After scouring the internet in search for an appropriate source for this week’s blog task I eventually came across http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/, a site which is aimed at giving teachers the resources to inform their students about a variety of subjects but also gives students a chance to learn interactively. Within this site I was lucky enough to discover a fantastic page dedicated to immigration, giving students a run-through of immigration from the 1900s to the present day. The sub-section that caught my attention was one named 'Coming to America: Meet Seymour Rechtzeit who arrived in 1920'. This section leads to an eight step guide to Seymour's journey to America.
As early as the first step of the sequence, it is clear that the writer of the section wants to allow the reader connect with Seymour, establishing a tangible feel to the boy's story, therefore having a more profound effect on the student reading the story. This is evident in an extensive back story of the child's, beginning with the short introduction "My name is Seymour Rechtzeit and I was born in Lódz, Poland, in 1912". This shows the importance of immigration in the eyes of the site, and its willingness to inform and educate its readers, despite their age. Further forward in Seymour's introduction, it becomes clear that another layer of information is added to the lesson on immigration. When he states that "My family decided that I should come to America, where there would be more opportunities for me", the American Dream sensation becomes identifiable. This strongly suggests that immigration is going to be presented as something positive and encouraging in the story, and that it was a good era of US History.
The way in which the story is split into eight sections is both highly symbolic and very efficient. By progressing from 'Good-bye Poland' to 'Star of Yiddish Theater', the association between immigration and success is once again explored, further creating the image of this period of immigration being very positive. Sections in between the start and end such as 'Stuck on Ellis Island' further symbolise the plight of Immigrants in their search for the American Dream. This idea that Seymour has had to work hard to become the 'Star of Yiddish Theater' strongly associates itself with the ideal way of American living through hard work. This shows no disparity between Immigrants and Americans in the eyes of the writer.
Despite the heavily positive portrayal of Seymour and his family as well as other immigrants, the story is clearly been strongly sensationalised. The idea that a young immigrant can almost immediately become a star of theater after arriving in America is very rare. It could be suggested that the way in which the writer of the piece depicts Seymour as a random, average example of an immigrant misinforms the reader, and perhaps they should be learning instead about the more common examples of immigrant living. These would tell the reader that most Eastern European immigrants found themselves living in Ghettos in New York on a weak income, living in poor conditions. On one hand it is understandable that the writer depicts immigration as wonderful, through this inspiring story, but it is also very important to show the other side of immigration which suggests that the period between 1880 and 1930 was a difficult and treacherous one.
As early as the first step of the sequence, it is clear that the writer of the section wants to allow the reader connect with Seymour, establishing a tangible feel to the boy's story, therefore having a more profound effect on the student reading the story. This is evident in an extensive back story of the child's, beginning with the short introduction "My name is Seymour Rechtzeit and I was born in Lódz, Poland, in 1912". This shows the importance of immigration in the eyes of the site, and its willingness to inform and educate its readers, despite their age. Further forward in Seymour's introduction, it becomes clear that another layer of information is added to the lesson on immigration. When he states that "My family decided that I should come to America, where there would be more opportunities for me", the American Dream sensation becomes identifiable. This strongly suggests that immigration is going to be presented as something positive and encouraging in the story, and that it was a good era of US History.
The way in which the story is split into eight sections is both highly symbolic and very efficient. By progressing from 'Good-bye Poland' to 'Star of Yiddish Theater', the association between immigration and success is once again explored, further creating the image of this period of immigration being very positive. Sections in between the start and end such as 'Stuck on Ellis Island' further symbolise the plight of Immigrants in their search for the American Dream. This idea that Seymour has had to work hard to become the 'Star of Yiddish Theater' strongly associates itself with the ideal way of American living through hard work. This shows no disparity between Immigrants and Americans in the eyes of the writer.
Despite the heavily positive portrayal of Seymour and his family as well as other immigrants, the story is clearly been strongly sensationalised. The idea that a young immigrant can almost immediately become a star of theater after arriving in America is very rare. It could be suggested that the way in which the writer of the piece depicts Seymour as a random, average example of an immigrant misinforms the reader, and perhaps they should be learning instead about the more common examples of immigrant living. These would tell the reader that most Eastern European immigrants found themselves living in Ghettos in New York on a weak income, living in poor conditions. On one hand it is understandable that the writer depicts immigration as wonderful, through this inspiring story, but it is also very important to show the other side of immigration which suggests that the period between 1880 and 1930 was a difficult and treacherous one.
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