Life Experiences Through the Eyes of Arab Americans

     In Diana Abu-Jaber's Crescent, the role of exile is mentioned continuously throughout the entire main story. When thinking of exile, it means to be banished or cast off from one place and never having the possibility to return. In the story we learn about Hanif or Han for short who is constantly homesick after being cast out of his home in Iraq due to the regime of  Sadan Hussein, which social disrupted his way of life when living in LA, California. In part 2 of the novel in chapter 20 Han vividly explains to Sirine his entire childhood back when he was living in Iraq, from what he did with his childhood friend Sami, to meeting the wives of successful diplomats, all the way down to the conversations he had with his mother and father. It's very significant because it just shows how much of a home Iraq was for him. 

    The  novel Crescent  states, "Sometimes even now, I still dream I'm back in my room, back in Iraq, and Janet is still in the pool, waiting for me. But I never return."At the end of the chapter is when readers realize that Iraq is always on his mind even with the displacement that Han feels internally. However not every exile needs the action of being physically removed due to political issues, like Sirine who's feelings of exile are more based on the connections she shares with other Iraqi immigrants who were forcefully removed from their homeland. Sirine may have not been barred from Iraq but the move to America to live with her uncle left her trying to create a sense of belonging in a place unfamiliar to her. The role of exile within the novel has shaped the lives of the Iraqi immigrants, Sirine, Hanif, and other characters whose lives were affected and how their experience shapes their identity.

Word Count: 311