Could the Loneliness that Sepha feels be due to the fact that in America he has completely removed himself from anything that reminds him of his homeland?
Is this a story of immigration or displacement?
Is race an underlying factor in the stagnation Sepha is experiencing in America?
1) Anyone who flees their country not because they want too, but because of war and dangerous conditions would always miss home and have a hard time adjusting in their new environment. Sepha had no friends coming to DC and DC is also very much different from Ethiopia so of course there wasn't much reminding him of home and that warm feeling of home.
ReplyDelete2) In a sense this can be both displacement and immigration. Immigration is triggered by a desire for a better life and obviously Sepha's life would be hell had he stayed in Ethiopia, moving away seemed to be his only choice for survival. But being here he felt displaced and missed home, even though he couldn't go back.
3) Race and racism was always and still is a problem in America so it's definitely a big factor in Sepha's road to assimilation. Even as he started to make friends with his neighbors, an event of racial mishaps set him back and made it harder for him to make DC his home.
The more narratives we've been experiencing in class - specifically in the chronological order of immigration history- the more these works present the challenges that immigration plays on identity.
ReplyDeleteHistorically, opportunity for an immigrant, although generally hopeful to start a "new life", has changed depending on the state of the U.S., it's relation to industry, society, or even it's relation to the rest of the world.
In the novel, Brooklyn, Eilis' struggles revolve around the growing pains of relationships, family, and exploring new frontiers, but the norms or demands of American societal standards never really work against her.
In contrast, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears depicts the sorrowful remnants of American and African political history, and it's on-going effects on their current citizens. And, these factors play a large role in Sepha recognizing his own identity, all the while witnessing the facade of the "American dream" that many of the novel's characters seem to struggle in believing. Ultimately, I do believe that displacement is a central theme of the novel. Sepha regards the dispersion of a distitute community, as gentrification invades Logan Circle. There are a number of ways to analyze the connections between the residents of Logan Circle and Sepha; in considering the unjustified disparity both undergo, it is apparent that their countries' failing to provide their basic of needs has much to do with a surface view of race and social status. However, The Beautiful Things... presents an outsider, who is "stuck between two worlds" but is, nonetheless, excluded from both worlds based on cultural differences. The novel presents the existence of fear-induced discrimination in the United States, and the consequences that segregate rather than uniting through deeper understanding. Dinaw Mengestu doesn't present solutions, but maybe offers a perspective of ourselves, living within the stratified structures of society.
1) the book mentions that Stephanos is from Africa, specifically Ethiopia. He was feeling alone because he misses his country back in Ethiopia and also his mother and brother. He was frozen in time thinking about his country. It's normal that he feels alone the majority of the time.His little grocery store didn't have a lot of customers and his only two friends occasionally visit him. Everyday he was alone most the time in his grocery thinking about his country and the big desire he has to see his family back. Everything was happening in a different world, in the area of Longan Circle in Washington DC.
ReplyDelete2) Stephanos was looking for a better life for that reason he fled to his country's seventeen years earlier. He was an immigrant because he took the decision of leaving however if we think about his emotional status we can say that Stephanos was facing a crisis of displacement living in the United States.The book mentions he had a map of Africa pointing to Ethiopia in his store showing that he is not leaving the roots of his country. He is keeping the culture and the same lifestyle as in Ethiopia living in Washington. He is in America between two words Ethiopia and America causing him trouble to have a sense of placement in the United States.
3)Racism is a big problem in America. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears also display this difficulty throughout the novel. Stephanos fled his country looking for a better life quality, now in Washington, Longan Circle. He felt isolated in America for the division that he was facing between Ethiopia and America. Stephanos was looking for the "American Dream" but even opening his little grocery store was not a easy task for the displacement he was facing. Gentrification was not helping him to cultivate his little grocery in Logan Circle, even his encounters with other people in the neighborhood do not help him to maintain himself stable to do something different in his personal and social life.
1. I am NOT from another country, but I am (essentially--by virtue of who raised me) first generation American, and I know that a deep connection to one's cultural heritage was/is of incredible importance to my family. The abjuration of his heritage seems to profoundly affect his person. He's in that liminal space between here and there, but acculturation isn't working for him. He has too many coinciding cleavages to fully assimilate. Also, he's here but not here by virtue of his otherness--not only as a black man in America, but as an African in the black community. It's a stranglehold on his last grips on both his Ethiopianness and his Americanness.
ReplyDelete2. Yes, Sepha was displaced--really cruelly--but the narrative to me--with all its knocks at gentrification and the invisible-to-white-people castes in place in our society make it read more as an immigrant narrative. He acknowledges that he's never going back to AA, and why that is, but that's not the driving factor in the theme of the story--it's his part in shaping a community and how he carves out an existence in a place that isn't welcoming to him, and how he can maintain his past without dwelling there.
3. I don't think race is an UNDERLYING factor, I think it's one of the LARGEST factors. He is OTHER in a community already othered. He is never allowed to be "black." He is required because of his birth to be "Black." His closest friends are required to be "Black." There is an exterior pressure weighing on him to live at some level of Africanness that he doesn't achieve--or maybe even want to achieve.
Sepha’s loneliness can be due to him secluding himself from his original identity of an Ethiopian and also his new identity as an American. The way he secludes himself from his Ethiopian identity is by moving out of his uncle’s apartment, and also keeping minimal contact with his mother. Also, the reason to this can be due to Sepha’s father being killed because of him and deep inside Sepha blames himself for his father’s death. Therefore, being close to “Ethiopian elements,” reminds him of that tragedy. Moreover, he does not completely assimilate with the American identity, as he does not fit in. This is viewed through his relationship with a white woman, and this relationship is a moment of realization for him to feel as if he’s not an American and will never be. Therefore, Sepha’s isolation is due to various challenges that he faces throughout his lifetimes and it comes to a point where he doesn’t identify himself as any, neither an Ethiopian nor an American. Therefore, Sepha’s immigration becomes a reason for his displacement, as he has nowhere to find peace at. He escapes Ethiopia, to actually escape his inner demons. However, what he doesn't know is that coming to America will actually make new demons follow him. Race plays a role; Sepha begins to see the true colors of race when he comes to America. This eventually adds up to Sepha feeling displaced in America, as what he experienced back home was not really racism but governmental discrimination. However, understanding race contributed to Sepha becoming displaced from both identities.
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