An Alien in America

An Alien in America

The story “Life as an Alien” is about a coloured woman. She tells how she grew up and felt as an African in America, how she found friends and what is different between her culture and the American one. She also narrates how she gets confronted with her own culture, when she is an adult.

The story is written from a first-person perspective. The narrator tells the story of his point-of-view. An example for this is: “Do they want to know where I was born, where I grew up, where I have lived as an adult, where I live now?” The story is chronically sequenced. She begins to talk about her moving to America when she was young and ends when she is an adult. The story is set in America. The story contains many flashbacks. In one flashback she remembers her childhood and what meant love to her in this time.

I think you understand the main plot even if you don’t know every word. The many flashbacks could be confusing. They are quite long and often you first need to think about their meaning to the story, before reading on. I didn’t find the story very exciting, therefore I would say that it is ok. Through the story you learn many things about the life of the African girl in America and you could maybe empathize better with her and imagine how aliens  feel. Because of this I think that teenagers would like the story.

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