Maggie Madigan An Irish Immigrant's Dreams Unfulfilled

[Susan Alby]

I thought Maggie would not have survived the sinking of the Titanic by the article's dour title. Maggie suffered many hardships, but at least she was ones lucky enough to get into a lifeboat. And if she had stayed in Ireland, would her life have been any better as a working class woman? Maybe her dreams were fulfilled in coming to America?

I would have liked to have been able to read some of her letters of correspondence home to Ireland.

 

[Laura Melinda Varjo]

Hi Susan, haven't talked to you for a while!

Well,not really. Last year, in Literature class, we were discussing John Steinbeck's Mice and Men, and the "American Dream" and many men, women who newly arrived to this country, you know, hoped for the best. By best I mean, better houses than in the "Old Country", land that you can actually afford, better future for their children, education, stuff like that. Plus, I've read earlier about the fact that Maggie lost her husband and child in the Flu of 1918, so really, that is not ANYBODY wishes for coming here. So with all these hardships, and suffering, really, her dream was unfulfilled. But if HER dreams were shattered, then what happened to the dreams of all the people perished in the sinking and such ? And the dreams of Mrs. Asplund, Mrs. Laroche...? I can go on and on. We can have a book FULL of both victims and survivors, whose dreams were unfulfilled.

Laura