The Long Way Home revised

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The Long Way Home
The book narrates the history of immigrants traveling from their homeland to seek refuge in the U.S.A. The immigrants are as follows: Peter Thompson from County Antrim in Northern Ireland (page 19), Epifanio Affatato from Scala Coeli in Italy, Magnus Andreas Brattesto from Norway and Antonio Pierro from Italy. The immigrants were leaving their countries due to poverty. The author says that “lands are becoming too small and farmers are suffering as they have many people to feed.” (Page 18), they feared due to lack of doctors to treat them. The immigrants were migrating to search for employment to get something in their pockets. (Page 19) they are also running away from disasters.
The voyage across the ocean was full of calm moments and dreamy reverie. People remembered sitting on the surface in the sun when the weather was mild. They were busy talking about the goodness awaiting them in America. At night they could hear songs from huddled groups. Some Jewish girls who never came cross to men could be found dancing wildly with deckhands who never spoke a word in their language. People were full of anxieties as the voyage came to an end. Some developed feelings of unhappiness and homesickness. Some of them were not sure of what they will meet where they were going (pag.34). As they were traveling, they faced challenges. Kids slept together in similar beds with their mothers. One bed could accommodate five people. They never changed their clothes for seven days.

On arrival, all the third-class passengers underwent a thorough inspection. They were then taken to Ellis Island where they took medical examination. People with better conditions than others could get deported as others received medication (Page38). The immigrants were given labels which consisted of their names and name of the ship used. During the inspection process, men were forced to separate with their families, leave their baggage behind and reclaim them after the process was completed.
Some of the problems the immigrants faced in the United States are as follows; kids did difficulty job, they worked fulltime earning pennies a day (Page 45). Additionally, the immigrants lacked skills; thus, ended up working as manual laborers who earned low wages. They were unable to communicate in English. They were not allowed to take their children to same schools as whites. It was also difficult for them to afford descent housing and medical care for their families.
The natives of the United States did not welcome the immigrants; they discriminated them by giving new immigrants hard work with low pay and racial equality was evident (page 39). Consequently, due to the increased number of immigrants, the immigration process could sometimes lead to suspicion among the native Americans who eventually become hostile towards the new immigrants.
Before World War 1 the US had a small army, which could not have faced the strong and zealous European army. The US military sergeants like Samuel Dreben and Matej Krocan, who strongly served during the war, were previously given positions in the air force. (page 46). The Sergeants were trained and qualified pilots who used different color schemes on their uniforms to describe their positions.

Work cited.
Laskin D. The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Elis Island to the Great War HarperCollins 2011