Page 32 - IJSA, Vol. 2, No 1-2, 2019

рrint ISSN: 2617-2682; DOI:10.26697/ijsa IJSA

large building which faced St Kilda Road, a wide, leafy The first stop after our flight was in Stockholm and it
boulevard leading into the central business district of took about one hour. My younger brother as usual had
Melbourne. The block of flats consisted of three floors to visit one place. He does this everywhere he sees the
and had a number of exterior art decor features, such as toilet sign. I watched him and directed him to the right
faceted forms of decoration around its entrances and door with my eyes. However, just after 20 seconds, he
rounded corners on the upper storey verandas. It ran out of the toilet as if he was scolded. He began to
represented a stark contrast to the rectangular unadorned mumble nervously: “There are so many things hanging
building which had been my home in Israel. When I around, I don’t know how to use them”. I stood up and I
entered the flat for the first time my interest centred went with him. I was used to Soviet toilets, so there’s no
around a black telephone which sat on a little ledge in surprise to me.
the hallway. Although the telephone was not connected, At first I thought that we went through the wrong door,
I was overwhelmed by the idea that we were in and instead got into the plumbing museum of the
possession of such an instrument which, until then, I had twenty-first century. How? The walls were not drawn?
rarely seen in a private home. Its presence signified to On the floor there were no litter lying around? Seats
me that Australia was a place of untold possible luxury. were attached to the toilets, and next to them. Oh, my
The reality of our life in Melbourne, however, proved to God! – Toilet paper. Shock therapy began there, where
be somewhat different (Grynberg, 2012, pp. 24-25). we had least expected it. (Michail)
Children tend to imagine. Our imagination allows our Michail has lived his entire childhood and a great part of
mind to create a new image in the head. Imagination adolescence in the country which is radically different
helps us to create, work, think, even feel, smell and taste from the country to which he has emigrated. The boy
things without these things being in front of us. There and his family moved to the United States from the
will be nothing surprising if I say that imagination is an Soviet Union who had just collapsed. The new space that
important ability of our mind. Also, children use their Michail saw unexpectedly stunned him by its
imagination differently from grown-ups: they imagine, distinctiveness, because it was very different from the
dream even create fantasies in their head more often. As space in his native country.
Welsh (2013, p. 18) writes: “in dreaming children do not Michail leaves one country and comes to another, while
assume that the dream in contrast to waking reality is not each country is not only a political structure with
real. They haven't yet learned to assume that their geographical boundaries and its own history and
intimate experiences are "unreal" whereas the extended traditions, but also a distinctive world, with a specific
matter is “real”. As a result, children create views in space, peculiar rules, and a way of life, and also specific
their head they start to believe in. Consequently, things, things. These new things are the signs of the new world,
which were previously not seen very often and are the showing that transition was made. A child without
symbols of prosperity in the home country, in a child’s knowing these new signs is comparing with what he
mind move him or her into a richer world. Children, in knew from the world he used to live in. The values he
comparison to grown-ups, have not yet learned to had through his short life are vanishing, replaced by the
distinguish between a hidden meaning, direct meaning. new cultural specifics. What is seen in the Michail’s
Children are straight forward. If he or she sees a phone lived experience that a child starts to question why the
or other things, which he or she believes is a symbol of surrounding which he expected to be absolutely
wealth, it means for a child that he or she is rich, even if inconspicuous brought amazement and
the reality is proving different. The phone symbolises misunderstandings in his own head the same time. He
future life, which is better, richer and, perhaps, happier. thought that a toilet without toilet paper, with painted in
As Merleau-Ponty (2005, p. 413) suggests, “The graffiti walls, and broken taps are normal and an
perception of other people and the intersubjective world ordinary thing, whereas an opposite situation, when
is problematic only for adults. The child lives in a world toilets are clean and not broken, is a unique and even
which he unhesitatingly believes accessible to all around unreal. The things he saw blew up his old thinking, and
him… he subjects neither his thoughts, in which he understandings, and living standards he had, turned over
believes as they present themselves, to any sort of his understanding of what is normal and abnormal, what
criticism. He has no knowledge of points of view. For is good and what is bad, forcing him to remember that
him men are empty heads turned towards one single, he is really migrating.
self-evident world where everything takes place, even
dreams, which are, he thinks, in his room, and even Conclusions
thinking, since it is not distinct from words.” Upon The child moving from one country to another leaves his
arrival at a new country and seeing new things, migrant or her familiar world, and finds him or herself in a
children can create images of a better life in the future. strange new world. The boundaries between these
This is especially true if the things and their “value” are worlds are only partially drawn by the state border.
very different from the life in the home country. Thus, Evidence of a different world lies in each new thing
migration as the end of problems, hardships or other encountered, as a result every new thing is not taken for
challenges of the old life (associated with the finances granted anymore. Thus, a child starts to question every
received) is associated with “different” things. new thing he or she sees, as he or she starts to question
However things might bring not only projections of a every meaning this thing brings. Those things become
better life, but also force a child to get lost in his or her that new world the child has entered. Someone might
own mind: say: “but this is the same for adults. Adults also question
everything that they don’t know”. But we should not
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