As
educators, one of the great joys is introducing students to fiction that allows
students to see themselves in characters they thought were nothing like them
and which they shared little in common. It is one of the most effective ways to
teach empathy, broaden
understanding, and disprove stereotypes. It is the stuff of “a-ha” moments,
meaningful connections that transcend the classroom, and Dinaw Mengestu’s
novels are ripe with these potential moments for high school students. His character-driven
narratives highlight the universal tensions between home and displacement, loss
and renewal, as explored in the migration experience.
The
award-winning novelist and Mac Arthur Fellow has published three novels The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (Penguin
2007), How to Read Air (Penguin 2010),
and All Our Names (Knopf 2014). An Ethiopian-American, his family left Addis
Ababa when he was two-years-old during a violent period in Ethiopia known as “Red Terror.” He was raised in Peoria, Illinois, the
setting used in his second novel.
Multi-Dimensional Character-Driven
Narratives
Of
his characters Mengestu said, in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR), they are
“driven for a sort of home…what I think is a pretty universal and pretty common
feeling.” Never does a character seem to fully understand his or her place,
what they have lost in leaving and what they hope to find in a new home.
Mengestu’s
debut novel, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, explores the isolation and frustration of immigrant life
through the eyes of the Ethiopian immigrant storekeeper Sepha Stephanos in a
rapidly-gentrifying Washington D.C. How can Stephanos ever make a home in
America that he feels a part of if he has never truly left Ethiopia?
In
How to Read Air, we encounter the
narrator Jonas Woldemariam, a second-generation Ethiopian-American struggling
with his failed marriage as he takes a road trip to understand the complicated
relationship of his parents, Yusef and Mariam, who emigrated from eastern
Africa. The result is four skillfully-woven narratives, Yusef, Mariam, Jonas,
and his estranged wife, Angela, each telling a similar but particular story of
home and loss and the struggle to belong.
The
most recent novel All Our Names is set after the Ugandan independence and alternates
point of view between Helen, a social worker in the Midwest, and her lover who
calls himself “Isaac.” Through flashbacks, we learn of Isaac’s troubled past –
an Ethiopian who travelled to Uganda via Kenya who becomes, along with a
boyhood friend, drawn into military activity. While a love story, it is also a
war story exploring how violent leaders rise to power and how names and
identity can change with perspective and time.
Universal Themes
While
the themes in Mengestu’s novels explore the immigrant experience through
unforgettable characters, they also convey universal themes. Mengestu said in
an interview with German media, Deutsche
Welle, “We often think that
the immigrant story is unique to people who have left their homes. But for me
it has increasingly become a story of people who have lost something essential
to who they are and have to reinvent themselves and decide who they are in the
wake of that loss.” What student (or
person) hasn’t questioned who they are or lost someone or something dear to
them?
These
novels give students the opportunity to explore the immigrant experience
through the fresh eyes of complex characters dealing with familiar struggles. In
an effort to get students to think beyond media headlines, more than anything these
novels portray the human experience of immigration.
Additional Resources
· The National
Education Teachers Association (NEA) has a free downloadable
lesson plan
to use with high school students along with capstone ideas and essay topics.
· Our free lesson plan
on Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche’s Ted Talk
“The Danger of a
Single Story”
pairs well with Mengestu’s novels and lends itself to a discussion on the
benefits of diversity.
The American Immigration Council offers free lesson plans, resources, book/film reviews, and grants to teach immigration. We also welcome teacher and student book reviews and contributions to our blog. Email us at teacher@immcouncil.org and follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration.
