia wonder what life is like in light London as the border between them and the 
wealthy grows wider. Garbage begins to pile up on their side of  the city and the trains keep 
running but do not make stops in dark London. This section of  Exit West depicts how poor 
immigrants are segregated and dehumanized because they are seeking help and resources. 
 Later, Saeed and Nadia find themselves in worker camps for migrants in which they 
do labor clearing terrain and building infrastructure, in exchange for housing (Hamid 169). 

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Saeed finds himself  working in a road crew, and he admires his foreman, a knowledgeable 
and experienced native man. He seems to tolerate migrants and Saeed believes the foreman 
likes him, but when Saeed decides to thank the foreman for everything he is doing for the 
migrants, the foreman says nothing (Hamid 179). In capitalist nations, one’s labor and wealth 
are the only things worthwhile, and the white, affluent people and politicians would rather 
blame poor, nonwhite immigrants for the drain on resources rather than taking responsibility 
for the wealth inequality taking place in their country. This does not excuse the xenophobia 
and bigotry of  nativists, but it shows how poor nativists have fallen victim to propaganda 
that is extremely harmful and only benefits the rich, who continue to exploit the labor of  
both natives and immigrants. For example, in her essay “Borders of  Class: Migration and 
Citizenship in the Capitalist State,” Ypi states:

Animosity will fall predominantly on those with lower skills and lower incomes who 
are more likely to make use of  a range of  such state-subsidized services. After all, 
Arab or Russian millionaires living in London typically visit private clinics, send their 
children to expensive private schools, and make no claims to, say, public housing. 
Thus, the kind of  competition that leads to resentment is typically between poor 
working-class natives and poor immigrants. (144)

The way in which Saeed’s coworker reacts to his comment depicts this resentment that Ypi 
describes. Although Saeed and other migrants are not responsible for the lack of  funding 
going into state-subsidized services, the blame is shifted to them in order to create a border 
between poor, working-class natives and poor immigrants. 
 Exit West was published in February of  2017, less than a year after the United 
Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Although there were many reasons why 
people might have voted to leave, conservative politicians advocated for the UK to have 
more control over immigration and borders. In her piece “Fences: A Brexit Diary,” Zadie 
Smith notes that when the class and age breakdown of  voters came out, there were many 
working-class citizens that identified with the populist party, which is for stricter borders and 
immigration policies (25). There is no doubt that tensions were high among immigrant and 
native populations around the time this novel was released. Although Exit West is fictional, it 
was inspired by real life borders. 
 In the book Selected Studies in International Migration and Immigrant Incorporation, there is 
a section titled “The Function of  Labour Immigration in Western European Capitalism” 
by Stephen Castles and Godula Kosack (21). This section contains discourse about how 
immigrants are a source of  labor for host countries to exploit and how Western European 
countries have used racism and nationalism to divide the working class:

...the employment of  immigrant workers has an important socio-political function 

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for capitalism: by creating a split between immigrant and indigenous workers along 
national and racial lines and offering better conditions and status to indigenous 
workers, it is possible to give large sections of  the working class the consciousness of  
a labour aristocracy. (Castles and Kosack 24)

Both the renowned German philosopher Karl Marx and the German revolutionary Friedrich 
Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto, which outlined the idea of  a labor aristocracy in their 
work (Brown and Fee 1248; Castles and Kosack 22). A labor aristocracy is when capitalists 
try to erode class consciousness by separating the values of  the working class. By giving 
some members of  the working class more privileges, it convinces the impoverished to align 
themselves with capitalist values (Castles and Kosack 23). By creating this border between 
members of  the working class, such as pitting nativists against immigrants, a corrupt system 
can flourish. In Exit West, it is important to consider this concept when examining why 
London nativists are so against poor immigrants coming into their country. They have been 
taught that these immigrants are a drain on their resources when in reality there are people 
who choose to hoard their wealth rather than share it, which is a far more insidious threat 
than people seeking refuge. 
 This concept of  creating a border between the working class can also be applied to 
Girl at War which is based on the events of  the Bosnian War (1992-1995) which caused 
the fracturing of  Yugoslavia. Although this war involved ethnic conflicts between Bosnian 
Muslims, Serbs, and Croats, the events that led up to the war involved class tensions that 
erupted following a destabilization of  their country. In the 1980s, Yugoslavia’s economy 
began to decline after the death of  the President of  the Socialist Federal Republic of  
Yugoslavia. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) offered to loan the country money; 
however, mandatory economic reforms were to be put in place in exchange. Nick Beams 
notes this in “IMF ‘Shock Therapy’ and the Recolonisation of  the Balkans”: 

