"The individual whose vision encompasses the whole world often feels nowhere so hedged in and out of touch with his surroundings as in his native land"
About this Quote
Goldman is sketching the loneliest paradox of cosmopolitan consciousness: the wider your moral horizon, the narrower your home can feel. The line turns on “native land,” a phrase usually soaked in comfort and belonging, and flips it into the site of maximum confinement. “Hedged in” isn’t just a mood; it’s a political image. Hedges mark property lines, fenced thinking, acceptable speech. For an activist who made a career out of crossing borders - ideological, sexual, national - the most claustrophobic space is the place that insists it knows what you are.
The intent is partly diagnostic, partly accusatory. Goldman isn’t romanticizing exile as chic sophistication. She’s naming how nationalism works at the level of atmosphere: it polices the imagination. If your “vision encompasses the whole world,” you’ve already violated the unspoken contract that your loyalties should be local, legible, and obedient. The subtext is that alienation can be evidence of integrity. Feeling “out of touch” isn’t a failure to assimilate; it’s a sign you’re resisting the provincial definitions of citizenship, gender, class, and respectability.
Context sharpens the bite. Goldman lived under constant surveillance and harassment in the United States, was imprisoned, and ultimately deported in 1919 during the Red Scare. Her “native land” could mean birthplace, adopted country, or any homeland myth that demands gratitude instead of critique. The sentence carries the exile’s double vision: to see a nation clearly is, often, to lose the comforting blur that makes it feel like home.
The intent is partly diagnostic, partly accusatory. Goldman isn’t romanticizing exile as chic sophistication. She’s naming how nationalism works at the level of atmosphere: it polices the imagination. If your “vision encompasses the whole world,” you’ve already violated the unspoken contract that your loyalties should be local, legible, and obedient. The subtext is that alienation can be evidence of integrity. Feeling “out of touch” isn’t a failure to assimilate; it’s a sign you’re resisting the provincial definitions of citizenship, gender, class, and respectability.
Context sharpens the bite. Goldman lived under constant surveillance and harassment in the United States, was imprisoned, and ultimately deported in 1919 during the Red Scare. Her “native land” could mean birthplace, adopted country, or any homeland myth that demands gratitude instead of critique. The sentence carries the exile’s double vision: to see a nation clearly is, often, to lose the comforting blur that makes it feel like home.
Quote Details
| Topic | Deep |
|---|
More Quotes by Emma
Add to List
