Rawi Hage's Cockroach: What Is A Survivor?

What is a survivor? When people think of survivors, they often think of the CBS television series or the returning veterans of the militia. But who are the ultimate survivors in Canada’s diverse populous? Who withstand the punishment, hate, and racial bias to even be considered survivors? The answer is immigrants. As football legend Zinedine Zidane once said, “an immigrant must work twice as hard as anybody else, [they] must never give up”. Canada was built by immigrants, from the Chinese on the Canadian Pacific Railway to the Italians on the Bloor Street Bridge, even the Blackberry franchise was created by a Turkish immigrant. But as we gain more and more immigrants, what could possibly help them integrate into society and learn about Canada? Something that describes our nation and the hardships one may face in such detail, that it must be given to all immigrants. A pamphlet often leaves out a lot of information, and T.V. does not hold much significance. A novel however, is able to connect with us on an emotional and

Surviving by means of thievery, stealing, and formulating, the nameless narrator is put through the same adversities as many real immigrants are, having a clear socioeconomic barrier between himself and the “privileged”. A Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist, Cockroach explores a different view of the migrant experience to create a vivid, one-month time-lapse of the immigrant struggle and the gravity of the topics allows the reader to have a taste of what many Canadian immigrants must deal with on a daily basis. The unique take on the struggles of refugee integration, language barriers, and the similarity to real historical aspects make Cockroach the absolute must-read novel for all new