In "Reflections on Exile", Said mentions the idea of exile jealousy:
...the exile jealousy insists on his or her right to refuse to belong.(12)
I am a little confused by what Said means by this. Can anyone explain?
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According to Said, “much of an exiles life is taken up with compensation for disorienting loss by creating a new world to rule” (p 181). I think that after going through the experience of being exiled, and then starting a new life (new world), they may not want to give others an opportunity to hurt them again. According to the thesaurus another word for jealousy is envy, which can also mean protectiveness, perhaps an exiles ability to either refuse or decline his or her right to belong is there attempt to protect themselves. In the beginning of that same sentence Said says “clutching differences like a weapon” and weapons are primarily uses for defense. Finally, “exile is never the state of being satisfied, placid or secure…no sooner does one gets accustomed to it than its unsettling force erupts anew” (186); this constant shifting and changing causes them to reserve the right to refuse or not refuse his or her right to belong because they see it as temporary. I hope this helps Angela
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