Immigrants in Our Own Land

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1977

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.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Similarities Between Prisoners and Immigrants

The poem’s guiding metaphor consists of a series of implied similarities between prisoners and immigrants. That comparison is never explicitly stated, but it is suggested in the title and maintained throughout the poem. In fact, a reader with no previous knowledge about the poem or the author might not realize until the third of fourth stanza that the focus is on the experience of prisoners rather than immigrants. The opening description of people with “dreams in our hearts, / looking for better days ahead” (Lines 1-2) could easily apply to immigrants coming to the United States in search of freedom and opportunity. The references to “the gates” and “new papers” (Line 3) support that assumption since they could refer to an immigration checkpoint and a visa. The phrases “the new land” (Line 8) and “the old world” (Line 10) were often used to distinguish between America and Europe in the 19th and early-20th century, when most immigrants came from European countries.

It is that early wave of immigration that the poem evokes. At that time, many immigrants would arrive to an immigration inspection station, most famously on Ellis Island in New York Harbor, where they might be “given shots” and where “doctors [would] ask questions” (Line 6) to prevent infectious diseases being brought into the country. There may be “counselors” to “orient” them to American life (Line 8). Many immigrants “didn’t finish high school” (Liner 15), but some were “craftsmen” (Line 10) and “scholars” (Line 13), hoping to use their skills in the new world. Their “expectations” were “high” (Line 20), but many had “to work as dishwashers” (Line 24) or “in fields” (Line 25) or perform some other manual, poorly paid labor. In the second stanza, it becomes gradually clear that the real subjects of the poem are prisoners, who hope for “rehabilitation” (Line 21) and “to finish school” (Line 22), but instead are forced to labor “for three cents an hour” (Line 25). Still, many aspects of prisoners’ lives reflect the experience of immigrants: ethnic segregation (Lines 27-29), trying to escape “dictators” (Line 34), and discovering that “it’s no different here” (Line 38) since American society presents its own inequities, biases, and injustices. In both groups, there are those who end up disappointed and bitter, even “with hate in their eyes” (Line 65), because their hopes for a better life have been thwarted, if not extinguished.

Effects of Incarceration

In the United States criminal justice system, incarceration is meant to be both punitive and rehabilitative for most inmates. In other words, a person sentenced to time in prison is punished for the crime of which they were convicted, but they are also supposed to be given the tools of rehabilitation, the process of realizing what led to their criminal actions and how they can change their behavior to avoid reoffending. As Baca points out, “in the old word [life before prison], / they talked about rehabilitation” (Lines 21-22). Public conversations about prison emphasize its rehabilitative potential and the opportunity for inmates to “finish school” (Line 22) and learn a “good trade” (Line 23). Therefore, new inmates might begin their sentence “thinking they’ll get a chance to change their lives” (Line 59). They may hope that this will be a turning point, an experience that will wrench them away from whatever bad choices, harmful habits, or personal flaws landed them in prison. Removed from the social context that enabled or motivated their delinquency, they might be able to gain the knowledge, self-awareness, and determination needed to turn their lives around and build a better life upon their release. Maybe in prison they will be exposed to positive influences and role models they lacked before.

However, the poem shows how quickly they are disillusioned. The new arrivals’ very first sight inside the prison is of older inmates, who have already experienced prison life, which left them staring “from deep disturbed eyes, sulking, retreated” (Line 17). They have been marked by disappointment, alienation, and bitterness that the last stanza describes as the likely outcomes of incarceration. Instead of being given a good education, the inmates are compelled to engage in poorly compensated labor, whether inside the prison or elsewhere (Lines 24-25). They are neglected by “doctors [who] don’t care” (Line 39) and “learn nothing of value” (Line 40) until their “bodies decay” (Line 39) and their “minds deteriorate” (Line 40). Instead of rehabilitation and personal growth, they experience stagnation or worse. It is, thus, with a heavy heart that the speaker observes “new immigrants coming in” (Line 55), knowing that they harbor dreams like he once had, which will be dashed against the reality of prison life like his own life.

Prison as a Social Microcosm

Several details in the poem reveal that prison life reflects some key aspects of society at large. Prison can be seen as a social microcosm, which means a community or situation encapsulating in miniature the characteristics of something much larger. For example, prison encourages racial/ethnic segregation: “blacks with blacks, / poor whites with poor whites, / chicanos and indians by themselves” (Lines 27-29; the author chose not to capitalize any words in the quote). While it is understandable that in difficult situations people tend to congregate with those of a similar background, this segregation is not simply inmates’ choice. In fact, “The administration says this is right, / no mixing of culture, let them stay apart” (Lines 30-31). Those in power discourage bonding across racial/ethnic lines because the segregation and animosity between these groups fostered by segregation serves the purposes of the authorities. The more divided and mutually distrustful these groups are, the less likely they are to join their voices in a unified protest against the exploitation and humiliation they face. In saying that this is just “like in the old neighborhoods we came from” (Line 32), the poet suggests that this strategy of sowing divisions between social groups to weaken their ability to speak with a common voice of dissent permeates not only American prisons, but much of American social life in general. The poet implies that unnecessarily violent behavior from police, those “who wore blue suits” in the neighborhoods (Line 35), is replicated in the behavior of prison guards: “it’s no different here” (Line 38).