Lost in the Empire City
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Lost in the Empire City by Avi is his newest novel about a thirteen-year-old Italian immigrant boy and his family as they leave Italy and arrive at Ellis Island roughly around 1910-1912.
The first-person narration is told from Santo’s point of view as he is initially charged by his father to keep the “family safe until we are all together again” (1). Santo’s father initially immigrates to America first in order to settle and prepare a way for his family. Roughly five years pass before a letter with the tickets arrives for Santo, his mother, and two younger siblings to leave Naples, Italy for New York City, New York.
The opening of the story details much of the destitute living conditions endured in Italy along with the death of Santo’s grandfather and older sister. The family has to walk from their current location in Barraca to Naples to catch their ship. Once there, they are scared to not be allowed entry into America and sent back to Italy. Santo’s worry and stress over his family and their need to make it all together is paramount in this section of the story. Once reaching Ellis Island, the family is again separated and due to the language barrier, Santo has no idea what is happening. After two days alone outside of the ferry to Ellis Island, he ventures further inland for food and water.
It isn’t long before he is taken in by a local gang leader and becomes part of the thieving group known as the Downtown Dukes. Through a series of events, Santos ends up with another notorious thief - Mr. Ashbury. However, Mr. Ashbury’s tactics are much kinder than those of Willie, his previous gang leader. Under Mr. Ashbury, Santo is well fed, cared for, and taught to read. It is within his “employment” that Santo discovers his missing sister and through a series of events Santo is able to reunite with his mother and younger brother as well.
Avi does a nice job of allowing readers into the world of an early twentieth century immigrant coming through Ellis Island and into New York City may have been like. He chronicles the fear and the language barrier that many are sure to have experienced, in addition to the contrast between the hyperbolic promises of America and the reality many soon discovered. Regardless, the focus on hard work and strength of those early immigrants that paved the way for their later generations is clear.
Some noteworthy quotes/ points of interest:
There are many references to God and faith - some positive, some less so. For example: “Saint Pellegrino,” he replied, “taught us that miracles come to those who don’t ask for them” (11). Santo speaks to the local priest after the deaths in his family and states: “Since God won’t help,” I told him, “you, who are God’s servant, must write a letter to my Papa in America and tell him what’s happened. Tell him that if he doesn’t help, our family will disappear” (13). One of the remembered sayings of Santo’s mother repeated throughout the story is “God will help but He doesn’t hurry. Patience is a kind of prayer” (200).
There are few mentions throughout the book of suicide. The first instance is on page 46 when a man who is speaking about the possibility of being sent back to his home country that he would kill himself if that were to happen. On page 75 when Santo cannot find his father and has no idea what has happened to his sister, brother, and mother states that he “wanted to lie down and die” (75). In fairness the next line does say “I kept walking.” But there are a few references to wanting to die due to the hardships he faced.
In talking with one of the nicer boys in his gang, Santo learns about factory fires and some of the harsh realities some of the boys have faced. Toby tells him, “This city you’re either alive or dead, nothing in between. And if you’re going to die, better to do it quick. I’ve seen dead kids in the street. Least they haul you off the street and bury you somewhere quiet” (116-117). Santo goes on to think that he does not wish to die. However, on page 125 when thinking back on this conversation he thinks maybe he “should just die.”
There is a mention of a “hootchy kootchy dancer” on page 105, as well as a mention about telling “smutty jokes about girls we didn’t know” on page 127.
Willie is harsh with the boys he has in his gang and there are several mentions of violent physical and verbal abuse. No curse words are used, just words like loser and worthless.
When Santo ends up with Mr. Ashbury, he begins to wonder:
“Why did I keep meeting thieves?
Was America a land of thieves?
Then I remembered: Nonno was a thief.
Was the whole world full of thieves?
I refused to believe it” (173).
Nora states to Santo on page 189, “Everyone who comes here has a story, many like yours. They call America the Land of Promise. There’s plenty of good. But as I once heard someone say, ‘The only thing free in America is a promise.’”
On page 280-281 there is a scene where Willie is after Santo to attack him and turn him in to the police. Willie falls from a fire escape and is “lying there, twisted and utterly still.” It appears that he is still alive as he is rushed to a nearby hospital.
In the end, the mother works at a restaurant, Francesca works in a seamstress factory, and Santo in a factory making motorcar wheels. Meanwhile, the youngest is sent to school and teaches Francesca and Santo in the evenings what he learned at school. “That was something I had learned about America: it is the young who teach the old” (287).
All the characters within the novel are fictional with the exception of the villainous Lieutenant Charles Becker who is known historically to have been a crooked police officer who was actually executed in 1915 for murder. This information can be found in the Author’s Note on page 289, along with additional resources about Officer Becker.
Overall, the story has a strong pull for themes regarding family, keeping promises, and internal struggles between doing what one knows is right and the struggle to survive - ultimately landing on the hard work and a rejection of thievery. Unfortunately, the main character never knows what happens to his father, but finishes with the statement “as best I could, I kept my promise” (288).
