Mary Antin, The Promise Land

"To be alive in America, I found out long ago, is to ride on the central current of the river of modern life; and to have a conscious purpose is to hold the rudder that steers the ship of fate".

-Mary Antin, The Promise Land

The United States of America is a country founded on immigration. Every American can always trace, one way or another, an ancestor who has come all the way from England, Ireland, China, Italy or Africa. These are our roots and the history of the United States cannot be complete without the history of the first immigrants who came to this land in search of their American Dream.

Majority of the immigrants, however, did not get the life of wealth and affluence they thought they could upon stepping on Ellis Island. Others however, with determination and hard work became legends. One of them is Andrew Carnegie, industrialist, businessman and philanthropist. In his autobiography, he described his arrival at New York which "was the first great hive of human industry among the inhabitants of which I had mingled, and the bustle and excitement of it overwhelmed me" (Carnegie 280). They travelled to Pittsburgh and settled in Allegheny City. He describes himself an optimistic person and has an "ability to shed trouble and to laugh through life" (Carnegie 3), a quality inherited from his grandfather. "A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune", he said. This was one of his most important qualities that made him pursue life with determination and purpose. Reading Carnegie's account of his rise to power makes us realize how he valued every opportunity he can get. His love of work and how he doesn't mind getting down and dirty determined his fate.

Mary Antin, an immigration rights activist, describes in her autobiography her views of America and her assimilation into the American culture. Antin also described his first experiences in America as 'bewildering'; 'America was bewilderingly strange, unimaginably complex, delightfully unexplored" (Antin 181). America was a place teeming with immigrants from all over the world. Mary Antin was a wide-eyed girl from Polotsk and having been forced by poverty to live in the slums of New York. She describes her home as the "...quarter where poor immigrants foregather, to live, for the most part, as unkempt, half-washed, toiling, unaspiring foreigners; pitiful in the eyes of social missionaries, the despair of boards of health, the hope of ward politicians, the touchstone of American democracy" (Antin 183). The Promised Land is truly a definitive immigrant book which chronicles a life of education and opportunity. This will give every American a deeper appreciation for the educational opportunities that our ancestors fought for and cherished. Simple things gave her feelings of exaltation such as the inscription, "Public Library - Built by the People - Free to All", which today, hardly elicit notice from anyone.

Rosa Cassettari on the other hand, showed a very enduring spirit, having to leave her native Lombardy in Italy to come to America in 1884, following a wave of immigration from all over the world. Rosa had to deal with an abusive husband and had to travel to Missouri to live in a mining town, against her will. Not only did her husband physically and mentally abused her but also tried to force her into prostitution. With the help of friends, she was able to escape this life, taking with her their child.

Rosa's account is a very exuberant mode of storytelling that shows her spirit and her principles. Very similar to Carnegie's sunny disposition, Rosa had dealt with life in a new land armed only with positivity. Her courage reminds us of the feminist movements and human rights groups of today that fights for the rights of women, children and the oppressed. She declares, "I wouldn't be afraid.... Me, that's why I love America. That's what I learned in America: not to be afraid" (Ets 35). Most of us take our freedom for granted but reading Rosa's account of a tortuous life under the iron will of a husband, after an excruciating journey away from her homeland, will only make us realize that we have it easy, compared to our immigrant ancestors.

Reading these autobiographies will give as a deeper understanding of how we evolved as Americans. Carnegie's autobiography gives us an insight to a life of hard work, practicality and the utilizing every opportunity we can get. Although Carnegie may have been born with the luck of being in the right place of the right time (coming to America before the Civil War and helping control the railways during that period), he shows that every situation is an opportunity (investing in oil and later on steel) and the entrepreneurial spirit that most of has have but does not utilize.

The importance of opportunity is also an important trait that is shown by Antin. Today, scholarships are the lifeline of most Americans. Mary Antin, despite her origins, made the most of her new life in America, striving hard to get into Barnard College despite being ridiculed sometimes by other people for her "foreign idiosyncrasies" (Antin 360) and later on overcoming them. Carnegie, although never formally educated cherished a life-long love for learning (he was a great Shakespeare fan), grabbing the chance to read Colonel James Anderson's books when he declared them free for everyone to read. In his lifetime, he learned from friends and experts on the best way to strengthen steel and stock market investments. Later on in life, he became a champion of education and the arts, erecting many libraries worldwide and the now famous Carnegie Hall.

Freedom, often a neglected word was very important to these immigrants. Most immigrants left the old country to escape persecution for their beliefs and way of life, most especially the Jews. The movie Hester Street shows how they try to build a new life in America, some (portrayed by the characters Gitl and Bernstein) trying vainly to preserve the old ways and live traditionally as they can. However, the couple Jack and Mamie tries to relish the freedom that America offers. They see themselves free from the bounds of traditionally arranged marriages with Jake declaring, "In America you marry for love!"

The lives of these early immigrants have to contend with obstacles that resulted to us reaping the benefits that they have sown. In the eyes of all immigrants, they are equal. Which is why today, it is difficult to consider why modern-day immigrants are treated less than Native American citizens. In terms of benefits, government protection and social acceptance, immigrants today are in essence, experiencing the same hardships that Carnegie, Antin and Cassettari faced in those early days of history. They also need to fight for better and more affordable housing, free education, and basic social services.

Modern immigrants, coming from across the globe bring with them their distinct tradition and religious beliefs, and like the Jews, are looked upon as oddities in free-thinking America. I believe that reading these autobiographies will help us gain a clearer appreciation of American life we know today and a deeper understanding of our modern-day immigrants. This country was built by immigrants for immigrants, "striving against the odds of foreign birth and poverty, and winning" (Antin 359).

Works Cited
Morton, Marian J. & Duncan Russell, Editors. First Person Past, American Autobiographies
Volume 2. USA: 2004.
Antin, Mary. The Promised Land. Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston: 1912.
Carnegie, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Boston: 1920.
Ets, Marie Hall. Rosa: The Life of an Italian Immigrant. Minneapolis: 1970.