Perspectives

Literary period

Published in 1991, the short story “Deportation at Breakfast” by Larry Fondation is part of the literary movement we call Postmodernism which defines most of the literature published since the 1960s. Postmodernist works can be recognized through themes, context, and narrative techniques. The themes and context of postmodernist works are often contemporary to the author. In “Deportation at Breakfast”, we notice that the short story explores the theme of illegal immigration in a time contemporary with the author (the 1990s).

In terms of postmodernist narrative techniques, “Deportation at Breakfast” focuses on describing the setting and the events and it does not draw a conclusion, creating a world which seems to lack meaning beyond the superficial. Larry Fondation builds a story in which the deeper meaning of the events is implied and never explicitly stated, and therefore, the readers must observe the characters to understand more about them and their...