logo

17 pages 34 minutes read

Joseph Bruchac

Ellis Island

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1979

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Themes

Colonialism

The poem’s speaker contemplates and juxtaposes their European and American identity with their Native identity. The poem opens with the scene of “two Slovak children” (Line 2) who live during “the long days of quarantine” (Line 4). The children have left “the sickness” (Line 5) and “the old Empires of Europe” (Line 6). The children have arrived in America among millions of other Europeans seeking a better life in the United States. The speaker sets the influx of European immigrants in a more modern context that seems innocent and harmless, reflecting a general romanticism American culture holds for the history of Ellis Island. However, the poem’s four, center lines create not only a shift in the poem, but also reflect a recognition for the speaker: that the speaker comes from a line of white Europeans whose presence in the Americas disrupted the Indigenous peoples’ way of life.

In the final stanza, the speaker admits, “Yet only part of my blood loves that memory” (Line 18). Here, the speaker begins recognizing their Native identity, and the cost those ancestors have paid historically due to white oppression and European colonialism. The speaker states, “Another voice speaks / of native lands / within this nation” (Lines 19-21), recognizing that America is also “Lands invaded / when the earth became owned” (Lines 22-23). Within these lines, Bruchac reveals an ideological colonization, as Europeans imposed concepts like property rights and personal ownership on the land of the Native peoples, fundamentally shifting how people would relate to the land. This colonialism changes the land from a place that is occupied to one that is owned. Before this colonization, the speaker envisions the taken lands as the “Lands of those who followed / the changing Moon, / knowledge of the seasons / in their veins” (Lines 24-27). The speaker’s recognition is clear: European colonialism cost the Indigenous peoples their way of life, their language, their land, and their culture. Colonization also disrupted the ecosystems on which the Indigenous thrived, and it brought a new way of life while destroying another, effectively decimating Indigenous populations.

Immigration

The conflict in the poem “Ellis Island” arises as the speaker recognizes they have grandparents on opposing sides of history. While the poem is essentially about the “American Dream” many immigrants found after arriving at Ellis Island and entering the United States, its main theme is that this dream came at a cost to others. The speaker feels a sense of connection to the ancestors who immigrated to America, and the speaker recognizes how significant it is that they embody a fulfillment of the dream of their grandparents. They escaped the limiting structures of the Old World and a menacing “sickness” (Line 5) to finally arrive in a country where they could begin anew again. For one side of the speaker’s family, immigration is truly the beginning of a new life and rich opportunities.

However, the speaker also acknowledges a strong connection to and empathy with their Native ancestors. The speaker seems to have mixed feelings about their family’s immigration. While they appreciate that one set of grandparents came to America and were able to start a new life, the speaker also recognizes that historically, immigration has been part of America’s complex colonial history, and one that has contributed to centuries of violent and unlawful acquisition of Native lands. The speaker also struggles with the idea of ancestry and what their European ancestry means in the context of their Native ancestry, questioning how they can embrace one at the demise of the other.

Living

The speaker illustrates the American Dream by contemplating what it means to live life. The speaker talks about how their European ancestors left everything behind in order to pursue a more fruitful life with better opportunities. The speaker acknowledges that the concept of living means different things to different people and different cultures. As the speaker reflects on their European identity, they state their European ancestors had “dreams of forests and meadows” (Line 10). This parallels the connection to nature the speaker’s Native ancestors had as they lived as “those who followed / the changing Moon” (Lines 24-25). The speaker acknowledges that their Native ancestors did not find value in monetary or material wealth, but instead experienced a full life and a different concept of freedom because of their connection to Nature and to each other. The speaker embraces the idea that as a person, they live more freely and they possess self-awareness because of their understanding of their ancestry, the land, their acknowledgement of how one part of their identity historically oppressed the other part.

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text