Oral Bac Anglais 2016 - Spaces and Exchanges

I am going to talk about the notion of spaces and exchanges. To this notion, I'd like to define it. These words evoke a continuous movement or circulation into a territory. The different spaces of the world are nowadays more and more connected to each other, and the exchanges can appear on many forms : information, trade, people... In order to illustrate the notion, I have chosen three documents : 2 texts and 1 picture.

My first document will be a picture of the Statue of Liberty and an extract from the poem « The new Colossus » written by Emma Lazarus in 1883. My second document is an extract from « A boy's journey » which is a real-life story. The story of one man who went through so much hardship to become American. So it's an autobiography of a well-known artist : Seymour Reichtzeit.
And my last document is an informal letter dates from 2001 and written by Haibinh Nguyen. This girl comes from Vietnam and she has been living in the United States for nine years.
Well , the documents are mainly about immigration to the United States. But what are the different aspects of immigration ?
To answer this question, it's normal to speak about immigration in America , of Ellis Island and of the Statue of Liberty. So I'm going to start with that and secondly, I am going to talk about the consequences of this immigration.

First of all, we must know that the United States is a country of immigrants who travelled far away to have a new and better life.
Since 1820 the United States has welcomed approximately 60 million immigrants from all over the world, and principally from third world countries. For instance, between 1900 and 1917, eight million immigrants crossed the Atlantic to start a new life in America. Afterward, another million immigrants arrived at Ellis Island, but America was closing the door, limiting the flood of un-american people and un-american-ideas. And as we can see with Seymour Reichtzeit, they imposed a literacy test, quotas and other. Because Seymour was a cold, he didn't know if he will be allowed into America or sent back home. In fact, Ellis island is a small island in the N-Y harbor but also it's like a port of entry. Moreover, there was the inspections has taking place in the Registry Room. In the “A Boy's Journey”, it can really see the difficulties and the hardship of “travel”.
During this long trip, immigrants were guided by the Statue of Liberty. It represents the entry into the American space. As the poem illustrates, its role is to take care of them by illuminating "the golden door". It opens on a better world for the poor and allows to start from scratch. That's why, Haibinh's parents have abandoned their lives to give a better life for their daughters or too, the family's Seymour who thought that the cild would do well in America. Finally, it is obvious that ( Il est évident que ) behind the immigration, there are hopeful and dreams in so far as ( dans la mesure où ) they are ready to occupy this new space and to integrate into the new society. In this new world, there are a chance foreveyone to succeed to prosper, to live the American Dream.

Then, the immigration is a choice. Fleeing a country, a starvation or simply to dream of a better life, these people cross the border and they become foreigners.
Now, they can live in a new environment and see better prospects, but the integration isn't always easy.
The American dream covers many aspects. As the word "dream" suggests, people don't see the hardships that must be crossed to integrate. Even if some people are well integrated ( like Hannah and Seymour ), other immigrants feel robbed ( dépossédé ) of their identity and of their culture. On the other hand ( d'autre part) they can feel excluded from this society. They are completely uprooted ( déraciné ). For example, Haibinh's parents. The father is really an example of courage and persistence because he has made sacrifices for their children but he don't complain ( se plaindre ) while ( alors que ) his native country miss it.

However, staying close to their culture, their tradition and their language, they created a plural identity. They receive and give, hence multiculturalism. Multiculturalism basically means that no culture is perfect or represents the best life and that it can therefore benefit from a critical dialogue with other cultures. In this sense multiculturalism requires that all cultures should be open, self-critical, and interactive in their relations with other each other. It's like a clash of cultures.

To conclude, the immigration has several consequences : integration, development, impacts. It is nourished by the pursuit of happiness. But beware, there are also illegal entries. Against it, walls are being built along borders to protect themselves from massive waves of immigration or undocumented. ( btw Mexico and the USA.) So far, that's what I can say about this topic.