Examples Of Assimilation In The Bread Givers

In the novel Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska the Smolinsky family immigrate to America for a better life. The Smolinsky sisters are expected to work really long hours and bring in their wages to help pay for food, and house wages while the father, Reb Smolinsky, stays home and studies the Holy Torah instead of working and supporting his family. Throughout the book, Reb Smolinsky’s goal is to marry off his daughters to an ideal man so they can give him money to thank them for all he has done for them and he even calls himself the “Matchmaker.” According to the Reb’s beliefs, women are expected to cook, clean, and take care of their husbands while the husband are the “Bread Givers” who provides for his wife and children. He says “What’s a woman

Identity crises are common problems for immigrants coming into any country. Deciding whether to stay true to their roots or to assimilate to a new culture puts pressure on many immigrants and their families. Both Jake and Babbitt, from Hester Street and Babbitt respectively, define what means to be American on superficial terms, even though they both believe that being an American does not merely stem from racial identity. They both become obsessed with being as seen as Americans through their social status, physical appearance, the pursuit of wealth, and freedom. While both Jake and Babbitt try to assimilate to American culture, only Babbitt truly succeeds in achieving this goal.

Since the establishment of the colonies, America has been viewed as the “land of opportunity.” It is thought to be a safe haven for immigrants, and a chance at a new beginning for others. “The Clemency of the Court” by Willa Cather published in 1893, tells the story of Serge, a Russian immigrant, who overcame the struggles of a tough childhood and fled to America to receive protection from the state. “Clothes” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni published in 1995, tells the story of Sumita, a Indian immigrant, who is moving to America so that she can marry her husband that her family has arranged for her. Both “The Clemency of the Court” and “Clothes” show the evolution of the American immigrant experience.

Ewen's Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars Throughout history, the concept of Americanization has been studied in order to better understand the effects of a mass culture on immigrants. On one side stands the view of an immigrant engulfed in American ideology who leaves behind his past. He conforms to this new individualism and now is able to move upward on the economic ladder. On the opposite end of defining Americanization is the unscathed immigrant who maintains his old word traditions and institutions to emerge

Success is achieved by hard work and dedication. In Anzia Yezierska’s book “Bread Givers” Sara Smolinsky shows how that applied to her life. The author can relate to the story because she was an immigrant from a small Polish village and had to overcome many obstacles to become successful. She rebelled against her parents’ wishes of following the traditional path of a women immigrant and left home at the age of seventeen to live at the Clara de Hirsch home for working girls. The American dream for most female immigrants was the expectation of marriage and motherhood, a factory job, or if they were lucky a salesgirl. As for Sara and Anzia, that was not enough for either of them. The goal of Yezierska in her books were to recreate the

Immigration to America is often a decision based solely on the idea that America has some sort of redeeming qualities for a chance at a better life. America’s founding ideals of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are what compel foreigners to escape the troubles and oppression of their homeland and cross over onto American soil. The tales of America being the “land of opportunity” have continued to lure and attract people to immigrate. The Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century brought millions of immigrant laborers from across the globe to America in a short span of time. This large influx of laborers fashioned a well-defined distinction between “settlers” and “immigrants,” causing many observers to be concerned with how these new arrivals would fit in to American society. Emma Lazarus in “The New Colossus”, Jane Addams in Twenty Years at Hull House, Walt Whitman in “Crossing the Brooklyn Ferry”, Theodore Roosevelt in American Ideals, and Thomas Aldrich in “Unguarded Gates” are just a few names in American Literature who use their work as a medium to voice their opinions on the issue of immigration.

The process of assimilating to a new culture, environment, and language is never an easy task for immigrants settling in America. Whether forced to make such decisions to relocate to America or doing so by their own desires, all immigrants have had to survive the physical and psychological challenges encountered along the way. Foreigners are not only challenged by having to adapt to the physical surroundings, but they are also challenged by the unfamiliar social and cultural environment. The academic report “Living in America: Challenges Facing New Immigrants and Refugees” edited by Katherine Garrett, identifies a variety of problems foreigners encounter according to conducted studies and interviews with immigrants in ten cities across the United States. The narrative essay “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood “by Richard Rodriguez tells a story about the troubles Rodriguez and his family faced while first

One of the significant features of Jewish history throughout many centuries was migration. From the ancient pre-Roman times to medieval Spain to the present days the Jews were expelled from the countries they populated, were forced out by political, cultural and religious persecution, and sometimes were motivated to leave simply to escape economic hardship and to find better life for themselves and for their children. One of the interesting pages of Jewish history was a massive migration from Eastern Europe to America in the period between 1870 an 1920. In that period more than two million Jews left their homes in Russia, Poland, Galicia, and Romania and came to the New World. The heaviest

Anzia Yezierska’s personal immigrant narrative began in Russian Poland. She was born around 1885, and immigrated to America with her family when she was 15 years old. Yezierska’s family were Jews who escaped from the anti-Semitic government that was in control of Russia at that time. They settled in New York’s Lower East Side, along with millions of East European Jews who fled to the United States ("Anzia" 28:332).

