Tuesday’s class discussion concerned Marie Antin’s “Promised Land”. In the discussion following the pointing activity, there were common themes of citizenship, the love of America, pointed ignorance, and hindsight. It seems that Antin’s view of America as a child was skewed poisitvely in contrast to Russia, as in her writing she talks of America and George Washington as some sort of godly entity, as if America as a whole could only be full of good things and patriotic Bostonian history; and when she begins school and grows older, she is too glad to claim America as “her country”. Her shift in writing is most likely due to the distinction between the difficulty of the journey, and the impressiveness of the destination. This contrasts greatly with what was going on historically; during the time this book was written (1912), the Dillingham Report was published, establishing western European immigrants as superior to those from eastern and southern Europe, and anti-Semitic sentiments were not uncommon either. However, Antin seems to feign ignorance in these matters, and adopts a wholly patriotic stance. I believe this may have been for publishing advantage, as well as self-preservation. Her opinions must have changed from her childhood ideals as she grew older, but such thoughts were omitted from her book, as if her negative opinions would only justify negative views of the new immigrants of the time.