Rawi Hage The Cock Approach

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Cockroach is a somber comedy written by Rawi Hage. It’s a heart touching story of the unnamed protagonist with a mental disorder. The stone-broke character immigrate from the Middle East and lives in the ghetto area of Montreal; he experiences the harshness of poverty and the struggle of multiple identities. On the other hand, as the story progresses readers learn that the protagonist is also a thief who steals from wealthy and needy people. He breaks into people's homes to sit on their couches and eat their food and quite literally thinks of himself as a cockroach. He is obsessed with questions about his own existence and his own purpose.Throughout the novel the protagonist begins to change in an extraordinary ways. Similarly, the movie,…show more content…
We saw the hardship that both characters faced expression their sexual preference or orientation. Likewise, a culture is a mix of traditions and values . For instance, marriage is the most important aspect in most cultures. Unlike Western countries, marriage is done differently in most Islamic countries, age is not seen as important in those countries. “ The priest refused to marry them: the girl was underage, he said.” (page62). In this particular scene, the main character is talking to his doctor. He explains how his sister got married with an outlaw militia. Her sister was brought to the priest without her parent’s approval. When the priest refused to marry them the outlaw named Tony putted his gun on the priest head and forced him to marry them. While not every marriage happens as described in this scene but there are some unfortunate cultures that allow forced marriage. However, most other cultures involve huge gathering and ceremonies. Rawi Hage, shows the reader how different religions have their way of doing certain things, like marriage, funerals and so forth. “When a young unmarried man dies back home, the people dance around…show more content…
However, these two stories are trying to show the ineffectiveness of immigrant assimilation and how little the target country understands the struggles of a new immigrant. As the name of the book suggests, ‘cockroach”, most new immigrant feel like the are living in a world that looks down at them, that does not understand them nor their needs.cockroach live is the lowest form of life. Apparently, thats what the author is trying to express, the struggles of a new immigrant are beyond comprehension. They live in poverty due to language and cultural barriers. They often struggle with multiple identities, where they lose the sense of belonging anywhere. There is an constant cultural and religious clash. Lets take, sexual orientation as an example, it is against their religious beliefs. However, if the receiving country really wants the assimilation process to work, then lots of work is needed. Newcomers programs, for instance, should be reintroduced and be something mandatory so they immigrants could be helped through various programs and likewise the government would benefit as well cause the newcomers will assimilate sooner and get involved in making their new country a

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