Homeland Elegies: A Novel

Perhaps the most prominent symbol in the novel, America is not an invented symbol, but a traditional one: It has long represented hope and success for those wishing to find them. However, Homeland Elegies suggests that this symbol might be interpreted incorrectly.

To Sikander, America is to be praised as it symbolizes the potential to become a new person. What he fails to see is that becoming a “true” American means sacrificing who he is. He turns his back on his family and faith in order to become America’s ideal man—and ultimately fails, proving that the American Dream can lead to ruin as much as it can success (if not more).

To immigrants, America represents the power to change one’s life. Yet in many cases, America changes lives for the worse, as proven by Ayad’s history lesson in Chapter 2 regarding American involvement in the Middle East. Ayad’s Pakistani relatives also have a different take on America: In the Middle East, America symbolizes a deadly power that manipulates and bullies to get what it wants, which explains their support of Al Qaeda’s retaliation on September 11th. Latif, by all definitions an upstanding American in his morals and values, cannot stomach the country’s actions and instead turns to terrorism (and is not recognized as an American citizen by the media). In this regard, the traditional interpretation of America as a symbol fails.