USA Stage 6 Comp Lady Liberty - Comprehension Pack.pdf

STAGE 6 Unit focus: USA Text focus: Narrative Lady Liberty Time passes differently for me perched on my pedestal high above the bay. Over one hundred years have elapsed since I came into being and all the while, millions of people scurry below, busying themselves with their day to day lives whilst I...

STAGE 6 Unit focus: USA Text focus: Narrative Lady Liberty Time passes differently for me perched on my pedestal high above the bay. Over one hundred years have elapsed since I came into being and all the while, millions of people scurry below, busying themselves with their day to day lives whilst I look on, watching it all unfold, marvelling at how the city changes. I feel my age only in the way my skin turns gradually greener as the years pass: the effect of the air on my copper exterior they say. It may not have been deliberate but I like it and somehow it has become a defining feature along with my torch raised aloft, my crown with pointed rays like the sun and, of course, my impenetrable expression. I represent freedom to the people here but I myself am confined to this island, destined only to look on. I came here in pieces, stowed in a ship from France – a gift from the French people to commemorate the Declaration of Independence when the first states shook off British Rule and proclaimed themselves to be free. The year was 1885 and my destination was New York City, a city on the move, swelling and spilling over as more and more people arrived. I was an immigrant too then, like many others who made the same journey before and after me. I came on a journey of friendship; they came to escape poverty, war, famine and religious persecution in the hope of a better life in this new world. I saw the steamships arrive, the steerage decks crammed with desperate souls fighting seasickness, illness and discomfort as they travelled across the ocean. Their eager faces emerged, inhaling fresh air in this unfamiliar place and their eyes were drawn unfailingly to me – a potent symbol of the freedom they dreamed of finding. Millions came - from Ireland, Italy, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Syria and elsewhere. They clutched their papers and joined queues, inching slowly forward to be inspected and judged. Then, with a stamp and a nod, they were welcomed and set free into the city. They tumbled into a city that was thriving – buzzing with optimism for the future and wearing its confidence proudly. It was a city of trade, the Hudson River teeming with cargo ships making their way in and out of port: cotton from the plantations in the south destined for the mills in Manchester and other English northern cities; the finished textiles imported Rea und e um http://www.literacyshedplus.com C u r r ic ul Th all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed A ding ro back again. Today, cargo ships have been replaced by pleasure crafts, carrying tourists around the bay for a chance to get a closer look up at me. They used to gaze upwards, shielding their eyes from the glare of the sun, then they peered at me through the lens of a camera squashed against their faces, now they look at me through the screens of smartphones sometimes facing away from me and not towards – a selfie, I hear. Now I look at a city which has stopped growing outwards and has come to grow upwards instead: there are only so many people that can be squeezed next to each other before the only option is to stack them high. The skyline has changed as skyscrapers have competed to climb ever higher and higher, reaching upwards to declare themselves the tallest. Meanwhile, people come and go, they are born, they grow up and they work for their slice of the American dream and then they grow old and die. Only I remain - I, and the changing city below. INFERENCE FOCUS 1. ‘all the while, millions of people scurry below, busying themselves with their day to day lives whilst I look on’ What does this suggest about how the statue perceives the people? 2. How can we tell that the statue feels sorry for the immigrants arriving on the ships? 3. How do the immigrants feel as they first arrive in New York? Give evidence for your answer. 4. The immigrants are described as tumbling into the city. What impression does this give? 5. What evidence is there that the statue finds modern tourists puzzling? R V V R S VIPERS QUESTIONS Where did the statue come from? Find and copy a word that means powerful. What does the word ‘teeming’ suggest about the river? What product is traded through New York? Summarise the changes that the statue has seen. all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com