Danielle Itshaik
Response 4 of 5
Lagnado, Lucette. The Man in the Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family’s Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World (New York: Harper Perennial, 2007).
In her memoir “The Man in the Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family’s Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World” Lucette Lagnado describes her family’s experience immigrating from Cairo, Egypt to New York. Lagnado writes about being forced leaving Egypt in 1963 and from there moving to Paris temporarily before moving to the United States. This immigration to the United States was a big change from her family’s life in Egypt. Immigration to a new place is an already difficult adjustment, but do not feel at home and yearn to go back makes it even more difficult.
Similarly, my mom immigrated from Israel to New York when she was 20. At first, she came just to visit, but after meeting my father and getting married she decided to stay, even though most of her family lived in Israel. She often tells me how much she missed home the first few years after coming here, how she hated the food, and how different the environment and the people were here. What made her feel at home were other Israeli-Americans and their family’s living in Brooklyn. Being able to speak Hebrew with others, having access to Israeli foods and other details are what brought her country to America through the community. This story is similar to Lagnados in showing how important ethnic enclaves are in making one feel at home when they are thousands of miles away. In that sense, ethnic enclaves are invaluable for all immigrants whose hearts are still in the countries they left.
Questions:
- Do you think without ethnic enclaves that people who immigrate to the New York would eventually feel at home?
- Have you ever felt “not at home” somewhere where you’ve lived?
