Who are "We"? -- Latino Literature and The Devil's Highway

The Devil's Highway is a novel written by Luis Alberto Urrea narrating the events of the Yuma 14 survivors. Though involving some elements of fiction in order to conceptualize the emotions felt by the characters, Urrea does a great job of integrating facts he learned from interviews from Border Patrol, case files, and biographies and applying to the characters in order to make the story a more of a creative nonfiction piece. I think by making the victims of the novel slightly more fictional, it allows the readers to connect to the individuals involved on a much personal level, moreso than just as if Urrea had written a documentary or biography of the individuals in question.

This being said, Urrea is able to apply the concept of borders, bridges and boundaries and have the novel connect to us personally as readers in a number of ways. These connections allow us to determine the differences, if there are any, between "us" and "them." Who really is "us"? Why is there a need for a subgroup? As stated previously, there are a number of ways in which we as people can be explored in terms of borders, bridges and boundaries, and three of them are by language, citizenship, and physical geography.

First of all, language acts as both a bridge and a boundary for individuals. For those who speak the same language, a bridge is formed to connect people to different thoughts, concepts, understandings, cultural beliefs, and anything and everything in between. If they are to speak differently, then perhaps a boundary is formed because there is a lack of understanding between two individuals or cultures. This boundary is something that creates an "us" and a "them." Only through curiosity and the attempt to learn about the others and remove ignorance through other cultures is there a true sense of diversity and understanding, thus eliminating the boundary and bridging multiple cultures into one sense, one people. The Devil's Highway takes advantage of the situation that only the coyotes are truly fluent in American English, so the lack of comprehension between the Americans and Mexicans acts as a boundary and a psychological border.

Secondly, citizenship acts as a border. The Yuma 14 must cross the geographic border as illegal immigrants in order to have a chance at an economically sustainable occupation. However, once they reach the United States of America, citizenship becomes a problem because it affects how the inhabitants view people in themselves. As demonstrated in the 9500 Liberty film, the concept of citizenship and illegal immigration is enough to be able to tear a community apart. In some circumstances, the lack of a green card and a passport is enough to alienate a person and make them a part of an entirely separate social group--a group of liars, criminals, thieves, and terrorists. When the Yuma 14 crossed the border, they did not think of the social boundaries they would potentially encounter along the way. They simply looked for an economic opportunity, causing individuals such as the advocates they met in the hospitals to "pick up the slack."

Finally, as stated previously, geography encompasses a number of physical borders. There is the physical fence that was created during the Bush administration; there are the mountains that the Yuma 14 climbed; there is the Devil's Highway itself that the Yuma 14 traversed. Geography is a concrete border that people can touch, but at the same time it also acts as a social boundary. Does the political line drawn between Mexico and the United States really mean anything, or is just what the people themselves hold it to be? The Devil's Highway asks these questions, and even the border crossers do, too, especially when they ask, "Is this it?"

Overall, The Devil's Highway allows a connection between readers and immigrants in a way that might not have been possible otherwise. Through looking through the immigrants' perspectives, we as citizens of the United States (and other places, too!) encounter a number of social themes and aspects that make us question, "Does citizenship really matter?" When the goals and morals behind the survivors are revealed, is ethnicity really a major concern? No matter what the language we speak, we are all a part of the human struggle, and the human struggle is to survive no matter what the cost. Urrea's novel helps to remind us of that, and because of such a reminder, he removes the "them." "We" are now "one."