The Speaker
The speaker in “The Émigrée” is a woman forced to leave her country of origin due to political instability, war, and tyranny. She left this country as a child, but the passage of time does not break her childhood association of her country with warmth and innocence. Though the speaker faces segregation and discrimination in the present day, she continues to associate her place of origin with sunlight.
The Tyrants
A tyrant is a cruel and oppressive ruler. The speaker receives news (through media or hearsay) that her country is “sick with tyrants,” showing the way that war, political instability, and corruption impact a place and its people. The speaker is prohibited from returning to her country due to human-created borders and rules of travel.
The Speaker's City
Though the speaker cannot travel to her city due to not having a passport, her city can travel to her through her imagination. The city is personified as a docile figure, relying on the speaker for affection and protection. The speaker acts maternally towards the personified city, combing its hair and loving its shining eyes. The speaker herself was a child when she left this city, but now the city appears to the adult speaker as a child or perhaps a pet. When an unidentified group of figures threatens the speaker, she stands in front of her city. Despite this threat, the speaker sees her shadow as evidence of her city’s sunlight. This represents the speaker’s ongoing affection for her city of origin.
The Threatening "They"
Towards the end of the poem, an unidentified group surrounds the speaker and accuses her of absence and darkness. They are referred to only as “they,” showing the way that the speaker is in the dark about those who now dominate her city. Despite their threats, the speaker ultimately focuses on her warm association with her city.
