The Melting Pot
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The Melting Pot is a play by Israel Zangwill, first staged in 1908. It depicts the life of a Russian-Jewish immigrant family, the Quixanos. David Quixano has survived a pogrom, which killed his mother and sister, and he wishes to forget this horrible event. He composes an "American Symphony" and wants to look forward to a society free of ethnic divisions and hatred, rather than backward at his traumatic past.
Some critics of the play have taken issue with David's apparent willingness to give up his ties to Judaism in order to become "American." Although the idea of "melting" as a metaphor for ethnic assimilation had been used before, Zangwill was the first to use the term "melting pot" as a symbol for this occurrence in American society. The play did very well when it opened, and was even praised by President Theodore Roosevelt.
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