As a literary fiction writer, telling a story with realistic characters is paramount. My process begins with the characters, developing who they are, where they came from and how their past has affected them; once they are established, I let them tell the story.
In writing The Exile I developed the main character, Leila, as an immigrant from Colombia. Given the nature of immigration in our current culture, I thought it would be important to create a story from a Colombian woman’s perspective. Although The Exile takes place 10 years ago, there aren’t a lot of books about immigrants that bring the reader alongside them in their journey in the United States and their country of origin as they experience racism (overtly or subtly) and deportation.
Literary Fiction About Immigrants: Based on Facts
Leila and her story may be literary fiction, but she is based on real people that experience similar circumstances daily. Leila experienced subtle (and not so subtle) racism from a number of other characters (such as her boss), much like many Hispanic or Latino men and women experience racism regularly. Pew Research shares 4 in 10 experienced discrimination in 2018 and NBC News reports racism, rather than lack of assimilation, is the real problem facing Latinos in the United States.
It’s also worth noting that, despite the current news regarding illegal immigration, Pew Research reports 2007 was actually the peak of unauthorized immigrants in the country, whereas now it’s a much smaller percentage, while the share of legal immigrants has risen.
Many Latinos also worry about deportation. As Pew Research explains, “A majority of Hispanics in the U.S. (55%), regardless of legal status, say they worry ‘a lot’ or ‘some’ that they, a family member or a close friend could be deported.” In just the first three months of 2017, the United States deported 22 percent more Colombians than during the same time period of 2016.
Literary Fiction About Immigrants: Building Compassion
Books about immigrants – including literary fiction ones – are important to read because they can portray a perspective that many who were born in the United States don’t often consider.
Louis Lainé, Director of the Vox Institute at St. Benedict’s Prep, does a nice job of explaining why it’s so important for the discourse around immigration to change.
When I discuss the stress that sometimes follows my acute awareness of my being a racial minority in certain spaces, I repeatedly receive feedback, even if passive, that I am being regarded as a nuisance…
The issue, really, is that the existence of social stressors has been normalized in this country. For instance, I have had to accept that in the United States, the recurring racially-charged disparagement that people of color—immigrants and non-immigrants alike—is so engrained in the very fabric of American society that the absence of such disparagement would be abnormal. I believe that this reality—among other social stressors that seem distinct to immigrants and other black and brown folk in this country—suggests a need for more compassion in this country as a whole…
Immigrants of color, in particular, often find themselves in the vulnerable position where their intended home in America—which they value to the point of having risked their lives or at least their comfort for—does not always love them back. Treating immigrants with more compassion is the only way to solve this problem. Immigrants’ experiences are not to be dismissed as complaints, and disparaging comments or behavior towards us should not be regarded as normal, but as an assault to the American society that we should all be striving to build.
It’s my hope that through books about immigrants and literary fiction like The Exile, Americans across the country can understand another’s viewpoint and in turn become more compassionate toward each other. You can pre-order your copy from Amazon here.