Ideas for commenting

This exam question asks you to analyze and comment on Dinaw Mengestu’s essay “Home at Last”.  In what follow we will provide you with some overall ideas on the text that can help you with writing a comment.

Reflect on the author’s use of a personal story. The text represents a personal essay, in which the author shares biographical elements with the readership. This is usually a technique to make a message/ theme/ topic more appealing and to give the author authority on the topic. Do you think Dinaw Mengestu managed to win the readership on his side?

Reflect on the topic of immigration and the status of immigrants in the US. The essay clearly explores some of the difficulties immigrants face in their new countries (in this case the US): racism, rejection, identity crisis (the writer neither feels fully Ethiopian nor fully American), feelings of disconnection. The text also draws attention to migrant communities and how they help immigrants get a feeling of belonging either be simply bein...