For this week’s blog post I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into Luiselli’s progressive, specific naming the numbers of the questions throughout the text. In our small group, we discussed how this worked to highlight the bureaucratic handling of something that does not fit neatly into the bureaucratic “mould.”

Numbers are potentially the most logical,  systematic way of ordering anything. Throughout the essay Luiselli demonstrates how the US immigration system attempts to squeeze these children’s unique and individualized stories into the confines of logical, ordered and systematic numerical lists.

By specifically referring to the numbered questions at different points throughout the essay, Luiselli reminds us as readers of the futility – ridiculousness – of trying to mould the children’s subjective stories to these highly objective criteria.

At the same time, in a more formal way, the numbers act as little “touchpoints” throughout the story to keep the reader grounded in the story. They move the narrative along, which is especially important because Luiselli jumps between different temporal spaces throughout (between her attempts to get her green card, her road trip, her job as a translator).

Interestingly, I noticed that the “Coda – Eight Brief Postscripta” is organized numerically, even though each “subject” doesn’t fit into a particular “category.” I’m not sure what to make of this, as Luiselli has critiqued the system of numbers throughout the essay, and yet organizes her ideas in this way at the end of the text. I’m not criticizing her for doing so, and perhaps it means nothing – but it just sparked a thought.