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All aspects of immigrant novels can be discussed. Specifically, I am interested in the sociology and linguistics, as well as the multiculturalism of immigrant novels. I also have a specific issue regarding these novels.

 I have noticed certain characteristics that seem to be constant in almost all immigrant novelsDESIRE:The protagonist yearns for love, financial security and self sufficiency, religious freedom, political openness, making the protagonist eave his/her homeland.

CONTROL: With desire, comes control -- control from family, community, church, government -- trying to rein in the protagonist, to stop him/her from fulfilling what he or she desires.

DISPLACEMENT: Nevertheless, the protagonist leaves because of poverty, persecution or simply to look for a better life. I am defining displacement as an inverse relationship between Self and Place.

INTEGRATION: Finally, the protagonist begins to get accepted in his/her adopted land. He/she finds work, often marries or has a relationship with someone from the adopted land; learns the language, begins to get used to the new culture. NOTE: this does not happen to all protagonoists. Some of them fail to get integrated, return to the home land, or, worse, die.

I will be grateful for some response.

It's interesting to see Sinclair's "The Jungle" in the light you identify.  Certainly, the themes of integration are placed into strong context, as well as the idea of displacement as the Lithuanian community is really displaced from where they hail as they work in the Yards.  If there is a control aspect evident, it would be in the fact that Jurgis is so dominated by the materialistic and capitalistic order that dehumanizes so much like him.

I have only a superficial familiarity with "The Jungle." Even so, the novel certainly has many ingredients of the immigrant novel, although one of the primary (and required) aspects for my theoretical framework is that the author has to be an immigrant in the US. Sinclair, as far as I know, is not an immigrant, but comes from a settler family.

One of the problems with my theory is that Desire, Control, Displacement and Integration happen as a trajectory of events in many works of literature, not just in immigrant novels, including Homer's two epics! If I hope to get my work published I have to get past the "watch dog" literary pundits who act as readers for publishing houses. They will certainly ask me the question you have asked: if my paradigm is valid, why is not valid for many other nonimmigrant novels, like Sinclair's "The Jungle." And if it is valid for all works of literature, then what is so special about my theory?

That is why I thank you very much for your response.

I actually have a (tentative) answer for the hypothetical question posed above. If you or any other person is interested in continuing this discussion I will very gladly participate.

Thanks very much.

I would think The Kite Runner may be seen as having many of the elements you describe.  The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is another, and there are novels by Isabel Allende that you might find relevant to your inquiry. Jhumpa Lahiri is a writer you should read, too, in this vein, particularly The Namesake.  It is wonderful to me that we are seeing such a diversity of immigrant literature today.  This gives us fascinating glimpses into other cultures and insight into how complex the assimilation process really is.

I assigned The Kite Runner as summer reading for my AP students last year. We discussed all the elements you mentioned. I think your hypothesis is valid for "The Jungle" as well. I think you could make the arguement that, at one point or another, everyone goes through an experience where they are or feel like an immigrant-a person entering an unknown territory with the hopes of acceptance and success.

Another classic is Willa Cather's My Antonia, The enduring nature of the Scandinavian immigrants who came to Nebraska is evidenced in this novel as, filled with the pioneer spirit, they endured brutal cold and poverty on the harsh winter praireis.

My Antonia continues to be read as a novel because of its universal appeal of faith in humanity and as a narrative about the rewards that can come at the end of a long struggle in which individuals persevere.

I agree with the other posts, especially the mention of The Kite Runner, Joy Luck Club, and Willa Cather's works (I would also look at O, Pioneers! by Cather).

Another immigrant work that certainly demonstrates your four themes of desire, control, displacement, and integration is Dave Eggers' book What Is the What.  It loosely follows the story of one of Sudan's "Lost Boys," Valentino Achak Deng.  As Valentino goes through various experiences here in the States, he definitely illustrates the different "stages" of immigration.

I am really encouraged by the many ideas and responses to my suggestion that immigrant novels go through the four phases of desire, control, displacement and integration. There are many novels that fit this paradigm.

As I pointed out in one of my posts before, that is precisely one of the problems my theory faces. If a wide variety of works carry these features then how can I justify it in terms of the IMMIGRANT NOVEL IN THE UNITED STATES alone?

I am still struggling for answers.

One of the ways desire-control-displacement-integration MAY be different from the novels mentioned (except that The Joy Luck Club is one of the novels being discussed in my book) is multiculturalism.

Multiculturalism has become a buzz word, I know. But I am applying the term to analyze the novels I am studying in terms of the following questions: a) How do the authors address ethnicity or their cultural identification in the novels? Are they any different from "settler" novels? b) immigration itself is an explosive issue in the US; do these novels throw any significant light on the problem of regulating immigration? c) are the displacement and integrational processes further complicated by our taking a multicultural viewpoint; in other words, to just take one example, are desire and control from the multicultural perspective any different from the same phenomena depicted in other novels in the US or elsewhere? finally d) do immigrant novelists, writing in the US, handle the English language differently from, say, the immigrant novelists in Britain; again, as an example, is the language of Amy Tan substantively different from that of Salman Rushdie?

These are the questions I am tackling in my book, and any ideas on them would be vastly appreciated. Of course, when the time comes I will certainly acknowledge the members who are participating in the discussion, if the book ever gets published!

Thank You

These are not the typical "immigrant" novels per se, but as I was reading the other posts, these stories popped into my mind as fitting the criteria listed above:

The Lord of the Flies

The Metamorphosis (all except the last...he dies rather than becoming accepted as his new self)

A Raisin in the Sun--more about race disputes within a country than different nationalities, but still, the pursuit of power, control, displacement, and acceptance is evident.

Junot Diaz writes wonderfully about the immigrant experience in the United States. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao matches up very well with what you're looking for.