Immigrants Quote by Kamila Shamsie
““And yet. When I read the Dawn on line and then looked around me to the pristine surroundings of campus life, I knew that every other city in the world only showed me its surface, but when I looked at Karachi I saw the blood running through and out of its veins; I knew that I understood the unspoken as much as the articulated among its inhabitants; I knew that there were so many reasons to fail to love it, to cease to love it, to be unable to love it, that it made love a fierce and unfathomable thing; I knew I couldn’t think of Karachi and find any easy answers, and I didn’t know how to decide if that was reason to go back or reason to stay away.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: "Home Fire" by Kamila Shamsie, 2017 (excerpt)
He perceives Karachi as a complex, visceral place, both beautiful and painful, making love for it intense and ambiguous.
In simple terms: Karachi feels alive and conflicted, making love hard.
Key Takeaway
Embrace the complexity of love for a place.
Themes
identity
belonging
conflict
love
Mood
reflective
poignant
Type
literary
personal
When to use this quote
- returning home
- deciding to stay
- writing about city life
Key Concepts
urban anthropology
emotional geography
Questions to Reflect On
- What draws you to a city despite its hardships?
- Can love coexist with criticism?
A Different Perspective
Romanticizing can overlook practical challenges.
![“That is another theme in the book [Dreams from My Father]. How do we exercise more empathy in our public discourse? How do we get the black to see through the eyes of the white? Or the citizen to see through the eyes of the immigrant? Or the straight to see through the eyes of the gay? That has…” quote by Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/00d/barack-obama-17_black_that-is-another-theme-in-the-book-dreams_10185.jpg)
![“Most incredibly, because to me this is unbelievable, we have no idea who these [immigrants] are, where they come from. I always say Trojan Horse.” quote by Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a4c/donald-trump-18_horse_most-incredibly-because-to-me-this-is-un_20860.jpg)
