The Orphan of Ellis Island

Ellis Island is an important symbol in American history and identity. Located in New York City, it was the processing point for millions of immigrants arriving on the East Coast of the US. Throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, regional conflicts, especially political upheavals in Europe, produced millions of immigrants looking for opportunities in America during its Industrial Age. The Orphan of Ellis Island depicts the effects of poverty in Italy. Italy in this period had no middle class; wealthy landowners with a legacy of power controlled rural Italian life in the early 20th century. There were no social structures or agencies to support young orphans, and the Candiano brothers would have experienced lifelong poverty if they had stayed in Italy. Instead, moving to New York and New Jersey allows them to become part of a different system of education, employment, and opportunity.

On January 1, 1892, Annie Moore was the first immigrant processed at Ellis Island. Annie Moore, a teenager from Ireland, represents the influx of immigrants from Ireland and other parts of Europe whose immigration to the US helped build the culture and infrastructure of America.

Although Ellis Island is still the symbol of freedom and opportunity, the Candiano brothers’ story exposes the challenges all poor immigrants at Ellis Island experienced. First, as third-class passengers on the ship to New York, the Candiano brothers are treated as steerage, and the journey exposes them to seasickness and dirty, unhealthy conditions. Second, unlike the first- and second-class passengers, the Candianos would have been subjected to a more critical investigation at Ellis Island. Ellis Island operated from 1892 until 1954 and processed approximately 12 million immigrants, but 120,000 were turned away and sent back to their home countries. Woodruff explores this tension in The Orphan of Ellis Island as the boys must make sure that they have clean shirts to change into and no signs of illness so that they can enter the US. Finally, the Candianos’ name change to Cantori at Ellis Island exemplifies the common practice of immigrants having their names altered upon arrival. Despite these obstacles, immigrants to the US saw Ellis Island as the passage to a better life.

Ellis Island is a symbolic setting in which Dominic can learn about his ancestry. The Candiano brothers’ years of poverty, struggle, and grief eventually lead their descendants to a more stable life in America. Even though Dominic is orphaned and alone, he doesn’t face the same hardships as the brothers. What’s more, the shift in the last name from Candiano to Cantori represents the changes and sacrifices of identity that immigrants to America endured. After he fled from his field trip because he was ashamed of not knowing his ancestry, Dominic’s travel through time provides him with an essential sense of identity and heritage.