The New Colossus Synthesis Essay

Synthesis Paper: Immigration

Immigration has played a major rule throughout the world's history, even in today's society immigration is still occuring. Everyone in America at one time has migrated from somewhere, wheater in their lifetime or through their ancestors. In both the poems, The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, and Who Makes the Journey by Cathy Song portray the coming of immigrants to America for freedom, uprising a sense of security yet insecurity.

While Lazarus uses sensory details to convey safety and promise, Song similarly used imagery to portray a break through of hope and renewal. The site of the Statue of Liberty in Lazarus’s poem calls to these people, these immigrants, “I lift my lamp beside the golden door” (Lazarus 14)

In a similar way, Song uses minor incidents and brings meaning to them to illustrate the shame an individual or their elders may endure. The immigrants coming to America are “[the] tired, [the] poor,/[and their] huddled masses yearning to breathe...” insearch for a better life (Lazarus 10-11). When Song uses the words “huddled masses” implies that these people are carrying weight on their shoulders not only their belongs but their past and regrets, and the words “yearning to breathe” suggests that the people are trying to break free and find relief from these struggles. Furthermore, immigrants did so by traveling to America to run away from their history, revealing a sense of weakness by not being able to stand up against their challenges and only looking for an easy and fast way out. This presents a lack of confidence and integrity, even a loss in identity. Immigrants the “tired” and “poor” are using America for an excuse to hide themselves. They aren’t allowing themselves to be who they truly are because either they are ashamed or terrified of what their past had held for them. Just like the old lady and how she continues with “the weight/of the ghost child/she carried centuries...” implying the loss of identity and morning (Song 16-18). Connotations for the word “ghost” are death or incorporeal representation of a person, suggesting that the old woman purposely is shoving deep down who she is and locking herself away, so that it would seem like who she truly is doesn’t exist. In the end, she is insecure as her past or history lingers and haunts her like the “ghost” or shadow Song speaks of. Additionally, even when the old woman “...stops/impatiently/and self-consciously...” in the middle of the street, symbolized the frustration and irritation to this new way of living (Song 23-25). The old lady stopping presented as an individual questioning whether or not he or she should