Sara was a hardworking and always did what she could to achieve her dream of making it in America. No matter what job she had, weather it was doing embarrassing work or doing work that was very difficult she had always tried her hardest. Sara looked out for her family as well, she wasn’t a selfish person. An example in book showing Sara having a working mind set, she stated “go into business like a person” (Yerzierska, 21). From the beginning we saw that Sara took every job as if she was in control. When Sara was seventeen years old, she decided to go against what her father’s way of life, and try and reach her American dream. But she left she told her father, “My will is as strong as yours. I’m going to live my own life. Nobody can stop me. I’m not from the old country. I’m American!” (Yerzierska, 138). This set the stage because at this given moment, Sara defied everything her father had said to her, and taking a

In the late 1800s, the era of immigration had begun. America’s borders were flooded with various ethnic groups pursuing the “American Dream”, an opportunity to better oneself through hard work and perseverance. Yet for most people, the “American Dream” never came true, because of difficult and dangerous work, few advancement opportunities, and racism. The Slovak families in Out of This Furnace, the Krachas and Dobrejcaks, provide good examples. The first members of these families, Djuro Kracha and Mike Dobrejcak, were first generation Slovak immigrants. These two men and other members of their families, like Kracha’s daughter Mary and Mike’s son Dobie, never achieved the lasting material prosperity that was the American Dream. Much of their

To avoid the fate of her sisters, Sara realizes she must create her own identity separate from the one socially constructed in her Jewish community. There are three components to political opposition according to Omi and Winant, the first of which is the “demand for transformation of the social structure.” (69). Yezierska shows that Sara takes issue with the institution of marriage in accordance to Jewish custom as long as her father was involved. “I’d want an American-born man who was his own boss. And would let me be my boss. And no fathers, and no mothers, and no sweatshops, and no herring!” (66). By rejecting a future marriage chosen by her father and dominated by her husband, a submissive mother who enables her father, and the menial jobs expected of an immigrant, Sara is demanding a change in the social structure. She expresses her desires clearly and her current status leaves much to be accomplished. Yezierska delineates that Sara recognizes her community has created a role for woman and because she does not want to fulfill the role of a quiet housewife, she must demand a change in the opportunities available to

In many ways, the experiences of immigrants in 19th century America were similar. They were outsiders to the dominant American culture, and left their country in search of freedom and liberty. However, through careful study of Greek, German and Chinese individual’s oral histories, we can see that immigrants’ experiences varied based on their homeland. The discrepancies in their experiences become most apparent when examining the differences in the immigrant’s treatment upon arrival to America, occupations and education, as well as the assimilation process once in America. In this essay, I will refer to the oral autobiographies of Maria Detsios Spano from Greece, Stefan Weissing and Theresia Brinkhaus Weissing from Germany, and Edward Hong from China.

Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus” for the Statue of Liberty portrays America as a welcoming and safe home to all immigrants regardless of their background. However, during the time period between 1890 to the 1920’s, the application of this idea in American society excluded many immigrants. The vision that the U.S is an accepting home to all immigrants was only successful to a small extent as many were unwanted in America and did not have many opportunities available to them. Some groups included Eastern Asian immigrants and Russian immigrants who did not have access to the same housing or education as the rest of Americans did.

From the Native Americans who navigated across the Beringia land bridge eons ago to the Syrian immigrants taken in by our country today, America maintains its legacy as a nation of immigrants. For most of us, our predecessors came here to fulfill the American dream- a promise of prosperity for all who were willing to fight for it. We were a threshold for dreamers, a place where anything was possible. However, as time passed the dream, while still achievable, showed favoritism for "true" Americans. Charles Smith could reach for a pebble and end up grasping a king's fortune, while Van Nguyen could reach for a pebble and end up with a grain of sand. Immigrants yearning to achieve the American dream must relinquish aspects of the customs once integral to their lives. These are the sacrifices the narrators in both The Trip Back and The American Couple make, and both narrators receive both benefits and consequences for their choices.