What does "golden door" mean in the poem "The New Colossus"?

“Golden Door,” in the poem href="http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/new-colossus">“The New Colossus”
by Emma Lazarus represents a few meanings in relation to the subject matter of the
sonnet. One meaning is that those who have suffered poverty and hunger in their
respective homelands because of oppression now have a golden door of real opportunity
opened to them in the land of the free (the United States of America) where they have
now arrived. The golden door is a beacon of promise beckoning immigrants to embrace a
new land and all it offers.

Another meaning of the golden
door is that anything worthwhile is worth fighting and working hard for, and gold is
emblematic of something of worth. Therefore, the golden door represents all that is
right and proper about America. The opportunity that America affords must be sought
diligently and when success is attained it must be cherished like gold – the gold of the
golden door that is the entrance into a free land that rewards hard
work.

Another meaning of the golden door is that it is like
the pearl of great price. When one sees the value of coming to America and beginning a
new life, it is often necessary to give up the ties and baggage of a past life in
another country where one suffered hardship and even deprivation and humiliation. The
golden door represents forsaking much to attain that great pearl – freedom in a land
that respects individual freedom and promotes it
diligently.

One other meaning of the golden door is that it
represents a new way of thinking. It represents a changed mindset in the person who has
taken the initiative to try a new land and new way of life. The golden door can
represent this person’s optimistic view of what life in a free land is all about. The
golden door is symbolic of the hope in the person’s mind, which causes him or her to
take brave action to change their destiny.

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