Summary Of Kevin Prufer's Immigration

In “Immigration” by Kevin Prufer, a boy embarks on a new life leaving behind his past. Through a tragic event his plane comes down into the airport parking lot in Miami. He lands on a couple’s car with their young son who wouldn’t forget this tragic moment. The death of an immigrant represent more than death, but rather than a lost dream and opportunity that he has and is capture through imagery, symbolism, and a significant shift of mood. Imagery gives context and allows the readers to visualize the situation they interpret. The first stanza allows the readers to visualize specific moments as “When the wheels came down over Miami.”(1). The thought of an airplane crashing down over an airport can be loud and harsh to the ears showing what
is being built up. This line is essential and the element of imagery allows the readers to see what's going on. Apart from mentioning any location beside Miami it shows that the boy is travelling over from a foreign country hence the title “Immigration”. The use of imagery that allows readers to make those small connections that the boy is an immigrant gives a better understanding of the poem. The tone shift in the next few lines leading up to the event “slipped from the wheel well into the blue air”(4). Prufer uses key phrases to imagine what is being shown. Using “blue air” can be looked at the immigrant being high in the air referring to the sky. The sky is often blue during the evening and by imagining this the time of day can be seen. This descriptive language in the stanza allows the readers to interpret it easier with more detail. Prufer specifically focus more on the immigrant to demonstrate that death is more complex than it seems. Death represent a dreams, opportunities, and the full life the immigrant had ahead of him. As the immigrant passes away along with those ambitions.