TERMINALES STI - DON'T SEND ME BACK - FIN DU COMMENTAIRE
« DON’T SEND ME BACK »
PART III AND CONCLUSION
1. Vocabulary.
To put on: to pull up
Trousers: pants
To look at somebody fixedly: to stare at
To succeed: to pass
2. Comment.
Jacob is still panicked in the end of the meeting with the doctor Carl Travers. He goes on (continues) speaking quickly, making a lot of mistakes and sentences with no verbs or auxiliaries. The doctor finds the situation funny = the fact that he is so panicked and stressed makes Carl Travers laugh.
Jacob keeps repeating that his wound was caused by a hunting accident in Russia but the doctor obviously doesn’t believe him; especially when he says “I have the funny feeling you were what they were hunting…” . In fact, we understand that Jacob was the prey of the Russian “hunters” (=soldiers). He was hunted by soldiers and they shot him like a rabbit, that’s how he got his wound. The doctor is open-minded and understanding towards Jacob and his fear of being sent back to Russia. Even if he understands the origin of Jacob’s wound, he decides to let him enter the American territory and Jacob asks him to repeat (“you mean I pass”) because he can’t believe it.
This text is a clear illustration of millions of immigrants who landed on Ellis Island during one century (from the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century). Through the story of Jacob, we understand what the immigrants had to undergo when they arrived on Ellis Island (fear, anguish, medical inspection, humiliation and separation for many of them). Ellis Island stopped being an inspection station and a gateway for immigrants in 1934.
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