Statue Of America By Claude Mckay

America still believes in freedom and in being the land of opportunities even though time has changed some of America’s original ideals. Nowadays, becoming an American is not as simple as entering America and obtaining land. For example, there is the process of applying for citizenship, something that has now become a big part of defining an American. Hundreds of thousands of people per year apply for citizenship, yet not many people are granted the opportunity to become one. Anonymous shared their story online and said, “I never once thought immigration would affect me, until I realized that laws change and if you are just a resident here...you have no protection” (Defining American). Immigrants feel citizens have more rights than people who are just residents. An immigrant wanting to become a citizen must go through a variety of questions about the United States and what its founders had set as its ideals. Though, with patience, an immigrant can become an American within a

In the story “The New Colossus” it talks about the Europeans wanting to come to America and pursue the American dream. They had the belief that the Statue of Liberty, in this story she is called The Mother Of Exiles, is asking the countries to “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the United States, she was the golden door to America, offering refugee to those who were seeking freedom.

In addition, immigrants often move to America searching for freedoms they did not have in their previous countries. The excerpt expresses,

The Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, a destination for many of the early American immigrants, reads an inscription, ?Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" (National Park Service, 2016). This excerpt from a poem by Emma Lazarus encompasses the American spirit that led to the American Revolution and separation from England. America was a country comprised of immigrants who came to the New World to make a home of peace, safety and, as the statue stands, liberty.

In the much-admired poem “The New Colossus” American writer Emma Lazarus writes, “Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” Carved inside the inside of an icon of freedom, the Statue of Liberty, this speech has come to describe the country of the United States of America. Even before its declaration of independence in 1776, the United States was a dock for those looking for a better life. Gathering to this country by the thousands, immigrants past and present have travelled to the land of the free in an effort to find a lifestyle based upon the United States’ idea of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” With more and more people entering the country, the United States quickly changed into the

Being an American means to have opportunities that are available to us that others don’t get in other parts of the world. The United States of America is a country that is based on being a free country for citizens to have more freedom than anywhere else. It is one of the only countries that give rights to people of different diversities and genders. To be an American means to have opportunities, rights, and freedom.

The statue of liberty is the symbol of peace and to show that we take immigrants and offer them a new, and improved life. Also known as the promise of America. To me the most significant and relevant details from the text is when Franklin O. Roosevelt said "Left behind old customs, old language, old friends. Looking to the future" That's when i realized that when immigrants move here they are putting their whole lives and their future on the "promise of America."

First, “The New Colossus” reflects the American Dream by stating the immigrants emotions coming into the United States. The immigrants are welcomed into America by the Statue of Liberty, also known as a ‘mighty welcoming woman’ and the ‘Mother of Exiles’. ‘The Mother of Exiles’ states “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” Which is basically saying give me all your people, except the royalty, and those who are escaping prosecution are warmly welcomed into the United States. The Statue of Liberty helps the immigrants feel welcome and feel like they finally found freedom.

The United States is known as the land of the free and the home of the brave, but times have changed. Over the years, Lady Liberty has lost her significance. She used to lift her lamp beside the golden door, but now that golden door has since been tarnished blindly. This new era of turning away immigrants and refugees goes against all of what this country stood for (Ha, Thu-Huong).

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” During the years 1886 and 1924 (“The Immigrant’s Statue,” 2016), one of the first things immigrants entering the United States through New York saw was the Statue of Liberty. Glancing upwards towards Lady Liberty they felt a sense of relief and comfort that they had finally reached the land of the free. Throughout history people have been constantly migrating from one place to the next. The reasons for migration vary and in most cases it influences the type of relationship that exist between migrant and host country.

Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus” possesses one of the most iconic and famous phrases that are undeniably a huge part in American history and literature. Lazarus uses multiple ways to convey different types of imagery to her readers. Her poem transformed the Statue of Liberty into a symbol of hope for immigrants battling oppression in their own country. The lines within the poem, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (10-11) is something that expresses a new and warm beacon of hope for both native and new Americans alike.

At the base of the Statue of Liberty is inscribed the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus. The poem perfectly reflects new life opportunity that America offers. It describes the statue as the “mother of the exiles”, while the United States is imagined as the golden door of entry to a new world for the newcomers, far from oppression and poverty (Lazarus 6). America offered all the immigrants the possibility of freedom in religious and political terms and of economic prosperity. However, the immigration policies has not always been static. Since the colonial time period "with the passage of the Naturalization Act of 1790, the first federal law that set the rules for granting United States citizenship" it was characterized to be more exclusive (Kubic 23). This act limited that status to immigrants who were only “free white persons of good character,” thereby excluding Native Americans, slaves, indentured servants, free blacks, and Asians (Kubic

America has been known throughout the years as the home of the brave, the land of opportunity and a melting pot. It is hard to describe what America or an American is due to that America is in a state of constant progress. No one ever imagined that 13 colonies would evolve into the greatest country in the world. Its greatness can be attributed to the freedoms and immense opportunities America has furnished its people. An American is not defined by skin color, religious denomination, ideology, ethnicity or social status, its citizens are the result of a concoction from a melting pot of all these things. Americans share a strong sense of unity and cooperation that allow them to prosper both individually and as a whole. J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur accurately depicted the freedoms and opportunities America bestows to its people as well as what it expected from every individual to become an American. America is great but being born with in its borders or coming to it doesn’t guarantee you greatness. In his Letters from an American Farmer (1782) Crevecoeur depicts what America is and what is expected from its people in order to be successful. He emphasizes on the importance of national pride, personal duties and ability to accept new ideas as key elements to becoming a successful American. His ideas still hold truth till this day. The immense freedom and opportunities in America are taken for granted by many. They have been expected and

In John Mill’s On Liberty, he addresses the topic of individual decision making and the restrictions that can be placed on it. Mill argues that if an object or action has potential for harm but also the potential to accomplish an outcome other than harm, then that event or object should not be forcibly regulated or restricted. He uses an example of a person crossing a dangerous bridge as support to his argument. Assuming that this individual is in a reasonable mental state, the individual should only be warned of the danger of crossing the bridge but not forcibly restricted from crossing. Mill states that because a poor outcome is only possible and not certain, the individual should be allowed to cross as this fits his definition of “liberty”.

The text on the Statue of Liberty may be one of the most vital parts of the monument. Inside the pedestal there is a sonnet written by American poet Emma Lazarus. This sonnet was originally made to raise funds for the Statue but officials and the public realized the impact it had and decided to include it in the monument in 1903. The sonnet is called "The New Colossus" and is directed to immigrants arriving through Ellis island. It includes statements and words like "world-wide welcome" and "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free". The Statue of Liberty was a symbol of welcoming and new life for many immigrants which came from all over the world. Many of these immigrants were escaping from famines that ravished their countries or many governments, especially in Europe, did not provide the same economical opportunities as the United States did, hence the sonnet receiving any new populace who wanted to have a