Analysis Of IM Not Living For Myself

However, while all of the Smolinsky daughters fall in love with a man, the father disagrees with all of their choices and does not let them marry causing sadness in each of the daughters’ lives. The father chooses a man for his older daughter and forces them to marry and throughout the book, Reb Smolinsky gives preachings to his children about God, and what women are supposed to do for their man. Reb is culturally acclimated throughout this book because even though he has been accepted in the society and has been part of it for a long time, he does not stop practicing his religious beliefs and keeps on studying the Holy Torah and continues to give preachings to his family. Although he marries off most of his daughters to the man of his choice, Reb Smolinsky fails to fully achieve his goal because his youngest daughter Sara, who is also the protagonist, decides to chose her own path in life and refuses to marry the man of her father’s choice. This causes a father daughter conflict which leads to Reb disowning Sara.

The Smolinski family in Bread Givers was a typical immigrant family who faced struggles during the assimilation process. By looking at Sara and her father¡¯s perspectives that there is a gap of cultural differences and generational differences separated between them, where most immigrants¡¯ family faces. As a child of immigrant Sara was bound by her native culture, but she unlike her other sisters took the courage and effort by abandoning her own culture to assimilate the dominant American culture. She also have sacrificed her family separation, her youth and experiencing hardship in order to pursuit her dream.

Sara's father wanted to control everybody else's lives, in his family, but he did not want anyone telling him how to do things. He felt that he should be able to control the family spendings even though he did not earn a penny. He went against his wife's request and used every penny of their savings to buy the store. His wife asked him, "Promise me that you won't pay out the money till I come to see what you buy." (113). He went ahead and bought the store without letting his wife come down to see it first like he had promised her. He made a huge mistake then, just as he had with his daughters. He did not pick a good husband for any of his daughters. He was fooled not only by the store owner but also by the daughters' husbands. The reason he made all these mistakes is because he would not listen to anyone's advice. If he had listened to his wife, he would not have bought the store because she would have been with him, and she would have noticed something was wrong because she was already suspicious. She says, "Does he really ask only four hundred dollars for all this?...Ask him to give you a pencil to count up all the goods there is in stock." (114). She has more sense about business then he does, but he gets to be in control of all their money. Today, women have more of a say in what goes on with the financial part of the family as well as with who they are going to

Sara Smolinsky is the youngest of four sisters; the eldest is Bessie, whom everyone calls the “Burden-bearer” because the whole family lives on her pay check. “I knew the landlord came that morning hollering for rent. And the whole family were hanging on Bessie’s neck for her wages. Unless she got work soon, we’d be thrown in the street to shame and to laughter for the whole world.”(1) The second eldest

Mark Twain says greed is another of man’s failings. Of course, man is somewhat greedy. But, lots of men know how to control their greed, and also know to do favor for others. In other words, they are thoughtful (kind) and have mercy. For this moment, numberless charities are gathering the helpers and donations to support others who suffer by hunger and poorness. For a common example, there’s UNICEF. They work for saving children in hunger, teach them basic education and gender equality, try to prevent HIV & AIDS to children, protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse, and do policy advocacy and partnerships. They do these things only for the needy.

Life is priceless. It is God’s greatest gift and should be returned to the Creator through good actions and charity. From this perspective rose philanthropy, with the aim of improving human life quality. Many attempts to “fight global poverty” were led during this

Sara faces a number of serious hindrances on her way to making a life of her own. One of them is her father, who she looks up to and starts to resent later on in life. Her father, Red Smolinsky wants his all daughters to fulfill their gender roles: maintain the household, take care of children, cook, etc. Women, in his opinion, do not exist without men and their own function is to serve men in all senses – sexual, psychological and spiritual. Red Smolinsky represents the Old World with its conservative view on the womanhood. She also starts to hate her father when she understands the ways he has denied his daughters, her older sisters, lives of their own. Sara tries to resist this “new” world and her

The Samaritan’s Purse is a “nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world...” (Samaritan’s). Not only does this charity provide aid to the destitute people of pagan countries, but it also provides the love and nurture of Christ Jesus to the lost souls of the world. For this reason, the Samaritan’s Purse is favored among Christians around the globe, although the Christian faith is not a requirement to donate to the cause of one’s choice. There are over twenty ministry projects one can donate to or even volunteer to be part of, including the following: Operation Christmas Child, The Greatest Journey, US Disaster Relief, and Children’s Ministries. Imagine

When Sara is out selling herring to earn money for dinner, she says, “Nothing was before me but the hunger in our house, and no bread for the next meal if I didn’t sell the herring.” This shows just how desperate Sara and her family are for money to put food on the table. Many immigrant families struggled to make ends meet even with all the members of their families working. They had to live in tenements and endure poor living conditions because they used the little income that they received to pay for food. In the book, the family’s kitchen at dinner time is described by saying, “The stove was cold. No food was on the table.” The Smolinsky family struggles to put food on the table every night, so they could not think about sending one of their daughters to school when they desperately need money themselves. Women were simply not given the opportunity to educate themselves and therefore it was hard for them to pursue any sort of career in America.

