How does immigration change people, without changing them entirely?
(Im)migration opens people up to new people, new experiences, and new ways of thinking
Routine and staying in one place makes people only see the same people, the same experiences, and the same ways of thinking
Do you have any examples of this?
We could use The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano as a source for examples. Equiano is a young boy when he is kidnapped from his home in Africa and is enslaved, beginning his life of labour yet also travel.
His good character and luck during his travels allowed him to meet with many people who had less brutal attitudes than that of many others’ at the time and they were willing to educate him, so he had the chance to survive to see his freedom be purchased by the fruits of his effort, and to live a successful life. Had he not met Richard Baker, Miss Guerin, Daniel Queen, Mr. King and many more, he may have not been able to change his fate from that of one destined to remain in the trappings of enslavement, but to one of a free man.
Equiano becomes a baptized Christian and becomes knowledgeable, not just in Western educational standards, but in overall worldly knowledge. Near the time of his freedom from slavery, he is capable of working as a seaman, cutting and dressing hair, refining wines, and doing math and writing because he had travelled by boat to many parts of the world. His knowledge opened new paths for opportunities beyond the simple tasks most enslaved people were given by their “masters”, allowing him to earn enough money to buy his freedom from Mr. Robert King.
Equiano remains an honest, earnest, and hardworking man though, his hardships not preventing him from retaining the morals he had instilled by his mother. The discipline he gained from daily training with javelins as a child and his mother's careful teachings translated into his dedication to hard work and integrity as he kept his goal of freedom in mind (The Interesting Narrative 47-58). He also rejects the name Gustavus Vassa, except for when he is made to accept it by force, instead choosing to put his birth name in the title of his autobiography. The combination of these two things, the changed and unchanged, allows him to share his broad range of experiences with a wider audience in his book, which makes his knowledge travel further than he would be capable of on his own, and reach people who would not be able to go as far as his book could to attain this knowledge.
Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the Africian. Norwich, The author, 1794, pp 47-58. Retrieved from https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/equiano1/equiano1.html and https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/equiano2/equiano2.html.
What about anyone else? What about the people Equiano is addressing in his autobiography?
Another person’s migration can bring new experiences, new people and new thoughts to those who do not travel. Equiano is a bringer of knowledge to those in England who are not the seafaring type through his literary account of his life, making information about the horrific treatment of enslaved people more widely accessible. His narrative became a bestseller likely because it was a first: the people of England had never seen this information like this before. Although I can't know the opinions of all who read Equiano’s narrative at the time, it is unlikely a book of this level of popularity did not change anyone who read it, at least inspiring some sympathy if not entire calls for justice and emancipation.
Equiano has been compared to Othello from Shakespeare’s play Othello, as he too tells stories of his life’s journeys to the people around him, which allows them to empathize with his struggles. Alternatively, similarities can be seen in the characters from Emma by Jane Austen, such as how Frank Churchill may be seen as Emma Woodhouse’s knowledge bearer, as she is someone who has hardly travelled much further than her estate, which is partly the reason she takes such a great interest in him (Austen 124).
Austen, Jane. Emma. 1816. With an introduction by Steven Marcus and notes by Victoria Blake, Barnes & Noble Books, 2004.
Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the Africian. Norwich, The author, vol.1, 1789. Retrieved from https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/equiano1/equiano1.html
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice. 1622. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Simon & Schuster, 13 June 2017.