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In The Promised Land Mary Antin recounts her experiences as a Russian Jew who immigrates to the United States. ... One might criticize the cheerful exuberance of The Promised Land and its seeming omission of any negative aspersions towards the United States, but such criticism would miss the point of the work. ... ”[The Promised Land, XI, pg. ... The boasted freedom of the New World meant to him far more than the right to reside, travel, and work wherever he pleased; it meant the freedom to speak his thoughts, to throw off the shackles of superstition, to test his own fate, unhindered by political or religious tyranny” [The Promised Land, Chapter IX, pg. ... Antin makes very little mention of her family’s religion in The Promised Land-which is illustrative of how ancillary it was to their new national identity. ... And you will be glad to hear of it, my comrades in adoption; for it is a rehearsal of your own experience, the thrill and wonder of which your own hears have felt”[The Promised Land, Chapter XI, pg. ... I strove to conduct myself as befitted a Fellow Citizen”[The Promised Land, Chapter XI, pg 224-225]
Do American heroes have a different character than European heroes? ... ” [The Promised Land, chapter XI, pg. 225]
In a time when it is becoming easier and easier to be cynical about the United States, Antin’s The Promised Land is refreshing. ... A work like The Promised Land can help a cynic to reconnect with his sense of Nationalism (which is not necessarily a “bad word”).
Approximate Word count = 1189
Approximate Pages = 4.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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