The effects of illegal immigration on families that have to go through the process are evident in the 2013 published memoir of Reyna Grande. Dubbed The Distance Between Us, Grande’s text evidently targets every shareholder in the issue of immigration with an undisguised interest in the United States of America. From the policymakers who are responsible for laws that govern the United States to the citizens who are either oblivious to the matter or against immigrants, Grande’s narrative speaks to them directly. When the book commences, readers encounter a picture of young Reyna Grande and below it is a passage stating that there is a “power that takes away parents” and it is the United States (3). From that point, her language proceeds to create a mental picture in every reader’s mind on her struggles after her mother leaves and they fall under the care of their grandparents before their father steps into his role.
When Grande was four years old, her mother left Mexico for the United States as the family was in a deplorable state courtesy of extreme poverty. Apparently, her father was already in the United States and for that reason, Grande and her two siblings go to live with their paternal grandparents. The older couple is often cruel to the children and runs a strict household. The living standard at their grandparents proves to be worse than when the three young ones lived with their parents as their new dwellings flood with each rainy season and fails to keep the bugs out, including scorpions. Since the “shack[s]” are made of “bamboo sticks and cardboard”, one understands the multiple problems the narrator lists about her grandparents’ home (21). However, nothing caused Grande more pain than the fact that her parents were not around. In her words, she felt she “had a kind of scorpion inside [her],” hurting her heart repeatedly (95). Hence, the first section covers the author’s life in Mexico where amidst much poverty Grande and her sister and brother crave for the love that only their parents can give, especially in light of their grandparents’ harsh attitudes.
The second phase begins with the arrival of the children’s’ father who resides in California and has come to take them back to the United States. Contrary to what Grande expected, their lives did not improve in California. On one hand, school is a bitter ordeal for the children as while they constantly worry about deportation they struggle to learn English and face ceaseless discrimination from their teachers and fellow pupils. On the other, their father is having an affair and has turned to alcohol. Perhaps the biggest problem with their father’s antics is the fact that he is constantly drunk and would end up giving his children “a few lashes” with his belt while under an alcohol-induced rage (197). Still, the author portrays her father as the driving force in her life as she quotes him giving her advice: “just because we’re illegal doesn’t mean we can’t dream” (228). Additionally, the man helped his children get green cards and supports Grande in her pursuit of college education. It is in college that Reyna Grande met Sandra Cisneros and other Chicano writers, and suddenly, Grande is no longer different.
Two things stand out in the text: the extreme doses of sadness with which the author tells her narrative and the fact that the book also doubles as the redemption story of a father in the eyes of his children. About the sadness, reading the book warrants a firm countenance even for those who would doubt the eligibility of Grande’s story. For instance, in the scene where the three kids learn that their mother “just had a little girl” while she left behind is heart wrenching (41). At that moment, the reality of abandonment by a mother seemed to hit home, and the children remained stuck with the uncompassionate grandparents. The knowledge of the mother’s antics is what gives the father a stepping stone to redeem his person. The heart-to-heart he has with Grande to explain his constant need to punish the children is enough to appease both Grande and the readers. The nickname “Chata” and the talk of his father giving him a rod to guide the oxen by “[hitting] them as hard as [he] could” meant beatings are all he knew (298). The above summary of Grande and her siblings living with their grandparents helps one understand the fact that Grande’s father must have lived without any affection.
Grande’s work seeks to show the commonly overlooked side of immigration where, unlike what the citizens of the host countries think, immigrants face a difficult time and have no access to the same resources that they are apparently guilty of stealing. To mention a few facts that support the author’s arguments, her parents were no longer together, she suffered along with her siblings, and the situation in the United States was no different because of the whippings and marginalization in school. To that end, Grande writes that immigrating families that separate to find a better life in the United States often “struggle to recoup all that lost time and find a way to overcome separation”; otherwise families face inevitable separation (242).
Grande’s narrative highlights the problems that face many immigrant children in the face of increased deportation cases in the United States. In fact, she mentions the startling statics of children separated from one or both parents because of immigration: eighty percent (320). Thus, The Distance Between Us uses the personal experiences of an immigrant child to tell the story of many others. Once torn between countries, the problems of every young person left behind or immigrating into a new country are unfathomable.
Naturally, Reyna Grande’s are biased because they stem from her personal life. Race plays a significant role as she highlights her struggles to fit into societies and institutions in which English is the official language, and the people have no inclination to her culture. Still, the bias does give her text validity because she narrates from an individual who experienced the harsh effects of illegal immigration for most of her life. Present-day rates of immigration make Grande’s tale relevant just because it highlights gives the story of those seeking asylum in other countries. Given, most immigrants are fleeing from war-torn nations, but the fact that they also have children is worth considering.
Works Cited
Grande, Reyna. The Distance Between Us: A Memoir. New York: Washington Square Press, 2013. Print.
