Canadian Immigrant Literature: The Idea of Home in 'Natasha and Other Stories' Anonymous College

The concept of home seems fairly straightforward. Known as ‘a place or space that one constructs for oneself,’ home can be perceived as a locus that one keeps returning to, be it physically or spiritually. This definition of home centers around an individual, insisting that he/she has volition. Put differently, this concept of home entails a sense of ownership. Following this trajectory, home is therefore an asset to the self as it becomes a space for one to manifest selfhood (Edwin Heathcote 5). Because this definition of home is one that is universally familiar to the point where it is almost intuitive, the idea to question it becomes foolish.

Yet, the readers are unable to apply this notion of home on the experiences faced by the Bermans or any other immigrant characters in David Bezmozgis’ Natasha and Other Stories (Natasha) because their immigrant titles impede on their agency to construct anything at all. As we read the texts, we find ourselves asking: How do immigrants construct a space for oneself on a land that is already occupied with pre-existing cultures and norms? Defiantly, the characters in the novel seem to inhabit a space constructed by others for others instead. What they experience is a "deterritorialization...