contrast, Ibrahim’s understanding of ‘home’ is rooted in the perceived material advantages of any given relationship or location. At the end of the novel, he chooses to continue pursuing his goal of obtaining permanent residence in the west, even though Julie remains behind in his family home. Ibrahim’s apparently single-minded search for economic opportunity is hampered by racial and religious prejudices. Although this novel was published before the September 11 (2001) terror attacks in the U.S.A., it shows how such social stereotyping has long impacted on Arab and Muslim people, especially men.
Shurkri’s The Silent Minaret (2005), the subject of Chapter Three of this study, was published four years after The Pickup (2001) and portrays a world significantly altered by religious extremism and terrorism in the aftermath of the above-mentioned terror attacks.
The spread of such nefarious activities has made it significantly more difficult for migrants from under-developed nations to navigate the western world. Issa offers a particularly good illustration of this difficulty: a South African Indian with a Muslim name/heritage, he
experiences the full brunt of the racial hostility in his host country, the United Kingdom. His ability to redefine his understanding of home is complicated by his earlier involvement in the struggle against apartheid: his experience as an activist had alienated him from his family and friends, and left him with a heightened awareness of social injustices. Katinka, the novel's other migrant character, is shown to have a unique understanding of what it means to belong. At the end of apartheid, she experiences what she terms a 'stateless moment’ between the lowering of the old flag and raising of the new flag. This experience serves as a wake-up call for a need to reassess her understanding of ‘home’.
***
It is interesting to consider the characters’ different experiences based on gender. In both novels, it is the female characters – Julie in The Pickup, and Katinka in The Silent Minaret – who appear to adjust their understanding of home more successfully than their male counterparts. Both Julie and Katinka are shown to have an attitude of openness towards the 'other', an attitude that contributes to their success. At the end of The Pickup, Julie is shown to find a sense of belonging through an almost spiritual connection to the desert landscape of Ibrahim’s home. Her feeling of being at home is cemented by the community of women in which she is involved, demonstrating that new, meaningful connections can be
formed despite seemingly insurmountable differences (language, culture and religion). At the end of The Silent Minaret, Katinka has moved to a small Palestinian village to marry her boyfriend. Here, Katinka is able to live out her desire for inter-personal connection in a community that is united in a common purpose: resistance to the encroaching Israeli wall.
Both female characters find a sense of stability through newly imagined daily ritual: for Julie, this takes the form of her morning walk to the edge of the desert, while for Katinka – for whom ritual has always been important – there is the creative routine of teaching.
It is interesting to note that although the female characters in both novels are shown to be broad-minded and open to encounters, they both seek and find belonging in traditionally conservative communities. Julie's new home in the North African village, and Katinka's new home in the Palestinian village, are both in predominantly Muslim countries, which are stereotypically antagonistic towards women. That being said, both women demonstrate the ability to look beyond racial and cultural stereotypes, choosing to focus on familial,
emotional (or romantic) connections as a source of comfort and belonging. It is my opinion that both novels appear to suggest the ability of many women to adapt to experiences of isolation or disorientation more efficiently than their male counterparts. Studies have shown that migration tends to challenge traditional gender roles, empowering women by affording them greater economic opportunity in their host countries as compared with their original cultures (Jolly, 2005, and Piper, 2005). While it is tempting to go along with such findings, these need to be contextualised. It is my opinion that the ways in which women are traditionally conditioned to be more accommodating (in inter-personal relationships) than men may influence their ability to adjust with more ease to other cultural contexts.
In contrast, the male characters of the novels I have analysed – Ibrahim (The Pickup) and Issa (The Silent Minaret) – do not appear to redefine their understanding of home in a meaningful way. Although critics have provided some positive readings of each characters’
situation, neither novel offers a clear resolution to their migration stories. In my opinion, such a lack of closure makes it impossible to assume that either character has found a new, meaningful sense of belonging in the country of emigration. To start with Ibrahim: he chooses to continue his search for permanent residence in America and returns – at the end
of the novel – to a state of perpetual homelessness. Although it might be interpreted that Ibrahim has found belonging in a community of immigrants (Jacobs 2016:277), it is my opinion that such a tenuous community is not capable of providing him with the emotional and financial stability he is shown to associate with ‘home’.
The other male character I have analysed, Issa (The Silent Minaret) also does not appear to find emotional stability. He remains missing at the end of the novel and is shown to have experienced a high degree of anger and alienation prior to his disappearance. These feelings are the direct result of his increased awareness of the similarities between the treatment of Arab immigrants by western nations and the racial segregation he experienced under apartheid in South Africa. It is this awareness that makes it impossible for Issa to feel at home in London. The novel suggests that Issa’s disappearance could be the result of his religious radicalisation or the unfortunate consequence of his continued isolation in the city.
Some critics (Pucherova, 2009, and Jayawardane, 2014) suggest that Issa’s disappearance can be read as a positive political position, and therefore as an attempt at restoring a lost sense of belonging. It is my opinion, however, that such readings assume too much agency on Issa’s part, while also over-simplifying the factors that would have led him to make such a radical decision.
Finally, when considering the two novels in terms of gender, it is worth noting that the two female characters are both white, move legally across borders and with a degree of privilege not afforded to the male characters. Ibrahim is an undocumented immigrant from a
developing country who was deported from South Africa. Issa, although legally in the United Kingdom, is a victim of the anti-Muslim sentiments prevalent after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Both characters are subject to the negative stereotyping of Arab men, making their reception in their chosen host countries uneasy, if not outright hostile.
***
In summary, my analysis of The Pickup and The Silent Minaret has highlighted the benefit of an attitude of openness and a willingness to engage with cultures and communities that are different from one's own. The ability to find alternative 'points of connection' (Appiah
2006), can help those who are alienated within their home or host communities to find common ground and, as a result, a new understanding of what it means to belong.
However, it would be naïve to assume that the same opportunities for redefinition and connection exist for all displaced people. The inherent inequality of the migration
experience demands that we create more welcoming communities and more encompassing definitions of home, both as a way to minimise the impact of dislocation and to allow those affected by political or economic upheaval to redefine their ‘homes’ in a meaningful way.
Migrant literature is uniquely positioned to initiate such a conversation. As Pourjafari and Vahidpour have stated, "creative or imaginative literature has a power to reflect complex and ambiguous realities that make it a far more plausible representation of human feeling and understandings than many of the branches of scientific research" (2014:679). By portraying the migrant experience and the struggle to redefine one's understanding of home, novels, such as the ones discussed here, encourage us to empathise with the migrant experience and provide a model for creating a more encompassing definition of home and what it means to belong.