Memoir On The Adverse Effects Of Migration

The incident that affected the author's life

1. Why did you choose to write about your particular topic?

2. Which narrative voice and Point of View(First person, Second Person, Third Person, Omniscient/Limited, etc) did you choose to use in the memoir?  Please provide an example from your writing that demonstrates this choice of narrative voice

3. If you were to add your memoir to our class reading list, which weekly themewould you fit your memoir under (Migration and Diaspora, Gender & Sexuality, Memoirs of Childhood, etc.)?  Include an example from the course content and explain why you think your memoir belongs in this category?

4. What author(s) from our course readings inspiredyou when you were writing your memoir?  Why?  What specific ideas, styles, or thoughts of these authors influenced you?

5. Explain the role of “truth”in your memoir – are your accounts and your narrative entirely factual?  Have you embellished or “rewritten” some of your history or memories?  Why did you make these choices, and how do they influence your reader?

6. What insightsinto your own life have you gained from this experience/assignment?  How was the memoir writing process reflective (or not!) for you?

The memoir will be focusing on one of my memories, which has affected my life adversely since my young age. The seriousness of the memoir is dependent on the level of change in the external and internal atmospheres that fostered a feeling of alienation in my world. The incident has affected the communicability and the manner in which I might express myself among others. The seriousness of the change has affected the mental stability and the manner in which I might communicate with the people.

The year 2016 brought around a change in my lifestyle, as I was required to migrate from Algeria to British Columbia due to my father’s transferrable postings. The seriousness of the change left a permanent impression of the incident on my mind. I was well acquainted with all the different proceedings that were prevalent in my school. On the other hand, I had a few associates with whom I could share most of my childhood fears and delights. However, the shift permanently snatched away my friends, my school and the guidance of my teachers.  I felt like I was introduced to a different sphere with unfamiliar people and their typical mentalities. Alienated and diverged by the change I failed to communicate with my classmates and suffered the blows of my unprecedented school life, all alone. The new place could not provide me with the convenience or the support that I used to receive earlier. The migration affected my studies and health, more particularly, as I refused to go out and play with the other kids or even concentrate on the materials and lectures that were delivered by the teacher at class.

The migration caused a serious issue in my academic career, as I could not adjust my mentality and culture as per the different social structure and the processes that were followed by the school.  The different issues that were faced by me due to a conversion in the oriental issues has affected my sense of understanding and adaptability in my new home. The differences in the internal and the external environments of the region have affected my cognitive abilities.  as the style of teaching and the manner in which the teachers communicate with the students did not match with my previous situations. The migration affected my sense of security, which created a havoc distance between the world and me. I have gone through different hard time to make the people aware of my needs; however, due to my failure to express the feelings I felt neglected. The alienation that I faced in my new world metaphorically made me feel like I am inhabited in an island with little scope to  express,  surrounded by emotionless beings who are devoid of any particular understanding of care giving.

How the migration affected the author's communication and cognitive abilities

I chose to write on the topic, as it is related to an instance I faced in my life. My father’s external postings badly affected the basic academic career and thereby brought in changes in my cognitive and psychological elements. The acclaimed topic has helped me in undertaking a proper discussion of the issues that are faced by me during the childhood. The temporal shifts that I faced have resulted to the clash in the cultures, which was tough for me to get adapted to in the adolescence stage. The reflection on my past life was well supported and relevant to the topic I  chose, which has helped me in diagnosing the different issues that I faced in my early adolescent period.  

I utilized the first person view to illustrate the manner in which I felt during the migration. The challenges that I faced and the manner in which the shift affected my academic career could be best defined by me as I faced it all. Therefore, I utilized the first person for undertaking the proper illustration of my feelings and emotions at the time of the migration.  The first parson narration helps in retaining the flavor of the account that is being stated. It helps in convincing the readers of the truthfulness of the account that is being stated. The most intriguing part of writing the memoir is to express my emotions and feeling, which could be described in detail through the utilization of the first person   narration.

The lines - “ I felt like I was introduced to a different sphere with unfamiliar people and their typical mentalities. Alienated and diverged by the change I failed to communicate with my classmates and suffered the blows of my unprecedented school life, all alone. The new place could not provide me with the convenience or the support that I used to receive earlier.” listed in the memoir clearly portrayed the manner in which I felt while the migration was implemented in my life. The first person narration helped me in enhancing the story telling to make the readers aware of the circumstances that I faced. The utilization of the first person narrative has helped me in maintaining the congruity between the account that is being stated and the real life experience that I gathered. At times, the utilization of the second or third person for narrating the account would simply alter the feeling that I aimed at inducing in the readers. Therefore, the utilization of the first person narrative style has helped me in clearly stating the feelings that I felt, which would be known to none others. The quotation from the memoir that is highlighted in this section clearly evokes the feeling among the readers of the alienation that I- personally felt.  The utilization of the first person narrative has also helped me in concentrating more on the challenges that are faced by me while undertaking the immigration. The threats that the new place had for me is my personal feeling which no one else can narrate better than me. Therefore, I utilized the first person narrative for writing my own memoir for the clarity of the expressions.

The challenges faced by the author due to the clash of cultures

If I were required to add the memoir as a class- reading list, I would have applied the memoir to a theme that is related to “Migration- Its effects on the adolescence age” as it would have helped me in making the readers aware of the overview of the memoir. It would have helped me to update a relevant memoir as per the classification and thereby present a live example of the manner in which migration in the younger age affects the psychological and cognitive abilities.   

An instance from the memoir, which would be helping to support my decision of including the same under the classification of “Migration- Its effects on the adolescence age”   is –  “The migration caused a serious issue in my academic career, as I could not adjust my mentality and culture as per the different social structure and the processes that were followed by the school.” The passage has helped in reflecting on the challenges that I faced due to the migration.  The excerpt from my memoir that is being highlighted in his section clearly reveals the adverse effects of migration as I faced a change in the culture and mentality of the people around me. The memoir is based on migration and thereby it could be included in the a class- reading list “Migration- Its effects on the adolescence age”.

The book that mostly inspired me in writing my memoir is “Environmental Migrants and Canada's Refugee Policy” by Murray, Sheila as the book clearly portrayed the manner in which the immigrants to Canada suffered due to the cultural shifts, which affected the academic and employability skills of the people. The chief elements of Canadian laws are based on minimizing the ecological pressure that is created through the activity of the immigrants. However, the negative side of the coin reflected the ill- fate and loss of employability and academic career in the nation for the immigrants, which largely affected the lifestyle of the people. The different situations that are discussed in the article has helped me in supporting my views as per the memoir I have created out of my past experiences.

Truth played a gigantic role in creating the layout for the memoir that I created as the incident that I narrated. Truthfulness of the account and the facts that I shared during the narration has helped me in embarking the different situations that are faced by me. Truth has helped me in describing the different factual dimensions in details. It has added to the effectiveness of the reflection.

The memoir has helped me in reflecting on the experience, looking back to the different issues that posed a threat on the upbringing and the academic career due to immigration.  It has helped me in identifying the causes of the issues that are faced by me, which was related to the cultural shifts and conflicting mentalities. The various issues that were faced by me was dependent on the lack of proper communication with the diverse minded people. The communication with similar aged students at school and in the parks was restricted through the inferiority complex that compromised my communication, which was devoid of any expression.