When the agent opens the door, Nadia is struck by its darkness. When we think of darkness, we usually think about the color black which often means mystery, power, and fear. This door is one of the main elements that build up this novel, as it symbolizes the theme of migration: never being quite sure what to expect next. The author uses the door as a synecdoche to describe several possibilities such as work opportunities, a better education, or escape from death and destruction. In Nadia and Saeed’s case, it is the latter one. When Nadia walks toward the door, she feels a sense of fear because she knows that once she goes through it, she will be unable to control the outcome. This scene is also a minor climax to the novel because it is “like a beginning and an end”. This paradox explains that when people migrate to start a new life, they are abandoning their previous lives, friends, and relatives. Overall, the author is attempting to show how Nadia and Saeed are filled with both optimism and fear; the door could be the candle in the darkness, or it could be the fire that destroys their existence.

This quote relates to the idea that when people have similarities they have a sense of belonging and can relate to one another even with complete strangers. The common factor between everyone coming through the doors, is the fact that they are all from different places. They are all foreign and that makes them similar. At the camp, in Mykonos there are all leaving from something or someone. The sense of leaving with no insurance of what could happen through the doors is what everyone can relate to.