     In Anzia Yezierska’s novel entitled Bread Givers, there is an apparent conflict between Reb Smolinsky, a devout Orthodox rabbi of the Old World, and his daughter Sara who yearns to associate and belong to the New World. Throughout the story, one learns about the hardships of living in poverty, the unjust treatment of women, and the growth of a very strong willed and determined young woman—Sara Smolinsky.

In Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, Sara proves to herself that she is her own hero by defying dated expectations of filial piety and lifting herself out of the life of poverty that she was born into. She builds herself up to be an independent member of society via her own achievements and lives her dream by overcoming the hardships of her parents’ Old World, and becoming a successful American. In the end, she strikes balance between still contributing to her family, and caring for herself. For Sara’s family, life in America was drastically less glamorous than they had anticipated when emigrating from Russia. The reality of America was an immediate let down and Sara’s family was hurled headlong into a life of poverty and hardship. Throughout

While the Smolinsky family is not literally “hanging on Bessie’s neck for her wages”, this displays to the reader how desperation affected them. The metaphor acts as a bridge between the reader and the event, therefore allowing them to feel the same worry that Sara harbors through the shared experience of “hanging” without support. It is important for the audience to relate to the characters, yet this cannot happen if the author’s portrayal gives little humanity to their characters. Hence, when Yezierska writes that financial help according to Sara and her family is a “stab into our burning shame”, it shows that despite any prior notions of poverty being an “ornament”, they still have human wants and needs. Moreover, it shows that her characters are not emotionless apathetic beings that live only on their faith; they too endure deviations from what is expected of them. At any rate, repeated similes have an analogous consequence on the reader's thoughts. Multiple comparisons within a small section of text compound the anxiety, bombarding the same heavy emotions that Sara feels onto the reader in a way that they can sympathize with her, and in turn, Yezierska herself. Altogether, these literary moves go further than simply entertaining the audience, but informing them about what the world was truly

I admire the way Dorothy took the negative situations in her life and allowed so much goodness to come forth. Seeing the poverty prevalent in the world and losing a spouse is enough to discourage anyone, but Dorothy remained faithful to God despite the loss of her marriage, and she used her heartbreaking images of the poor as a motivator to do all that she could to assist them. As much as I believe the poor deserve more in life and need help, I have not taken the same hands-on approach that Dorothy had. While I donate money, food, and clothes whenever possible, I have not done anything directly related to those in need, such as volunteering in a soup kitchen. With that in mind, Dorothy’s dedication and hands-on approach to the poor is deeply inspiring to me, and it has called on me to reflect on my own life. Prior to my research, I had heard of Dorothy Day and I knew of her work with the poor; however, I was not aware of Dorothy’s personal story and the extent to which she worked to assist those in need. Dorothy has encouraged me to realize how important it is to help wherever we can for those who need

Although she abides by her father’s rules for many years, she is eventually pushed to her limit and abandons the only life she’s ever known in order to make something of herself. The main ideal of the New World that she embraces is a break with the past and becoming her own person. She is tired of being oppressed by men and decides to be the pioneer of her family and seek her own identity. It is impossible for the two worlds to coincide, because it is impossible to impose Old World values in the New World, they are juxtapositions. Sara expresses this inability to coexist when she says “Thank God, I’m not living in the olden times. Thank God, I’m living in America! You made the lives of the other children! I’m going to make my own life!” (Yezierska 137-138). Berel Bernstein even tries to explain this to Reb, telling him “in America they got no use for the Torah learning. In America everybody got to earn a living first.” (Yezierska 48). She asserts her resolve by refusing to marry Max who would be able to provide for her just so that she would not be an old maid. She also refuses to share her boarding with another tenant, because she knows that she deserves a room of her own. Her other stances occur when she refuses to become a lowly factory hand, and at her mother’s funeral when she won’t rip her nice suit. Having always been dominated by patriarchal control, she refuses to allow the social or religious traditions that her father, and subsequently the Old World, require of

If you could improve every aspect of your life by loving yourself, would you do it? This is exactly what Kamal Ravikant suggest in his 2012 book, Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on it. The author claims that repeating “I love myself” all throughout the day helped him overcome his depression and made him more successful in both his personal and professional life. Kamal encourages us to do the same, as he believes that this will truly improve our lives for the better. However, with only anecdotal evidence and no studies conducted, it is uncertain whether this technique offers real improvement.