everything is illuminated

Alex, a Ukranian in his early twenties, writes a letter to Jonathan, a Jewish American of the same age, who hires Alex as a guide so that Jonathan can find a woman who saved his grandmother from the Nazis. Alex does not have a very good grasp of the English language, and he has a younger brother named Little Igor. The following excerpt comes soon after Alex admits to Jonathan that he spends a large part of his life lying about himself and pretending to be someone he's not to impress other people.

I think this is why I relish writing for you so much. It makes it possible for me to be not like I am, but as I desire for Little Igor to see me. I can be funny, because I have time to meditate about how to be funny, and I can repair my mistakes when I perform mistakes, and I can be a melancholy person in manners that are interesting, not only melancholy. With writing, we have second chances. You mentioned to me that first evening of our voyage that you thought you might have been born to be a writer. What a terrible thing, I think. But I must tell you, I do not think that you understood the meaning of what you said when you said that. You were making suggestions of how you like to write, and how it is an interesting thing for you to imagine worlds that are not exactly like this one, or worlds that are exactly like this one. It is true, I am certain, that you will write very many more books than I will, but it is me, not you, who was born to be the writer.

Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated