Examinations on the Dismantling of Canadian Multiculturalism in Rawi Ha

Rawi Hages Cockroach focuses on an unnamed immigrant of unclear, perhaps Lebanese, origin as he struggles to fit into his unexampled feeling in Canada. The protagonist byout the novel struggles to assimilate into Canadian culture, undermining peoples desire for him to integrate through imagining himself as a cockroach that scurries under society. By doing this, and through showing memories of his characters traumatic past, Hage signifies the struggles, which many immigrants from warring countries face, in migrating to North America, contrasting the image Canada mostly promotes as macrocosm multicultural. Jesse Hutchinson proposes that the space created by Hage where the immigrant exists between the cultures of their homeland and their new countrys, is one of possibilities and where the protagonist can retain his cultural freedom (11), while Domenic A. Beneventi examines the class divides acquaint between the privileged and the poor, noting how the latter experiences the city sp ace as a place of poverty (263). Indeed, I am interested in the concept of multiculturalism through how Hage represents his immigrant characters, demonstrating that idea of Canadas multiculturalism as flawed. Syrine Hout discusses trauma and its lasting effects on immigrant Lebanese writers and how their writing of traumatic events creates a lasting memorial to the Lebanese genteel war effects (330), which I will draw upon to study how Hage gives voice to immigrants who struggle with memories of their old culture as well as fitting into their new country. This paper will examine the techniques used by Hage to give representation to the turmoil faced by struggling immigrants as they attempt integration into the speculate multiculturalism of Canadian society. Exami... ...s on much of the time. While there are many immigrants who arrive and assimilate easily into Canada, Hage gives voice to the ones who do not, the ones most often overlooked. This creates a novel that maybe speaks t o all identities of immigrants, creating a work that can truly be called multicultural. Works CitedBeneventi, Domenic A. Montreal Underground. Journal of Canadian Studies 46.3 (2012) 263-286. Web. 24 March 2014.Hage, Rawi. Cockroach. Toronto Anansi Press, 2008.Hout, Syrine. Cultural hybridity, trauma, and warehousing in diasporic anglophone Lebanese fiction. Journal of Postcolonial Writing 47.3 (2011) 330-342. Web. 24 March 2014.Hutchinson, Jesse. Immigration and Liminality in Rawi Hages Cockroach. Veljanova, Irena C. . Perception, Meaning and Identity. Ed. Irena C. Veljanova. Oxford Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2010. 1-14. Web. 24 March 2014.