An Impossible Situation for Immigrants in America Might Be Better

This book analyzes short stories by U.S. immigrant authors that capture the experience of acculturation. Chapters focus on stories by first- and second-generation Asian American and Latin American immigrant authors. Molchan argues that works written after the 1965 Immigration Act show how immigrant literature is particularly suited to the short story, with the form allowing for the entire narrative to focus on a compressed moment with limited access to the background or history of the protagonist. Thus, the short story puts the reader in a position similar to the immigrant protagonists attempting to navigate the collision of their ancestral culture and the dominant American culture.