The International Monetary Fund [then] took over economic policy, implementing 
a number of  all too familiar shock therapies: devaluation, a wage freeze, and price 
decontrol….As the economy contracted from this shock, revenues to the central 
government declined, triggering pressure from the IMF to raise taxes to balance the 
budget....These centrifugal forces began to tear apart at the federation, with the richer 
provinces of  Croatia and Slovenia objecting to being drained of  resources by the 
poorer provinces…Yugoslavia broke into pieces as ethnic and religious rivalries were 
reasserted in an attempt to control the rapidly shrinking pool of  resources. (10-11)

Girl at War and Exit West both depict the class tension that can occur when resources are 
withheld from people who need them and how fear mongering can lead to violence. Often 
conflicts like these appear to only involve ethnicity or immigration; however, they also often 

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also incorporate largely overlooked economic issues and class borders at play. 
 Unfortunately, borders like these are extremely normalized in the world. One’s wealth 
determines their value as a human being, and it is a hard concept to unlearn because of  
the borders of  class created in our society. In Exit West, Nadia even tells Saeed that she 
understands why the London nativists are frightened and frustrated:

“Imagine if  you lived here. And millions of  people from all over the world suddenly 
arrived.”
“Millions arrived in our country,” Saeed replied. “When there were wars nearby.” 
“That was different. Our country was poor. We didn’t feel we had as much to lose.” 
(Hamid 164) 

Nadia’s perspective in this conversation with Saeed displays how easy it is for someone to 
internalize this propaganda about immigrants. In Exit West, eventually immigrants in London 
are provided with accommodations. Although it was probably not the best solution nor was 
it ideal for Saeed and Nadia to live in worker camps, it was an opportunity for immigrants to 
seek refuge and form a life for themselves. The United Kingdom always had the resources to 
do this. However, it is very telling how the first reaction from nativists was to find a way to 
eliminate immigrant presence through whatever means necessary either through deportation 
or violence. Poor individuals are seen as a threat and drain on resources while affluent 
immigrants have value to a host country. This phenomenon is very dehumanizing, and puts 
unnecessary borders in place for people who are in desperate need of  help.
 Although the characters in Exit West and Girl at War go on to live better lives, class 
borders and their effects continue to impact the world. Money is like a ticket to cross 
borders, and without that ticket, basic necessities are difficult to access. The reality is that 
there are people looking for a better life who cannot get it because they do not have the 
money to migrate elsewhere. The border between rich and poor immigrants is one of  the 
biggest issues that Exit West and Girl at War both address. Unfortunately, anti-immigration 
advocacy by many far-right politicians has led to catastrophic consequences for poor 
immigrants. Without equal wealth distribution and immigration reform in many countries, 
like the United States and the United Kingdom, money will continue to be a border for 
immigrants to migrate somewhere they can make better lives for themselves. 

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Works Cited

Beams, Nick. “IMF ‘Shock Therapy’ and the Recolonisation of  the Balkans.” World Socialist 
Web Site, 17 April 1999, https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/04/imf-a17.html.

Brown, Theodore, and Elizabeth Fee. “Friedrich Engels: Businessman and Revolutionary.” 
American Journal of  Public Health vol. 93, no. 8, 2003, pp. 1248-1249. National Library of  
Medicine, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.93.8.1248.

Castles, Stephen, and Godula Kosack. “The Function of  Labour Immigration in Western 
European Capitalism.” Selected Studies in International Migration and Immigrant 
Incorporation, edited by Marco Martiniello and Jan Rath, University of  Amsterdam 
Press, 2010, pp. 21-44.

Hamid, Mohsin. Exit West. Penguin Random House, 2017. 

Nović, Sara. Girl at War. Penguin Random House, 2015. 

Smith, Zadie. “Fences: A Brexit Diary.” The New York Review, 18 August 2016, https://www.
nybooks.com/articles/2016/08/18/fences-brexit-diary/.

Ypi, Lea. “Borders of  Class: Migration and Citizenship in the Capitalist State.” Ethics & 
International Affairs, vol. 32, no. 2, 2018, pp. 141–152, https://doi.org/10.1017/
S0892679418000278.

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