When the news never mentions your home country, it starts to feel as if it doesn't exist, and so, in part, do you. Being left out of what the wider society sees and talks about cuts people off from each other and from belonging.
Children in struggling families read the adults' money worries and half-meant threats as literal danger. They take on their parents' mixed feelings about fitting in, and learn early to act brave for a sibling who needs them to.
People with little power learn to hide what they feel and still say what they mean in the same breath. A worker's dutiful "Yes, sir" to coworkers can carry the full meaning of "get lost," invisible to anyone not listening for it.
When you suspect you are being mocked but can't be sure, the doubt itself traps you. With no proof and no one safe to tell, the slight stays private and the person carrying it grows more alone.
The people doing the world's necessary grunt work, like plucking feathers or painting nails, are seen only as their jobs. Yet they keep stubborn desires: to be seen, to fit in, to be touched, to defend their parents, along with vivid fantasies that offer brief escapes from places that won't let them out.