The Statue of Liberty is the central landmark of a sixth-grade field trip that turns an anticipated visit into an episode of fear and separation for the Birdsey twins. For Thomas Birdsey, the monument’s stairs are not an invitation to climb but a prospect too frightening to face; in Dominick Birdsey’s dream that night, the famous structure becomes the place where he discovers he has been trapped. The visit therefore connects a public symbol of ascent with the brothers’ private experience of confinement.

The Trip and the Monument

The twins travel by coach bus from Connecticut toward New York City for a school trip that also includes Radio City Music Hall. Dominick is eager to reach New York and to add another state to the four he has visited; Thomas especially wants to see the Radio City Easter show. The Statue of Liberty is presented as an attraction visitors can enter, not merely view from outside: Eugene Savitsky explains how objects break the sound barrier while the children discuss the stairs leading to the top. The monument’s height and interior make the prospect of going up part of the visit itself.

Thomas’s Fear and the Visit

By the time the group reaches the Statue of Liberty, Thomas is acting out of sorts. He tells Mrs. Hanka that he is too scared to climb inside, and she requires Dominick to stay below with him. The planned ascent consequently divides the twins from the rest of the excursion: while other students can approach the landmark as a climb, Thomas remains on the ground with his brother. Dominick, upset during the trip, throws gravel into the water and is yelled at by a uniformed man. Afterward, the brothers sit together on a wall and look out at the harbor. The site becomes less a completed sightseeing experience than the setting of their enforced pause together.

Dream and Narrative Significance

That night, Dominick dreams he is trapped in a small, pitch-dark cave in unfamiliar woods. He bangs and cries for help, then finds a way out and realizes that the apparent cave is actually the inside of the Statue of Liberty. The dream does not describe another event at the monument; it transforms the day’s destination into an image of confinement and escape. Its reversal—from an unknown cave to a recognizable landmark—links the monument to the trip’s earlier contrast between the promised climb and Thomas’s fear of going inside. The Statue thus remains in the narrative not only as a New York attraction but as the startling form taken by Dominick’s dream of being trapped.