The Topos of the Border in Contemporary American Migratory Novel

Abstract

The border is the focus of migration studies from any perspective. Today, it is evident that the rethinking of human movement in the modern world has also provoked the need to change the perspective on the lines that separate states and nations. These politically constructed boundaries embody the territorialization of collectives, the allocation of a locus for specific groups, the narrowing of the world in certain parameters, the division of people into those who belong and those who are unwanted or Other, the consolidation of the image of inaccessibility for some countries and accessibility for others, and the desire of the richer to distance themselves from the poorer and the law-abiding from the lawbreakers. In literary texts that represent migration processes, the border and its crossing occupy an important place. Since refugees, illegal migrants, or temporary visa holders who try to enter wealthy countries at any cost are predominantly at the center of such works, the experience of crossing the dividing line is often degrading, and sometimes even life-threatening. The article provides an overview of contemporary approaches to understanding the border in the humanities. Researchers emphasize the discriminatory nature, regressive mechanisms, and constructivist way of thinking about dividing lines. The analysis of D. Nayeri’s ‘Refuge’, C. N. Adichie’s ‘Americanah’, I. Zoboi’s ‘American Street’, and A. L. Urrea’s ‘The Devil’s Highway’ leads to the conclusion that in migratory novels, the border functions as a state practice of demeaning those who cross it. In addition, visas intensify constructed perceptions of inaccessibility and, accordingly, high living standards and freedom in the Western world. The humiliations that migrants experience to reach their dreamland traumatize their personality and intensify their feelings of inferiority. The article reveals potential research perspectives for studying migration through the prism of rethinking borders, realizing their discriminatory nature, and the artificiality of the political distribution of the world.