Statue of Liberty: Historical Reality and Mythology

T E X T S

Decline of US fundamental cultural mythologem (melting-pot) due to multicultural turn in the national self-identification

Unit 7

Main Idea: in the last third of the 20^th c. the concept of assimilating heterogeneous elements in US population gave way to the idea of equality of cultures of diverse (racial and ethnic) groups inhabiting the USA and preservation of their cultural originality

Main Issues:

- Changes in US demographic situation

- Results of Civil rights movement for American public thought and social practices,

- Impact of postmodernist idea of plurality on shaping multicultural mentality,

- Criticism of multiculturalism from conservative and liberal perspectives.

- Substitution of new (diverse) mythologies for old ones.

Key Concepts:

v assimilation – асиміляція

v Statue of Liberty – Статуя Свободи

v multiculturalism – мультикультуралізм

v plurality – множинність

v diversity – (культурне) розмаїття

v minorities – меншини

v E pluribus unum – “З багатьох – єдине” (державний девіз США)

v melting pot – “плавильний тигель”,

v “salad bowl” – “полумисок з салатом”,

v “patchwork quilt” – “клаптикова ковдра”

v “vegetable soup” – “овочевий суп”

v self-identity – самоідентичність

v Gum San - «Золота гора» (Chinese 19^th c. name for US)

v Astlan; La Llorona; La Malinche – образи з мексикано-американської міфології

“The state, and by implication the nation-state, relies on symbols, which represent it in condensed form. They can be found in monuments, ceremonies, songs, public spaces, buildings and institutions. To the extent that they are accepted by their target population, they form part of the national myth and ritual…To the extent that they also evoke the vague and variously interpreted emotive idea of a national identity, they still maintain all the powerfully enigmatic nature of symbolism proper” (Manfred Beller).

The statue of Liberty – “Liberty enlightening the world” – follows centuries of tradition in this country of representing America as an allegorical female. Emphasis on neoclassical goddess. “Before “America” became a toga-clad goddess called “Liberty” or her other common name, “Columbia”, this country was depicted in the form of a beautiful half-naked Indian princess. Even earlier, in the maps of the first European discovery, the Western hemisphere was depicted as a voluptuous but savage Indian Queen riding an alligator or an armadillo”. During the war of independence – evolution towards robed figure with her Liberty pole and cap. Concept of liberty like a mother. You could even say it comforted them enough to embolden the break from their former mother country, also depicted in many of these scenes as a woman: the goddess Britannia. After the 1820s the visual personification of the US began to transform into more masculine characters, such as Yankee Doodle and Uncle Sam, but the image of Liberty as an American goddess did not fade out entirely (102-103). Maker of the statue – Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) (his mother is believed to be the model for the statue). Emma Lazarus wrote the poem “The New Colossus” (1883) to raise money for the pedestal. Transitional “Columbia” – from Indian princess to Liberty. Lineage from Isis – as two female goddesses, Liberty and Isis share the idea of the archetype of female. Mother connections: “this Liberty is like a mother who loves all her children equally, including all the poor refugees; she impartially gives liberty to all”.

The Crown of Light – spiritual enlightenment, transmutation of ignorance into knowledge.

Seven rays in the crown. The torch in her right hand. – “light”. Emma Lazarus was moved by the connection of the light to education, which she believed could dispel all the darkness of ignorance that caused prejudice (125). A giver of light. “The two symbols of light from both Liberty’s torch and a crown can be interpreted as her having an elevated awareness opened up to the spiritual worlds”.

The tablet is in her left hand (it has the date – July 4, 1776) – the birth of independence as a nation and at the same time the Law on which this republican experience was founded. Book – “the book of Life” or the record of all things. “many cultures around the world speak of a book or hall of records, which can be accessed from a spiritual plane or altered state to reveal past events, probable futures, and individual soul or life records”. Thrown off chains – bondage of religious and political oppression.

Summary: “We have the crown of seven rays that could refer to the seven seas or continents, but in esoteric symbolism we see seven as the symbol of the victory of spirit over matter. The torch raised in Liberty’s right hand is wisdom (the torch) activated (right hand) by our recognition of the feminine principle within each of us. The tablet or book can be compared to the book of divine law or the Akashic record, which not only notes the thoughts and actions of all living things from inception, but also interacts with our present and affects our future. The broken chain symbolizes both a people winning their freedom and the ability to break our bondage to the physical world and control our personal destiny”.

(From R. Hieronimus with L. Cortner, The United Symbolism of America/ Deciphering Hidden Meanings in America’s Most Familiar Art, Architecture & Logos N.Y., 2008)

The New Colossus: Poem on the Statue of Liberty pedestal

Emma Lazarus' famous lines caught our national imagination and continue to inspire the way we think about freedom and exile today. Written in 1883, her celebrated poem, "The New Colossus," is engraved on a plaque in the Statue of Liberty. Over the years, the sonnet has become a part of American culture, serving as everything from an Irving Berlin show tune to a call for immigrants' rights.

One of the first successful Jewish American authors, Lazarus was part of the late nineteenth century New York literary elite, and was celebrated in her day as an important American poet. In her later years, she wrote bold, powerful poetry and essays protesting the rise of anti-Semitism and arguing for Russian immigrants' rights. She called on Jews to unite and create a homeland in Palestine before the title Zionist had even been coined.

The New Colossus

1 Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame (a)
2 With conquering limbs astride from land to land; (b)
3 Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand (b)
4 A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame (a)
5 Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name (a)
6 Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand (b)
7 Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command (b)
8 The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. (a)
9 "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she (c)
10 With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, (d)
11 Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, (c)
12 The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. (d)
13 Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, (c)
14 I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

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