Sonder is defined as “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness” . Everyone has this moment of realization at some point in their life, but few people ever give it any real though beyond that moment. However, some authors embrace the idea of sonder, even going so far as to make it the main theme of their novel. These authors include Yuri Herrera (Signs Preceding the End of the World ), Patricia Engel (The Veins of the Ocean ), Edwidge Danticat (The Dew Breaker ), and Courtney Hunt (screenwriter of Frozen River ). These stories explore the idea of sonder in two ways; they either show characters with perspectives to life that the average person never thinks about, or they show only the reader how the characters’ lives intertwine while the characters themselves remain ignorant to the idea of sonder. …show more content…
Similar to African Americans in Black Bodies in Motion and Pain, Mexican immigrants aren’t seen as individuals, but rather as a homogenous group of people. In Signs Preceding the End of the World Herrera moves past this prejudice to show the young woman Makina’s journey to America to find her brother. While Herrera does embrace some stereotypes of immigrants, such as the boy working in the restaurant, the protagonist is shown to have her own unique life. Rather than being an unskilled migrant, Makina is shown to be very intelligent, knowing several languages and having a prestigious job in her town. The author goes out of her way to show how Makina, and therefore other immigrants, are unique people with unique hopes, dreams, and