The Statue Of Liberty And Immigrants
Who is an immigrant? What does the Statue of Liberty have to do with immigrants? What does the future hold for the immigrants?The poem “The New Colossus” is created through the Statue of Liberty's symbolization of freedom and a sign of hospitality. In The New Colossus, the statue of liberty is portrayed as a welcoming figure to immigrants from all corners of the world offering them shelter, security and provisions in a foreign land. The article “The Rush of Immigrants” explains and identifies the struggles of immigrants to fit in and become successful. It also explains where the immigrants came from hence reflecting on what they came with and how the different values, cultures and people integrated to become something more. The ideas behind the symbolism of the poem and the theme of the excerpt is to show that America had something to offer aliens when they needed it and although things were hard, they work through it and America was there to accept them and aid them.
The main purpose of the poem is to show a whole new whole that is offering opportunities to the immigrants; “the golden door” in the poem symbolizes opportunities that would give way to success. The third stanza addressed “the Poor and tired” immigrants who needed freedom from a world filled with toiling, failure, lack of shelter, poverty, etc. The New Colossus is presenting immigrants with opportunities and hope, free from hardships endured in their old world.The New Colossus gives the immigrants with hope and ability to achieve the American dream to make their lives and the lives of their generations to come better. The new immigrants in America were mainly from “Eastern and Southern Europe and Asia” looking for new opportunities in the United States while running away from the poverty and religious problems their old lands brought.
The excerpt emphasizes the fact that the foundation of America’s identity has been based on its requirement that immigrants assimilate and adopt the American cultures as there but also its inability to successfully stabilize itself as a country with one culture. The identity of America is brought on by the mixture and adaptation of different races,values,and cultures of immigrants. At a certain point, immigrants weren’t welcome because of the “Criminals, contract workers,18 the mentally ill, anarchists, and alcoholics” (Rush of Immigrants 10) and the governments fear of disruption of the life that has been established. In conclusion, the significance of the article and the symbolism of the poem shows that America although prejudiced to certain races or people, offers prestigious opportunities to leave behind failure and move on to a successful and brighter future.
