Alienation in Susan Darraj's The Inheritance of Exile: Stories from ‎South Philly (2007): A Social Study
Abstract
The present study applies the two dimensions: cultural estrangement and ‎social isolation of Seeman's theory of alienation to Susan Darraj's The ‎Inheritance of Exile through analyzing the lives of four immigrant Palestinian ‎mothers and their American-born daughters. This article follows the analytical ‎method through the area of diasporic fiction. It, first, clarifies the theoretical ‎framework, then describes and analyzes the two specific perceptions of ‎alienation towards the homeland, Palestine, and the host land, Philadelphia, for ‎both mothers and their daughters as portrayed in Darraj's diasporic text ‎considering the interplay between Arab Americans' perceptions of themselves ‎and how others see them. Thus, the study proves that Darraj has succeeded in ‎portraying and revealing the manifestations, reasons and consequences of the ‎alienation of Arabs who live or grow up in a host country like America.‎

Keywords: alienation; cultural estrangement; social isolation; Darraj; Seeman
‎1.‎ Introduction