Ashes Of Roses

Millions of immigrants have traveled to America in hopes of a better life; however, their dreams of what their new lives will be like have not always matched up with reality, and the author takes care to depict this aspect of immigration in Ashes of Roses, for while Rose and most of her family believe in the promise of America, they also find many challenges there. This theme is first invoked when Rose recalls Emma Lazarus’s poem, “The New Colossus,” which is etched on the base of the Statue of Liberty. As their ship pulls into the harbor, she muses on the famous lines, “Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (Lazarus, Emma. “The New Colossus.” Poetry Foundation, Lines 10-11). Rose sees her own family in these words, but her tone is more ironic than it is reverent, for she states, “Well, we were poor, all right, and after two weeks crammed into the bottom of a boat with Joseph screamin’ his fool head off, we certainly qualified as tired, huddled masses” (9). Whereas the sentiment in the poem is one of welcome and comfort, the family mostly finds their treatment by Americans to be less than warm, and Rose’s wry interpretation of the poem foreshadows this discovery.