Homeland Elegies: A Novel

Professor Moroni teaches Ayad to view America with a critical eye rather than abject nationalism, believing that one can both love their home and believe it needs to live up to its ideals. In doing so, she challenges the concept of the American Dream as an impetus for growth and development, in addition to challenging the illusion of American superiority—a controversial take in the midst of the first American invasion of Iraq during Operation Desert Storm.

However, a young Ayad fails to understand his own bias—one instilled in him by his father’s fervent love for America, one representative of childlike innocence and belief in American perfection. As the son of immigrants, Ayad was raised to believe anyone’s dreams could come true in America. His father, Sikander, embodies the immigrant experience: He came to America to make a life for his family and achieved relative success in doing so (at least, compared to what his life could have been in Pakistan). Fatima is held back by the past. Like Professor Moroni, Fatima knows how dangerous America can be for people of color (especially those with dark skin), how unequal its laws, and she misses being “one of many” back home. Both Fatima and Ayad are held captive by Sikander’s pursuit of the American Dream. After all, if anyone—everyone—can be someone in America, then he can as well.

It is not until Ayad is awakened by the realities of growing up Muslim in America that he removes his rose-colored glasses and sees his home for what it is. The following sections build up to Ayad’s decision as to what it means to be American.