Thresholds of Transformation: A Symbolic Exploration of War, Identity, and Space in Mohsin Hamid’s Of Windows and Doors

Abstract

This study explores the symbolic significance of spatial thresholds particularly windows and doors in Mohsin Hamid’s short story Of Windows and Doors (2016). Utilizing trauma theory as the primary analytical framework, the research investigates how these architectural elements reflect the protagonist’s internal states, including emotional rupture, displacement, and identity crisis. Through qualitative textual analysis, the study identifies how windows and doors function as more than mere physical structures; they emerge as metaphors for psychological boundaries, memory distortion, and moments of existential transition. Drawing on the theories of Cathy Caruth (1996) and Dominick LaCapra (2001), the analysis reveals how trauma disrupts narrative linearity and is instead encoded in recurring symbolic motifs. The findings suggest that these spatial markers serve as narrative instruments that dramatize the protagonist’s oscillation between paralysis and progression, forgetting and remembering. Ultimately, this thesis contributes to trauma and postcolonial literary studies by highlighting how Hamid’s minimalist narrative style in Of Windows and Doors (2016) uses spatial poetics to articulate the lingering effects of war and emotional dislocation in contemporary fiction.