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The Look of Unknown Americans
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- Written by: Ray Oltion
- Category: Writing
- Hits: 12
Dissatisfaction
Imagine traveling thousands of miles through dangerous territory to reach what you thought was paradise, only to discover that you brought all your problems with you, and faced new problems at your destination. How would you feel? Would you become bitter and condemn your new surroundings as unwelcoming, brutal, and predatory? Would you long for the home you left behind, the friends and family that you would probably never see again?
Such is the story of many immigrants to other countries, those shining havens of freedom and light to which many disaffected people have flocked over modern history. Maybe humanity evolved to wander and expand into new territory, or perhaps the success of the species simply created pressure due to overpopulation and diminished resources that pushed those less fortunate to move. Whatever the cause, this displacement of people to other lands invariably creates friction between the established occupants of the new land and its novel immigrants, often to the point of disrupting both indigenous populations and newcomers.
Such is the story of present day immigrants to the United States, as depicted in Christina Henriquez’s novel The Book of Unknown Americans. This book collects the short histories of several supporting characters and longer first person accounts of principal characters to illuminate a community of immigrants in Wilmington, Delaware: mothers, fathers, and children. It attempts to put the reader in those people’s predicaments through their life stories, set against a backdrop of economic decline of the post 2008 financial crisis.
Henriquez pairs these two forms of disruption, social and economic, to heighten the tension of her plot. This presages the current climate, where political aspirants mine these disruptions for angst to fuel their careers. Currently, some citizens of the United States express their frustration by singling out immigrants as the cause of their many woes. This diffused form of scapegoating offers simple solutions to complex problems: build a wall, send them home, or lock them up. This age-old tactic tends to polarize the populace, gathering those in favor or those opposed to such rhetoric into easily manipulated groups.