Does the immigrant migrate with more than just the luggage they carry? Scott Russell Sanders argues and contends that when mass migrations occur, not only do they bring themselves and belongings, they also bring ideas along with them. Specifically going in depth with northern America's history as it is known as the melting pot of the world. From the Spanish conquistadors to talk of interstate construction. Within Scott Russell Sanders passage he depicts the notion that migrations bring ideas by using historical allusions and the repetitive anaphora of ‘our’ in his writing.
Sanders writes with a multitude of allusions towards the history of the Americas. He specifically references the Spaniards when they forced their ideas on the natives when
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A word that he uses multiple times is ‘our’ that he uses to reference everyone in the world. Within the first couple of paragraphs, Sanders uses ‘our’ when he says, “Our Promised Land has always been over the next ridge or at the end of the trail, never under our feet” (Sanders 6-8). This specific anaphora talks of how human nature says that our happiness lies over our next venture and now what we currently are doing. This idea of living is something everyone lives, and with his argument in the whole passage is something everyone brings with them. That the next best thing is the next best place, and with them comes that idea along with what they had beforehand. Later on in the passage, he states, “ But who would pretend that a history of migration has immunized the United States against bigotry? And even if, by uprooting ourselves, we shed our chauvinism, is that all we lose?” (Sanders 40-43). This specific quote talks about Americans and questions whether or not this migration has created the tolerance of new ideas because of their diversity. He asks the reader to think and realize that the acceptance of so many cultures and ideas has made America the accepting place it is. The second line of the quote is that even if by migrated the only thing we could if at all lose would be the patriotism we have for where we are leaving. It makes the readers think and very clearly realize that ideas are taken