Summary Of Bread Givers By Anzia Yezierska

In Bread Givers, Reb Smolinsky is a "patriarchal father," representing "traditional Jewish ways" (Drucker 1). Throughout the novel, it seems that he encompasses every aspect of a man embedded in traditional culture. In other words, everything that he does is rooted in the past, showing his first generational resistance to assimilation. In his constant refusal to assimilate, Reb Smolinsky becomes a symbolic representation of the Old World. On the other hand, his daughter, Sara Smolinsky has "breathed heavily on the New World’s aura" (Sample 1). Certainly, her actions throughout Bread Givers are consistent with the nature of second generation immigrants in assimilation. The contrast between their views on assimilation is clear as Sara says, "He could never understand. He was the Old World. I was the New" (Yezierska 207).

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

In Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers, Sara and her father have different opinions of what the daughters' role should be. Sara believed that she should be able to choose what her life will be, because it is her life. She was assimilated to the new world in this sense. She felt that since she lived in America she should have the right to be free to chose her lifestyle and make it what she wanted. She believed that she should be able to keep

When it comes to who the girls want to marry, there is no winning with Reb Smolinsky. “The mother worries about marrying of Bessie, who is getting old. The boarders, whom the family hoped would want to marry the girls, only have eyes for Mashah, who spends all her money on herself. Fania is the first to get a young man, but he is poor and goes to night school. He writes poetry to Fania.” (Overview) A man by the name of Berel offers to marry Bessie with-out a dowry but Reb insists he must make him a business because he can’t live without Bessie’s wages. So Bessie must turn him away and stay with her father, also Mashah falls in love with a piano player from a rich family. “The man put new light in her eyes, new life in her face, and such a wonder-working joy in her heart that it changed the “empty-head” into a signing sunshine. The pretty doll became overnight a feeling person- a person with a heart.” (53) They were head over heels in love but his father didn’t like the idea of a poor Jewish girl marring his son, but that isn’t what stopped them. His

In the short story, “Neighbor Rosicky” by Willa Cather, the roles of women are seen through Anton Rosicky’s eyes. When Rosicky goes to the merchandise store, he is always helped by a young girl. “The girl knew the old fellow admired her, and she liked to chaff with him” (page 5). From this encounter, it can be observed that women were allowed to work to earn money, and also that women were not expected to stay silent in the presence of men. Most women were still expected to cook and clean the house, like Rosicky’s wife Mary, but they also helped out around the farm. Rosicky went to his daughter in law one night and told her, “You go an’ fix yourself up, Polly, an’ I’ll wash de dishes an’ leave everything nice fur you” (page 12). Rosicky knew Polly needed a break, so he took over her role as a wife for the evening. Normally, in the

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

In the early twentieth century, Fania, Bessie, and Masha, the older children of the Smolinski family are unable to find work to support their hungry, weak family.The youngest daughter in the Smolinski family is named Sara and will go outside and make some money by selling herring when Mrs. Molinski loses hope for the family 's financial situation:"I was about ten years old then. But from always it was heavy on my heart the worries for the house as if I was mother. I knew that the landlord came that morning hollering for the rent," (P.1). Reb Smolinsky is the girls’ father. Reb is also out of work and as a poor Jewish man, spends his days reading holy books and living off of what little money his own children make. Eventually the older daughters will find work. Mrs. Smolinski is then able to rent a second room. The family is very excited when Bessie announces that she and a man named Berel Berenstein had fallen in love. Bessie invites him to dinner at her home. Reb finds out about his daughter’s relationship with Berel and even that Berel was willing to marry her. Despite the joy and enthusiasm expressed by the rest of the family, doesn’t decide to congratulate her, but rather that because of the family’s financial situation, Berel must also pay the full cost of the wedding. Reb also demands that Berel set him up a business. After that, Berel becomes infuriated and leaves. After reading this I couldn’t help but wonder, one

“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”.

The modern day woman works outside of the home, but then returns and continues to take care of housework and the children. Sociologists refer to this part of the woman’s day as the, “Second shift.” Two studies conducted found that if a man is more economically dependent on his wife, he is less likely to do housework. However, no evidence suggests that becoming economically independent makes marriage any less desirable for a woman. The family is the initial agent of socialization in their child’s life, however, even though the mother of the family may have the job with longer hours and better pay, the parents will still reinforce traditional gender roles in their household (Thompson 301-302.) This behavior can cause a child to embrace the stereotype that the woman’s only role is to cook, clean, and take care of the children. Even if a woman is the primary

"Upon marriage, woman became the legal wards of their husbands, as they previously had been of their fathers while still unmarried" (Martin, 68). It was common for a father to sell his young daughter into marriage and the young women had no say in her preference of her suitors (Mahaffy, 48). This was done while the girl was in her young teens while the groom was ten to fifteen years older (Martin, WEB2). As the father, or guardian, gave the young girl away he would repeat the phrase that expressed the primary aim of marriage: "I give you this women for the plowing [procreation] of legitimate children" (Martin, WEB2). The woman’s role was primarily in the home. "Households thus depended on women, whose wok permitted the family to economically self-reliant and the male citizens to participate in the public life of the polis" (Martin, WEB2).

The Smolinsky parents come to America with Old World ideals ingrained into them. They do not take into

     After leaving Poland to venture out into the New World of America, the Smolinsky family endured impoverished lifestyles and countless hardships. For example, After an incident between Reb and the landlady (which made Reb revered), boarders began to occupy the Smolinsky family’s

Foremost, the familial image has undertaken significant changes in regards to the ‘breadwinner’ and ‘homemaker’ roles within the family. In the latter of the 20th century, women’s participation in the labour force had been very little to non-existent, primarily because time allocations had been perceived as gender specific, that is, men were seen as the ‘breadwinner’, while women were viewed as the ‘homemaker’ (Seltzer, Bachrach, Bianchi, Bledsoe, Casper, Chase-Lansdale, Diprete, Hotz, Morgan, Sanders, & Thomas, 2005, pp.20). The ‘breadwinner’ role was to secure financial stability, while the

From slavery to the issues of gender and race, the idea of abuse has been displayed through of love and other Demons. The story of a young girl named Sierva being disconnected from the comforts of wealth due to the wrong diagnosis and ignorance is a very interesting scene in the novel. Sierva was raised by the slaves after she was abandoned by her own family especially her father who "He always believed he loved his daughter, but the fear of rabies obliged the Marquis to admit to himself that this was a lie for the sake of convenience." (Grossman)

In the 19th century a woman's main duty was to take care of the household. They were in charge of the cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children. During this time, most women didn’t work, and weren’t supposed to spend their time on getting an education. Since women couldn't get educations, they had to be married because they weren’t able to support themselves. The women were in charge of the family and house, while the man was in charge of some duties in the house and making money to support them. In the