Exposé - Manhattan Transfer analysis : Immigration and American dream during the 19th and 20th century PDF

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Exposé oral (ici ce qui a été lu), analyse d'extraits de passage du livre "Manhattan Transfer" de John Dos Passos sur le thème de l'immigration et de l'American Dream" durant les années 20-30 mais aussi avant et après cette période (écrit en anglais)...

Description

Manhattan Transfer Analysis + Macro-Analysis : Immigration and American Dream  ● US : created thanks to immigration -> 1st arrival of the settlers in 1620, followed by many immigration waves with the slaves already in the beginning of the 18th century ; massive immigration waves afterwards -> 1st one 1820’s the WASP’s, then Irish + German + Italian in 1830’s + Asian in 1880’s ● the notion of immigration is linked to the American Dream : Freelance writer James Truslow Adams popularized the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book Epic of America -> not only wealth but better life in general -> immigrants came to the US because of this concept

● Here we’re in the Roaring twenties ~ 1925 + important migrations : 1919 = peak year of immigration → europeans stopped in Ellis Island (1892-1954) = origin of the melting pot + establishment of the quota laws (1921) + resurection of KKK ● We will study 4 extracts from the first Section of Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos : → the first one = Chap 1 : We meet Bud Korpenning who arrives in NY full of expectations → Second doc : chap 2 : Congo and Emile 2 french guys talk about their dream to soar in the american society and become american citizens → 3rd : Jimmy arrives to NY with his mother Muddy : they come back to America after many years and the young boy is amazed by NY which he rediscovers on the 4th of july → 4th :the end of the third chapter and the beginning of the 4rth show a more realistic and pessimistic vision of immigration which contrasts with Jimmy’s wealth as he’s grown up and seems to have succeeded -> What characterizes an immigrant who comes to the US ? Why can we say that immigrants are both dreamers and fighters ? To what extent does the American Dream fall flat as soon as they discover the reality of the American way of life ?

I.

The immigrant a true dreamer who believes deeply in the American dream 1. DREAM BIG : if you work hard you can do it ! - Determination +hope ?

→ ext 1 : 1st paragraph (which sets an atmosphere) “Men and women press through the manure smelling wooden tunnel of the ferryhouse” // battle to come reach the American dream + impression they are numerous + no name → anybody can succeed - But Bud is determined : “I kin work all right. I’m a good worker” : 2 short sentences to same same thing + argument = is motivation → shows he believes in him and his dream and the A. Dream (// can do spirit) → ext 2 : American dream : “I’m through with this dog’s life” → “j’fou l’camp a NY” : city of prosperity where you are able to soar = DETERMINED (common point with Bud + doesn’t hesitate to move travel through America -> TRANSITION : opportunity -> photo : Immigrants working : immigrants poor and hardworking : They took jobs paving streets, laying gas lines, digging subway tunnels, and building bridges and skyscrapers + new factories, where conditions could be dangerous. jobs, even if they were hard, represented an opportunity (better than before) -

City of opportunities

→ ext 1 : concentration of the pop → first thing he asks = how to go to the city Broadway = “center of things” that is to say where you can find everything you need to live happily = place of prosperity = the place where anything is possible and where you can dream and soar in society chill having fun → ext 2 : + Wishful thinking : “after we’re rich, we’ll have plenty, plenty of everything” = a bit too enthusiastic about the future + repetition of “plenty” and association to “everything” proves he associates to the USA and NY the image of the paradise, the land of plenty of abundant wealth //Lockian philosophy : land milk + honey + Opposition to France + “rotten and stinking Europe” : USA : origins don’t matter, the only criteria to succeed and be integrated is your motivation and your ability to work and progress → idealistic vision of USA = A Dream

+ Place of business too : “they don’t want to fight people they want to do business with them” : americans are pragmatic + open minded as long as they can gain something + Then emile “looks west” : quite symbolic : = where the boat goes + //gold rush and pushing the frontier further

