Ellis Island

Thematically, “Ellis Island” opens conversations about journeying to another place, the problems immigrants face upon their arrival in a new country, and the hope and opportunities life in a new country offers to immigrants. At first, the speaker expresses a type of awe at Ellis Island’s symbolism and structure. The speaker subtly acknowledges that one must look “Beyond the red brick” (Line 1). The speaker does this, and as they do, they see “the two Slovak children / who became my grandparents” (Lines 2-3). The speaker imagines the challenges these children faced as foreigners arriving in America, including “the long days of quarantine” (Line 4). This imagining is a subtle commentary on the procedures, including quarantine, immigrants had to follow when they entered Ellis Island. The speaker’s tone is one of gratitude. They reflect on how America offered their grandparents an escape from an unidentified “sickness” (Line 5) and “the Empires of old Europe” (Line 6). The word “Empires” (Line 6) implies imperialism and oppression, giving the sense that the “Slovak children” (Line 2) escaped a country whose government threatened their freedom and lives. Likewise, “sickness” (Line 5) and “quarantine” (Line 4) refer to the literal plagues and epidemics immigrants sought to escape but could also refer to a more figurative sickness at the core of European culture. The need to quarantine also alludes to a type of cleansing, or detox from the old world, as the children entered their new American life.

In the next stanza, the speaker states, “Like millions of others, / I too come to this island” (Lines 14-15). This visit to the island allows the speaker to reflect on their identity and personhood in the context of not only their family, but also America’s story. In returning to Ellis Island after almost a century, the speaker describes themselves as “nine decades the answerer / of dreams” (Line 16-17). The speaker again emphasizes the hope and opportunity that entry into and through Ellis Island offered millions of immigrants, including themselves; the speaker as grandchild has achieved the grandparent’s dreams of owing “forests and meadows” (Line 10).

This culmination of a dream is contrasted in the final stanza, in which the speaker makes a stark observation: “Yet only part of my blood loves that memory” (Line 18). This line shifts the poem to the speaker’s recognition that they embrace their European identity only half-heartedly. The speaker begins focusing on their Native identity: “Another voice speaks / of native lands / within this nation” (Lines 19-21). The speaker reveals their Native identity and the conflict their European identity poses with their Native one. At this point, the poem transforms into a reflection about the complexities the speaker experiences because of their multi-ethnic identity. The speaker reveals their mixed emotions which stem from the fact that as Europeans immigrated to the United States, Native people lost their lands because of colonialism. In contrast to the America of lands waiting to be owned by incoming immigrants, the speaker describes, “Lands invaded / when the earth became owned” (Lines 22-23). The speaker emphasizes the violent conflicts between white European culture’s values and the Native cultures’ values. The speaker continues to describe this other America, with “Lands of those who followed / the changing Moon, / knowledge of the seasons / in their veins” (Lines 24-27). In these lines, the speaker not only imagines the lifestyle their Native ancestors lived, but they also express mourning that European colonization destroyed that lifestyle. Here Bruchac juxtaposes a passive America, waiting to be possessed in the first stanza, with one before it was “invaded” (Line 22) and “owned” (Line 23); this land is simply inhabited by a people who are close to nature without possessing it, as the seasons move within them and without them. The speaker embraces the freedom and community, the connection to the land and nature that their Native ancestors enjoyed prior to colonization.

As the poem concludes, the speaker expresses a longing for the past. However, they do not long for the past of their European ancestors. Instead, they long for the past of their Native ancestors. The speaker concludes the poem with the statement, “in their veins” (Line 27). In this line, the speaker acknowledges their ancestors’ formidable spirit of survival. The speaker also recognizes that they too carry that spirit, which seems unbreakable, even after many long centuries of oppression. The poem’s final line also acts as the speaker’s acknowledgement that they carry the painful histories of both ancestries within them. The speaker also recognizes that they empathize with and identify with one part of their self more than they do the other, but they also understand that both identities compose who they are as an individual. This personal revelation might also be read as a broader revelation about the identity of America itself—like the speaker, America’s identity is defined by the overlapping of Native experiences and European immigrant stories that continue to coexist and seek reconciliation today.