Theme and message

Here we touch upon the main theme of the poem "Immigrants in Our Own Land" and the message of the poem.

Expectations versus Reality

The main theme of the text is that of the contradiction between expectations and reality. This is portrayed through the illusion that the life of an immigrant is like that of a prisoner.

Many times, people have high expectations regarding their future. But these very high expectations lead to disappointment when faced with the realities of life.

In this case, the immigrants hoped for a better future in a new land, but they came to realize that their lives have not changed much in a new country. In fact, it is the same or worse. Their expectations are presented directly or alluded to through the use of “dreams”:

“looking around, each with a dream in their heart,
thinking they’ll get a chance to change their lives”. (ll. 58-...