Eva Hoffman’s Brief Encounter with Émigré Life and Immigrant Community Before Entering the Culture of the New World
Eva Hoffman’s Brief Encounter with Émigré Life and Immigrant Community Before Entering the Culture of the New World

Summary/Abstract: When looking at Eva Hoffman’s life story through Lost in Translation, it is evident that the word “translation” has two independent meanings. It is connected both with the emigration of her family to the New World, and with Hoffman’s identity and language change. The importance of learning a new language as a medium of translation to a new culture is strongly stressed by Hoffman. As being an immigrant was treated as just a brief interval in her life, she decided to translate herself entirely into English, even though different parts of her personality were still present, which was well visible when she asked herself the same questions in English and Polish and reached entirely different answers. The main goal for Hoffman appeared to be connected with obtaining a solid education in the New World, which she achieved by graduating from Harvard University. This was a confirmation of Eva Hoffman’s assimilationsuccess.

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