Struggle In Eva Hoffman's Lost In Translation

Eva Hoffman’s memoir Lost in Translation recounts the struggles she faced upon leaving Poland and emigrating to Canada with her family. It can be reasonably inferred that from the moment Eva stepped foot in Canada, she felt isolated and ostracized by society. The reader learns in the section entitled “Exile”, that Eva feels lost between two countries, two languages, and two identities. Hoffman struggles to let go of the past and is apprehensive at looking towards the future. She expresses, “I can’t afford to look back, and I can’t figure out how to look forward. In both directions, I may see a Medusa, and I already feel the danger of being turned into stone” (116). It is through this quote, that Hoffman’s audience is made aware of the internal struggle Eva must deal with throughout the course of the “Exile” section. Hoffman’s use of setting further drives the theme of her feeling caught in between with no way to return to her old life and no way to venture into the future. Specifically, the train ride, the car ride, and the schoolyard scene bolster the idea that Eva Hoffman has lost her sense of identity through her …show more content…
Once seated, Eva refuses to acknowledge the beautiful landscape that passes by and instead reminiscences of what she has left behind in Poland. She states, “I don’t want to look at the landscape; these are not the friendly fields, the farmyards of Polish countryside; this is vast, dull, and formless” (100). We can see that Eva rebukes her new surroundings and yearns to return to her homeland of Krakow, Poland. She feels that part of her soul has been left in Krakow and that she can’t, “imagine feeling that I’m part of them” (100). It is important to note that Eva dissociates herself from her new country and instantly feels like an