Bread Givers

The 1920s was a hard and painstaking era in American history. Many family's throughout New York lived in absolute poverty and saved week to week just to make enough to eat and pay the rent. Many Immigrants flooded the streets desperate for work while living conditions were harsh and many starved. This is just the case of the novel Bread Givers, written by Anzia Yezierska. In this story we follow Sarah Smolinsky, an ambiguous independent Jewish girl "trapped" by her religious traditions. Her story unfolds as she breaks away from her controlling parents and moves to work and go to school for hopes of being a school teacher. Her life is not easy and she must endure countless sacrifices just to get by. With the determination of

    Anzia Yezierska’s most-taught novel, Bread Givers, "is an extensive observation of relationships in an immigrant family of early 20th century America" (Sample 1). Noticeably, one of the most fascinating qualities of Yezierska’s work is that, though most readers probably come from significantly different backgrounds than that of her characters, she writes in a manner that allows her stories to be discussed in contemporary terms, (Drucker 1) while simultaneously illustrating the immigrant experience. Particularly, this phenomenon can be seen in her portrayal of certain generational conflicts. In Bread Givers, Yezierska depicts the struggle of finding one’s self in life, a

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.

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

Americans are taught that the most important essential to achieving success is through hard work, but Jende, as an immigrant, never had the opportunity to be successful no matter how hard he worked. Jende’s journey begins when he is given the opportunity to work for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers, as a chauffeur. Clark expects

Anzia Yezierska also had to work harder than most to achieve her American Dream. As an immigrant coming to America she was excited to encounter the new experiences that come along with moving to America. She hopes to find a job where she can use her intelligence but she stumbles along some hard spots while on her journey. When she first comes to America she ends up working for a Russian family which just so happens to be where she comes from. She describes the family as “Americans” it is in quotation marks because she is calling them fake Americans. Anzia believes that the family has tried to reject their Heritage and conform to this new society, without remembering where they have come from. While working for this family she is treated very poorly and does not receive any wages and she chooses to never work for an American family again. Anzia came to America in hopes to find a job where she will be able to use her intelligence “I’d be a creator, as giver, a human being, my work would be the living job of expression (Yezierska 6)”. Anzia is unable to get the type of job she wants because she does not speak English. “Here I was with so much richness, but my mind was not wanted without the language (Yezierska 9)”. She quickly gets discouraged and begins to question the American dream as shown in the following quote…“Who am I? What do I want? Where

“Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us (p. 111).” These words, spoken by Ántonia, the protagonist of the novel ‘My Ántonia’, give light to the situation immigrants found themselves in after moving to the North America’s Western frontier. This novel reveals how immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s had to overcome numerous obstacles on the path towards ‘The American Dream’ which those native to the area did not have to face.

During the early nineteenth century, families of immigrants undergo assimilation to unite themselves in American customs. The ideology that they will be accepted into a society and embrace American identities has driven them to this process. A reality of upward mobility and freedom are highly desired for immigrants’ transition. One author who portrays the temptation of this “New World” America for the Jewish children arriving and having their lives greatly affected is Anzia Yezierska’s “Bread Givers” while focusing on the truth of forming an American identity. An autobiography written by Mary Antin “The Promised Land” incorporates the accuracy of family assimilation and its outcome on the identity of their children is shaped by American meritocracy

Personal accounts from immigrants preserving through the endless hardships are the living proof that the American Dream is achievable. Their accounts prove that the dream is only achieved because of the toil throughout the immigrants’ lives. Richard Todd describes “a man who embodies American opportunity” (90). This man immigrated from Korea to start his own software company in America. Todd describes his meeting with the Korean immigrant who had recently made the business a publicly traded company. The enthusiasm of the immigrant accurately conveys the dedication he has toward his ultimate goals (Todd 90). The Korean man was able to be successful due to his extensive work in the field of technology. He lives the American Dream of beginning with nothing rising up in the ranks of

The importance of hard work and earning your way instills a sense of independence within the young generation who was reading the McGuffey textbooks. In the stories “Henry, the Boot-Black” (128) and “Poor Davy” (130) both boys, living in poverty, are praised for their work to support their mother. Working hard to earn a living, even at a young age, is commended and the value of family is reiterated. There is a belief that hard work prepares and enables one to lead a prosperous life. In “Charlie and Rob” (133) and “Advantages of Industry” (97), hard work pays off and is portrayed as the only way to become successful. This core value of work ethic for the American will be important in the changing world of industrialization and effect the attitude of the working class American toward those of wealth, as well as immigrants.

Like many Americans today, a successful life is something every family endeavors to achieve. Whether you are native to this land or an immigrant, everyone is pursuing their idea of the American dream. Whereas every dream may be different, the journey to each dream is both trying and straining. In both articles written by Hogan and Shteyngart, we find two families striving for a better life as they encounter their own struggles along the way. Although Native Americans and immigrants are different as Native Americans are indigenous, while immigrants are foreigners, the authors illustrate they are also similar as they both have adversities, pervading family influences, and are strangers in a world they attempt to call home.

For decades history has been repeating itself and in this continuous cycle, poverty does the most spinning. One can grow up in an environment where there is a never ending struggle to achieve “the American Dream.” Therefore, children see their parents try their hardest to provide for them while obstacles in society deter them. Society has created social classes or groups to categorize people base on their income and soci-economic status. In the stories, “The Lesson” by Toni Bambara, and “House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, these two authors discuss how fulfilling the America Dream is possible once one is willing to work for it.

Another example of immigrant achieving her dream is the former Secretary of State during the Clinton’s administration who was born in Czechoslovakia. The first woman secretary of State and the highest-ranking woman in the federal government to date, Madeleine Albright (“Madeleine K.”). She escaped the atrocities of World War II studied hard in the U.S. in pursue of her dream and went on to become one of the most respected female politicians. In this historical retro prospective one can only assume that the American dream was achieved by immigrants throughout the history.

For millions of immigrants, America has been seen as the land of opportunity where anyone could become anything he or she wanted to be. A family that believes strongly in the American dream can be found in Amy Tan’s short story, “Two Kinds.” The story centers around the daughter of a Chinese immigrant who desperately wants her daughter to become successful. In the story, the author shows the difficult lives immigrants face when moving to a new culture. In this short story, the theme shows the protagonist’s conflict with her mother on the type of daughter her mother wants her to be. The author establishes the theme of how difficult mother-daughter relationships can be through characterization, setting, and symbolism.

For millions of immigrants, America has been seen as the land of opportunity where anyone could become anything he or she wanted to be. A family that believes strongly in the American dream can be found in Amy Tan’s short story, “Two Kinds.” The story centers around the daughter of a Chinese immigrant who desperately wants her daughter to become successful. In the story, the author shows the difficult lives immigrants face when moving to a new culture. In this short story, the theme shows the protagonist’s conflict with her mother on the type of daughter her mother wants her to be. The author establishes the theme of how difficult mother-daughter relationships can be through characterization, setting, and symbolism.