What are the conditions in the countries that prompt the main characters to emigrant, what do they aim to achieve by coming to the U.S., and what do they think about life in the U.S.

What kind of displacement is at issue in the stories by Julia Alvarez and Achy Abejas in Crossing into America? What are the conditions in the countries that prompt the main characters to emigrant, what do they aim to achieve by coming to the U.S., and what do they think about life in the U.S. once they arrive? Are there different views about living in the U.S. on the part of individuals within the respective families, and if so, what explains these differences?