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Description of Ellis Island

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Par   •  12 Mars 2013  •  510 Mots (3 Pages)  •  878 Vues

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I. A DESCRIPTION OF ELLIS ISLAND

1. MASS OF PEOPLE WHO FLEE FROM THEIR HOME COUNTRY

a) Europeans who flee

- from the war (Alfonse)  certainly the 1st world war

- from poverty (want to achieve the American dream : from rags to riches)  Brigitte

- Around the same period, many Jewish people had to flee from Russian pogroms (1880-

1910)

b) Long journey, no comfort : the third class or steerage passengers spent most of their time

crowded together, sleeping in the same clothes alongside their luggage because there

was no room for it elsewhere. They usually were provided with soup or stew. They had to

wash themselves with salt water which sometimes caused skin irritations and infections 

one of the reasons why Brigitte breathes through he handkerchief.

c) Only the Immigrants entering the United States who could not afford first or second-class

passage came through the processing center at Ellis Island.

2. WELCOMING IMMIGRANTS

a) Poor people ≠ immigration officer

- fat (repeated twice : 23-48) ≠ hungry poor people

- unwelcoming : impolite : does not say hello, treats them like cattle (l.25)

- : mocks Brigitte’s name (l.60-61)

b) what is written on the Statue of Liberty contradicts how they are treated

- l.2 : hundreds of people clustered in one room

3. INTERNAL FOCALISATION : WE SEE THE ACTION THROUGH BRIGITTE’S EYES

- value judgement : l.11 ‘wretched refuse’  whose words are they?

- L.42 : ‘Chas’ : imitating English

- L.44: little silly Beatrice : are Brigitte’s words

II. AN UNUSUAL CHARACTER ON THIS ISLAND

1. BRIGIT : HALF EPITOME, HALF CARICATURE OF THE TYPICAL ARISTOCRAT

a) Her name is incredibly long

b) Acts like a lady (l.1)

c) So different from the other immigrants

2. SNOBBY, CONCEITED

a) raises her lavender-perfumed handkerchief to avoid direct contact with the other people

(l.2), desperate to breathe free (pun : free from the other people) :

b) mass of uncultured … (l.4), ‘wretched refuse’ (l.11), ‘agricultural’ (l.29)  thinks he is a

peasant, ‘outrage’ (l.34)

c) Do what I say, don’t do what I do : reproaches Meriguet with fleeing the war, she does not

take

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