Immigrants and Exile

I think you brought up some very interesting points, I myself am not an immigrant but my parents are so I have had encounters with how immigrants feel. My parents and family also don't feel like exiles and I don't think they've ever even thought of it that way because they wanted to come here and start a new life. But sometimes my parents do talk about going back home and visiting India but when they go there they don't feel like they fit in there anymore now and want to come back home to Canada. In this situation it can be hard to understand what home is, I also wonder if both Canada and India are both states of exile for them? I think we think this way because we are so used to belonging to one nation and one territory; I learned about this idea of territorial boundaries in my Sociology of Migration class.

My parents and grandparents are also immigrants that came here to start a new life because Hong Kong was very fast paced and they wanted to be in a more carefree society where it was more slow paced. When my grandparents do go back to Hong Kong they almost feel as if they're out of place and they actually think they're outsiders because of how quick things go so definitely they think that it is a state of exile for them but they do feel somewhat familiar just with speaking the language. They definitely feel like they belong and are insiders in Canada compared to Hong Kong

My family is also immigrants and the culture of where I came from and Canada is very different. Therefore after living here for almost 10 years, my mother and I are unable to adapt to life back in China anymore. Coming from Shanghai, a very fast paced and busy city, Vancouver is the complete opposite. By visiting home last summer, we realized that the city life is not for us anymore. However my dad never got used to the life in Vancouver, he feels more comfortable in the original setting. Therefore both my mom and I are at a state of exile while my dad is not.

I totally understand what you are saying, because my dad does the same, and I think the exile can be both way that your dad may in the state of exile while he tried to fit in Vancouver lifestyle because his family is here, in some level, he is exiled based on the unit of family since he cannot get used with Vancouver.