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On the Threshold of a New World

In: English and Literature

Submitted By Maya1234
Words 337
Pages 2
This document is an excerpt from the novel Ellis Island and other stories written by Mark Helprin in 1976. The extract is entitled « On the threshold of a new world », the scene takes place in Ellis Island, which is a small island in the NYC harbor. It’s an immigration station where immigrants came from all over Europe to get their American dream, which means freedom and equality. The narrator comes from Eastern Europe and he describes his arrival in Ellis Island, which consists in a very precise medical examination.

. The medical examination (l.1 to 21)

-The immigrant is surprised, he asks the officer “why” (l.8) but then he has to obey to him; he’s at his mercy, the officer can decide of his future and he could ship the immigrant back to Europe

-The narrator is young and a bachelor; he’s well educated (l.29); he might be a Jew from Eastern Europe since he speaks Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian…

-Must have emigrated for: political and religious reasons; persecuted for his beliefs; denied the right to vote; wanted to have a good job and a good life.

-He hoped he could sell his books, find prosperity, have more freedom, better standard of living, better future, no social boundaries to climb up the social ladder.

. The questioning examination: a suspicious immigrant (l.22 to 41)

-The young woman is very wary about the narrator: “suspicious”, “sharply”, “disgust”, “commanded”, “shouted”, “cold eyes”.

-He might be a danger, a threat because he writes books, he may imports radical ideas. She doesn’t trust intellectuals.

-She has to process thousands of immigrants every week so she has no time to chat to the immigrants. Her job consist in welcoming the new immigrants, so she should be open minded to work in a country who attracts millions of immigrants from all over the world.

. The dream of a new life (l.42 to the end)

-Repetition of “I would”

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