My Interpretation of 2 short stories from Multicultural Literature

"Home..sickness" 

Page 91, by Kossi Komla-Ebri

“Ah Italy! To think that in Italy I wanted so much to go home! Now I feel like a tenant in two countries: sometimes I’m happy for that, sometimes I feel divided, a little unbalanced, as if a part of me remained there, and yet I know that there I would have still suffered from “mal di Africa” (nostalgia for exotic life they had in Africa)”

This story is about Kossi’s stay in Italy and her integration back into the African culture. Her first impressions of Italy was that it was a place where” everyone must think of himself, end of story.” It was cold and unwelcoming. Her efforts at integration were admirable, and she worked hard and learned the trade of sewing. But upon her return to Africa, things had changed. Her experiences had changed her as a person (she could no longer tolerate life without commodities such as heat and running water), and time had changed things back at home in Africa (most of her friends were married and had multiple babies). She moves to the city and has a successful career as a seamstress, but still has nostalgia for Italian life. I imagine that life would be much different for her had she never gotten the opportunity to travel to Europe, even though most of her time there was spent completing domestic chores.

This story is applicable to our experiences as travelers. Though it won’t be to the same extent that Kossi experienced this phenomenon, when we return home, things will be different. Italy has changed us, and time has changed conditions at home. Though I am excited to go home and see people and return to life in Seattle, I am nervous to integrate back into American culture. I know that I will experience that same nostalgia for Italy experienced by Kossi.

"M" 

P 114 by Ron Kubati

“The first thing I see when I wake up is the window. It shows me which room I’m in, and consequently the kind of world waiting for me outside. It tells me where and therefore who I am.”

To be honest, this story confused me quite a bit. Ron begins by discussing how where he is allows him to understand which role he is playing, which Ron he is being. Then he vividly discusses the Metro, how it is a small world beneath the city, how every type of person is present down there. Every stop looks the same underground, but above they vary greatly. He then talks about how children, when fed up with their family, often assume they were adopted and never told of it.  “The claim to another origin is the optimistic rejection of fundamental discomfort.” I don’t really see the parallel between these three ideas, but I’m curious to see if any of my classmates chose this story and what they thought of it.