Bread Givers By The Yezierska

Jeannette is very insecure about her past life of poverty, and although she has now dug herself out of the rut of destitution, her parents’ continued homelessness is always a reminder of

An illustration of this is when Helen describes Myra as having a “rotten-sweetish smell as of bad fruit.” Also, when Helen asks what she will become when she is older, she looks very confused and says, “I will help my mother, and work in the shop.” Helen replies to this by saying that she will become an airplane hostess. While Helen’s family does not have less money than Myra’s, she seems to have some issues when she says she is the only student in the classroom who, “carried a lunch pail and ate peanut-butter sandwiches in the high, bare, mustard-colored cloakroom…” She feels she is in danger because it could be somethings that separates her from the better off and popular children in the class. With this considered, if either of them had families with money like a classmate named Gladys Healey, they would not have differences they could bond

Bread Givers tells the story of Sara Smolinsky, whose life is almost the same as Anzia Yezierska, who is the author. Through Sara we see the collapse of a family because of religion and old world ways. Sara tries so hard to get away from her past but in the end it shows that your family will always be there, for good or bad.

Her dad carried her away from the hospital without payment, and then her mom permitted her to cook again, moreover she said, “ Getting right back into the saddle” ( Glass Castle 47). Jeanette was not angry at such young age and soon the family had to pack their belongings into bags and “do the skedaddle” as her parents always said. The parents were fleeing from bill collectors. Although Jeanette's father was an alcoholic, he could get work almost anywhere, often in small towns. The family was moving because of these things, she never complained when they did not have enough food. Jeanette always forgave her parents, she understood what they were going through.

“I know I’m a fool. But I cannot help it. I haven’t the courage to live for myself. My own life is knocked out of me. No wonder Father called me the burden bearer.” This was regarding Bessie, this shows how Bessie’s life was shaped through the influence of religious teachings, forcing herself to stay loyal to the societal expectation and giving up her personal pursuits. She calls herself the “burden bearer” because it was the religion and/or societal teaching for females in Judaism should dedicate their lives to men’s. This was, in fact, the case in which every female figure of the Smolinsky family has suffered throughout the book. Sarah, too, was suffering from such conflict until she realized this is not what she sees herself into if she is to make herself break out the poverty and the so called “religious obedience”.

Lastly, her family betrayed her by not listening to her side of the story after her sister told lies about her, and they betrayed her when they acted as if they did not care if she moved out of the house. In all of these actions, the family itself and certain members of the family are portrayed as uncaring, unsupportive, disrespectful, conniving, deceitful, and hateful to Sister. Through every action of the family, Sister is treated harshly, and she tries to not let this bother her. Yet, anger and bitterness build up inside of her until she cannot take it anymore. Consequently, it built up so much inside of her that it severely affected Sister so profoundly that she moved away from her home to get away from her family.

For example, throughout her childhood she never had a truly stable home. Her family was constantly moving from place to place around the country, and as her father said, “doing the skedaddle” whenever inconveniences arose, like debt collectors catching up to them or getting into trouble with the law. Second, her father always spent the majority of their money on beer and other alcoholic beverages at bars, and they frequently had no food to eat and were starving. The children often had to fend for themselves to find food when they were hungry without the assistance of their parents. Jeannette often subdued her and her siblings’ difficulties by taking charge of herself and her siblings to acquire food and by standing up for herself whenever it was necessary. For example, she stood up for herself whenever her mother was being selfish and pompous. Her mother would hide snacks and eat them secretly without sharing, and she would also spend days sobbing and complaining about how she had to do everything. During those times, Jeannette often took charge and directly criticized her mother about not doing her job. After her dad whipped her, Jeannette vowed to escape Welch for good and began saving up money to leave and move away. As a result of her struggles, over the years Jeannette had become very hard-working and diligent at whatever work she did. This lead her to become very successful in the future. She

     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.

Money plays a huge part in this story. Hester, the mother, is obsessed with having more and more money. She lives the life of a woman with money, never allowing anyone to see past the family's small income, "The mother had a small income, and the father had a

Margaret Hossack, a woman of Scottish descent has an interesting character to me. She is a hard-working wife of a farmer. While reading, I picture Margaret being about five feet and seven inches tall while weighing close to Clammer’s weight, 160 pounds. Physically, she is a strong, bigger, sturdy and large boned woman. Margaret Hossack is in her late fifties but her image does not make her appear older to me, even if she does have wrinkles under her eyes. Not only is she a hard-working, caring, and loving wife, but also a mother to her nine children. She puts her family’s needs before her own and seems to always accomplish chores around the house while making sure everyone is well taken care of. In my eyes, she is the provider and strength of her family. Without Margaret around, I believe the family would fall apart because her husband can sometimes act of in different ways. Along with her hard-working and ambitious character, her family also shares this trait with her. The family, including her children, seem to get everything done throughout every day no matter how long it takes them to finish. They listen to their parents and seem to have polite manners even though some may have had some issues with their father or are rather quiet. Although she has these positives traits and a well-developed personality, there is a side of Margaret that makes me question what is happening or if I can believe her. She has a secretive and quiet personality has well, which sometimes makes it difficult to read into her and understand her. She talks to many people about her problems and makes them seem very dramatic but when reading further into her questioning she denies all of it. Many families have several problems, but if she really needed help, I would think she would own up to what has happened to her family or try to get help from someone even if she is scared.

To begin, Beatrice Strong went over and beyond to support her family. She worked two full time jobs to provide a sense of aid. Beatrice worked at Northwest Airlines during the day as a baggage claim attendant, and Federal Express at night as a secretary at the Command Center. Although her two children were grown and able, they faced financial difficulties. My grandmother swept in like a hawk and took

“The sisters are doing some of it to themselves. For a variety of reasons, they're not aiming high enough. They're underestimating their abilities. They're doing too much housework and child care. They're compromising their career goals for partners and children -- even when such partners and children do not yet exist”.

Word in the streets was that Miriam Moore was sick in that head. Once, when Miriam had passed by she had heard a plump looking woman, who was decked out in jewels and diamonds proclaim, “I simple do not understand what that girl has to be sad about! She’s got everything a girl could ever dream of!” Perhaps, Miriam thought to herself as she rushed away, perhaps that is the problem. Miriam was born on a wealthy plantation farm down in Alabama. Her mother and father gave into her every plea, no questions asked, and while that seemed like luxury to many, that was not the case for Miriam. She did not fancy pearls and diamonds, or big, puffy skirts that made it hard to walk around. Nor did she desire to marry a rich man, and play piano to entertain

Growing up Noemi’s father had a well-paying job as a welder, she says “At that period of time I do not remember wanting anything…” Noemi has 5 siblings 2 sisters and 3 brothers. At seven years old Noemi’s father was asked to take a job as a pastor in Washington state. Even though they had asked him to take that job, he was paid under half his wage because the church considered him young. He was 30 years old. After that all the kids had to take jobs she was 8 years old working in the field and going to school.

I am going to discuss an eighty two year old woman who I am going to call Mrs Smith (her name has been changed to protect her identity). Mrs Smith is the middle of five children, who has lived all her live in the South of England. She married at nineteen and had four children, all of whom are now grown up, happily married and with children of their own, giving her ten grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Mrs Smith’s husband died in 1998 and she has lived on her own ever since. In this essay I am will be drawing on five