Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Angel Island

I think going through the website about the history of Angel Island and seeing the pictures of that time made feel like I was there.  The pictures and the history really put me in that time and they made me understand how scared one may be to be there, and to arrive to a whole different country that you are not familiar with.  A place where you have to sort of let go of your culture and your believes and melt into this new world that was telling you to melt or else you wouldn't be an American.  This whole thing scared me a little because I don't know who I would be if I just left my culture behind when I moved here.  I think it's very necessary for people to keep their culture and just be who they are, no matter if they move to another country or speak another language.  
The poems I read were also very shockingly sad and depressing because they make the reader be in that situation and picture the barracks where the Chinese men were.  I really like the line, "Instead of remaining a citizen of China, I / willingly became an ox."  I like how he compares himself as an ox which makes the reader sympathize with the prisoner and realize how horrible this experience is. It makes me think that he could have been a free man had he not come to America, but at the same time, they wanted to come here to earn a living, yet their lives were pretty much taken and imprisoned their hopes. 

Would you ever give up everything you had in America to move to another country thinking there was a better chance for you there, but isn't necessarily a fact that you'd be successful?

Why do you think America is so afraid of other races taking over the United States?
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 5, 2012 at 12:15 PM

    Putting myself in that time and not knowing what could possibly be ahead of me, I think I would give up everything if I really and truly believed that it would be better for my family; but even then, I'd have my reservations. To be honest, I think every country is afraid of other races taking over them. Taking over is a strong suggestion though, it makes me think of over-throwing. When I think about the identity of a country, I think about the identity of the people and the culture. China, to me, wouldn't be China if Americans took it over. So at that time, they were probably thinking America was going to lose its identity. I'm not saying what America did was right in any sense, or even empathize with their decisions; I just think they were unsure and afraid as to what would happen, and unfortunately they chose the Exclusion Act.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 5, 2012 at 6:09 PM

    I agree with Katherine. America isn't the only place that doesn't appreciate foreigners, but I think it's probably America that gets the most recognition for it. I don't think it's right for any place to act this way, and I think it's interesting that Americans are so quick to try and keep other ethnicities out when most of us are foreign to this country overall. The saddest thing for me is that these people truly did believe that their lives were going to be made better, and a lot of it resulted in sadness and lies.

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