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)

evoking America to be a heavenly and great place to come and live. The “lamp” is a source of light that indicates hope and a promise for a better future. Light symbolizes purity and openness, which proffers a warm welcoming to the immigrants where they can feel safe and free in this start of a new and better life. Lazarus also uses the word “golden” to symbolizes wealth and lavish lifestyle to indicate that migrating to America, guarantees work and growth. Approximately, like the old lady and “her sack of cabbages,/the white and curved,/translucent leaves...” (Song 33-35) that she will wash carefully, implies that this is her job and a source for her to make a living. The “cabbage” is a symbol of life and stability just as it start form a seed and sprout to be a beautiful vegetable; this women migrated to America then was able to live and raise a family. The color “white” implies as a color of beginnings and possibility, and the word “curved” as how this old woman’s life was able to make a positive turn around. But not only do people feel secure after migration, they may have to come face to face with their insecurities as well..
Moverover, Lazarus uses her family experiences to show the attempt to escape reality.

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

continue in this path, continue to be someone they are not living in a place he or she does not quite fit in. The past is part of an individual, it’s permanent and cannot be changed.
Lazarus and Song do a terrific job presenting how being an immigrant has its certainties and uncertainties. People came to america to find stability and promise, while others are in search for an easy get away, a temporary place. It’s the matter of accepting how things used to be and how they change.