MACRO : -> current expression : “In America, a fellow can get ahead” // American Dream -> embodied in the expression “from rags to riches” (19th century fiction writer, Horatio Alger) 2. America will accept you for who you truly are - Multiculturalism → ext 1 : Diversity of people : Bud, the violinist , young man wearing blue and white (probably a sailor who knows NY really well), redhaired man behind the counter (a cooker) → ext 2 : Mix of languages : french + english : multiculturality of the USA (in florida there are french people) → ext 3 : → multicultural : lots of people, yes, but even better = all different ! Ex : Billy Jones = NYker ; there are “colored men in brass buttons”, “ a stout man with rings on his fingers - a jew” (because he is wealthy ? cliché ?); but also Muddy and Jimmy = am who’ve grown up in a foreign country or other city than NY + We can imagine that the crowd of people on the boat = immigrants of different origins too + shows well the waves of immigrants at that time MACRO : -> What is an American citizen ? // Crèvecoeur -> “individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of man” -> More than 30 languages were spoken at Ellis Island -

Newyorkers’ helpfulness and goodwill

→ ext 1 : “Its looks that count in this city” : importance of appearances NY the competition is fierce since everybody comes to the same place to find a job like him ADVICE FROM AN UNKNOWN → ext 3 : BUT even she has expectations concerning AM “I guess they’ll all be down to meet us” : vision of a welcoming pop (Muddy) -> Multiculturalism + their goodwill favors their integration

3. Outstanding America - Admiration for American culture (excitement) → ext 3 : → Repeats twice : “is it REALLY the 4th of july ?” and then says it is = he can’t believe what’s happening adverb really → “Jimmy’s hands are cold and he is chugging and chugging inside” : contrast : body exhausted but soooo excited + //falling in love with this country -

Symbols

→ ext 3 : series of Symbols of Am : rich culture -> → list effect : Governors island, Brooklyn Bridge, Battery park, Spire of trinity church Most famous : → Fourth of july + the party associated to it : new yorkers are kind of recreating the atmosphere of the revolution and the “war of the rev” by reading the Declaration of Indep which was written on this day + using “horses” + a “cannon cracker” → Statue of liberty :”liberty enlightening the world” IMPORTANT the first monument immigrants see + perpetuates the image of democracy, land of opportunities, peace, happiness … Macro : words written on the statue’s pedestal : “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” (lines of poet Emma Lazarus) -> attracts the outcast -> US flag : symbol of americanism -> “Yankee Doodle” : old song, started as a pre-revolutionary song and was sung by British soldiers to make fun of the disorganized “Yankees” (pejorative) -> became a song of defiance, became a song of national pride rather than an insult // The Yankee Doodle Boy, patriotic song from a Broadway musical (Little Johnny Jones) -

Will to become an Am citizen

→ ext 2 : “A man has a right to choose his country” → liberal + american value + anybody can become american : this country is wide open + you are the master of your life you choose your life and you have to dream big + use of present simple = general truth : America has universal values -> American by heart → ext 3 :

→ Jimmy can’t wait to become a true Am citizen + LOVE and EXCITEMENT for Am culture: - wants to have “the silk Am flag” (the one and only) like Billy Jones (= Incarnation of the Newyorker

II.

The fight to reach his goals despite the multiple obstacles the immigrant must face : disillusion 1. First difficulty : the travel and arrival to the US : entering the country -

Travel (exhaustion, body damage, long journey)

→ ext 3 : “hot eyes and aching legs” = symptoms of the traveller who is amazed by the many things he is able to see but tired and keeps walking miles and miles all day long → ext 4 : e :1st paragraph : description of a poor immigrant : “his feet could barely stumble”: same symptoms than jimmy but here the wonderful aspect of NY isn’t present to lift the level back up) Macro : journey across the Atlantic ocean 2 to 4 weeks depending on the weather ; bad hygiene on the boat -

