Read this excerpt about Angel Island, an immigration station in the 1900s. Immigrants were detained for days, weeks, or months.
They underwent unpleasant health exams and interviews designed to judge whether their claims were correct. Their answers had to match those of the US citizen they claimed as a relation, or they would be deported. “They grilled us incessantly day after day,” said Don Kingman, a Chinese man who was, in fact, born in Oakland, California. At the age of five, his family moved to Hong Kong. But when he returned at age eighteen, he was sent through Angel Island. “They asked insignificant questions which were significant for them. How many steps do you have in front of your house? What did your mother have for breakfast? What is the name of your grandmother?” Aged sixteen in 1935, Lester Tom Lee immigrated to America by himself. He was detained for about two months. “The main reason I was detained so long was that my father and I gave the inspectors different dates about when I departed China,” Lee said. “The Chinese lunar calendar is about a month off from the American calendar! Aya!” Which words best describe the experiences of Don Kingman and Lester Tom Lee? entertaining, frustrating satisfying, overwhelming challenging, bewildering embarrassing, exciting HELP MEEEEEE
The Traveller is the only concrete character in the poem. The poem covers the topics of alienation and mystery, leaving questions unanswered. However, the attempts to find meaning are evident throughout the poem, although without result. But only a host of phantom listeners That dwelt in the lone house then Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
