Promised Land and the Russian Jew
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In The Promised Land Mary Antin recounts her experiences as a Russian Jew who immigrates to the United States. What was it about the United States that attracted so many foreigners to come here? A cynic would say that they came here for the money, and while the cynic would be partially correct, he would be ignoring the more sublime enticements of this country for the millions of people who came here over the past hundred or so years. Most importantly, coming to America represented a "new lease on life" for "the tired", "the poor" and "the huddled". Is this chiefly an economic phenomenon? Just as importantly, America offered free public schooling, so the pauper who came here might have remained a pauper, but his children would not be tied to this fate as they may have been in Europe. Antin's experiences with public school illustrate this phenomenon perfectly. One might criticize the cheerful exuberance of The Promised Land and its seeming omission of any negative aspersions towards the United States, but such criticism would miss the point of the work. Antin was describing what America meant to her, and, in doing so, what America meant to immigrants in general.
What did "American" mean in the abstract?..