quitting Ellis Island to have access to the city

Not evoked in the different texts But important step of the journey: MACRO : -> Liberty Island and Ellis Island (1892-1954)) : before in the south of Manhattan : immigration center “The Castle Garden” -> New yorkers complained about the immigrants, changed it to Ellis Island (east of NY harbor, north of statue of liberty) : isolate diseases, 29 questions, show identity, country of origin, change currency -> 1 day to 1 month Angel island (west of US) , Asian immigrants -> 3 weeks to 2 years, destroyed by a fire -> moved to San Francisco -> F  or most people, Ellis Island was the "Isle of Hope." But for the unfortunate few who failed the health or legal inspections, it was the "Isle of Tears. -> BUT 1920’s : Quota Laws (1921 and 1924) because of the Great depression + isolationism bc of the war looming in Europe : many immigrants rejected at Ellis Island -> In 1921, the Emergency federal legislation imposed limited immigration through the establishment of quotas. First signs of chosen immigration appeared in 1924 with the Johnson-Reed Act, favoring immigrants from Northern and Western Europe, discriminating immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe and the rest of the

world (already restrictive measures against the Chinese (since 1882), the Japanese (1907)) -> looking for ethnic balance but created the idea of “preferential immigration” : “old stock” immigrants accepted (of Anglo-Saxon origin) and Southern and Eastern European immigrants were cut back : Southern limited to 22 000 per yer afterwards (-97%) and Western + Northern Europeans still 140 000 per year

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2. Second difficulty : the integration and the climb of the social ladder (how to stand out ?) Concrete difficulties as a foreigner + Fear of the unknown + language barrier

→ ext 4 : some immigrants seem way poorer and weaker than jimmy and his mother - “old woman with a blue handkerchief”= “muttering + whimpering hoisted herself painfully onto the back of the wagon” suffers + speaks italian in a real complaint - “old man” = “face lined and twisted like the root of a dead oak” = exhausted = damaged + saying over and over something she couldn’t understand” ---> impression that he‘s lost his mind and not understandable //tower of babel ! people are unable to understand each other as they speak different languages = one obstacle of immigration REALITY : integration is harder than people think and that what the A dream shows and here the melting pot theory and the unity through diversity isn’t visible -

Disillusion of the new yorker-to-be : World of appearances + The fierce competition and the question of money + Finding one’s way in this huge and overpopulated place

In the first 3 extracts : there’s a character who’s here to bring back the dreamers to reality and symbolize disillusion : → Doc 1 : redhairedman explains “Its looks that count in this city” s as the redhaired man remembers Bud the jobseeker that the competition is fierce since everybody comes to the same place to find a job like him and that’s why appearances are so important : need to have a great reputation to survive succeed in NY, the city that never sleeps → ext 2 : Congo : same he is down to earth since the only thing he thinks about when emile talks about leaving to NY is the cost of a woman there… shows their ECONOMIC ISSUE → ext 3 : mother Muddy :”You mustn’t get too excited” → calling Jimmy back to reality → ext 4 : CONTRAST between Jimmy’s position in society : succeeded as =wealth rich whereas other migrants are poor deprived of everything

-> different treatment depending on where you were from : discrimination Naturalization Act of 1870 : Japanese discriminated and could not become citizens but Blacks could + America is not accepting towards different cultures : > Not melting pot but salad bowl : Arthur M. Schlesinger (historian, 1992) “For a long time the Anglo-Americans dominated American culture and politics. The pot did not melt everybody, not even all the white immigrants.” : + aggressive "Americanization" campaigns -> Henry Ford was a leading exponent of the movement, declaring that "these men of many nations must be taught American ways, the English language, and the right way to live." : forced immigrant workers at his automotive factories to attend lengthy Americanization courses, in which they were schooled in the English language and Ford's conservative ideology. Any Ford employee who failed to maintain a middle-class American lifestyle that met Ford's standards could lose his job

Conclusion: -

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4th of July : symbol of americanism, american identity -> today, many naturalisation ceremonies during the 4th of July : 2018, 14 000 became US citizens + Today, 13% of the US citizens that is to say 43 million people are foreign born : highest rate in the world However, America doesn’t seem as open as it was before : Trump : example of the muslim bans (immigrants from 7 african countries would have been rejected if the decree hadn’t been declared unconstitutionnal) + will to make a wall between the US and Mexico Moreover, In 2014, 80% of Americans believed that it was more difficult to achieve the American Dream than it was ten years ago : 72% of them thought it was because of the cost of healthcare and education -> American dream = soft power that is slowly declining ?

 Painting : The Temptation of Saint Anthony, Salvador Dali, 1946 + Satire of the American Dream

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