America in the Age of the Titans: The Progressive Era and World War I

4. A Future out of the Past: The New Immigration

• CHAPTER FOUR A Futur e ou t o f the Pas t The Ne w Immigratio n ON DECEMBE R IO , 1910 , th e Metropolita n Oper a gav e th e world premie r o f an opera b y th e most famou s livin g Ital ian composer , Giacom o Puccini . The Girl of the Golden West was a romanti c melodram a se t i n a gold-minin g cam p i n Californi a at th e tim e o f th e gol d rush . I t wa s performe d b y a brilliant cas t led b y th e world' s leadin g tenor , Enric o Caruso , an d Emm y Destinn an d Pasqual e Amato , unde r th e bato n o f Artur o Tosca nini . I t me t wit h a rapturous respons e an d th e compose r himsel f took fifty-tw o curtai n calls . The heroine , Minnie , i s th e miners ' schoolteache r o n Sunday s and th e hostes s o f a mining cam p saloo n a t night . I t i s sh e wh o provides th e driven bu t homesic k miner s wit h emotiona l suppor t during crises . When she falls for th e handsome but notorious bandi t Ramerrez, alia s Dic k Johnson, sh e protect s him , first, fro m th e sheriff, lasciviou s gamble r Jack Ranee , wagin g hi s life in a crooked card gam e and , then , fro m th e miner s wh o ar e read y t o lync h him. I n th e en d th e miner s agre e t o fre e Ramerrez . No t leas t o f his crime s i s th e thef t o f Minnie' s affection . Ye t whe n sh e re minds the m o f he r man y kindnesse s t o them , the y ar e move d and le t hi m g o awa y wit h her . A FUTURE OU TO F THE PAST: THE NEW IMMIGRATIO N • 14 5 Children of the Wind. New immigrant s abou t t o arriv e i n Ne w York , huddle d togethe r o n board shi p in 1906 , exhibit a mix of curiosity an d bewilderment. Th e central tri o o f apprehensiv e wome n offer s a photographer's variatio n on a traditional artisti c them e o f th e Thre e Graces . (Librar y o f Con gress ). Whatever it s limitations a s music drama, The Girl of the Golden West can b e seen a s a metaphor fo r th e experience o f new immi grants wit h th e Unite d State s i n whic h Minni e represent s th e American dream . Sh e is an objec t o f desir e wh o share s th e min - 146 • AMERICA I N TH E AGE OF THE TITANS ers' want s an d worries . "Ther e i s n o sinner/fo r who m ther e i s no possibilit y o f redemption. " Thi s i s th e promis e tha t drive s immigrants t o America . Ye t sh e is an idealized figur e se t agains t a dark background ; th e obsessive searc h o f a community fo r ma terial riches , represente d b y th e gol d tha t "poison s th e bloo d o f those wh o loo k a t it." Moreover , th e little mining communit y i s torn b y ethni c rivalrie s an d th e las t ac t focuse s o n a lynch mob , another fac t o f America n life . I t seem s tha t Puccin i an d hi s li brettists ar e awar e tha t eac h immigran t grou p fear s competitio n from th e nex t arrivals . I t i s onl y whe n th e minin g immigrant s realize tha t th e essence of the American drea m i s a universal wel come , tha t the y ca n...