Changing Perspectives: Utopia and dystopia in ‘Ala’ al-Aswani’s Chicago

"Chicago" narrates the criss-crossing stories of a number of Egyptians clustered around the Illinois University. They meet the challenge of adapting the American way of life in different ways: passive acceptance of the new home country, the strongest attachment to what they left behind, or the swinging between the two. This speaks of the ambiguous relationship between ‘East’ and ‘West’, between ‘utopia’ and ‘dystopia’, and of the dialogue between different worldviews. The representations of both utopian and dystopian dimensions significantly contribute to construct the characters’ psychology. Their visions of the world, embodying their aspirations and their fears, their feeling of well-being or unease, are not permanent and fixed but shaped by interests and are thus changeable. This transformation of perspective also informs the inner structure of the novel that is built on a bipolar framework where utopia and dystopia alternate and merge: a world initially considered to be good turns out to be bad, and the other way round. Thus, the clear-cut dichotomized vision of the world turns out to be only the projection of aspirations and hopes and an imaginary portrait that corresponds more to stereotypes and preconceived ideas than to reality.