Hester Street

balance between the adoption of American culture and the preservation of their native cultures. While many immigrants near the turn of the 20th century desired full assimilation into American culture, like Jake from Joan Micklin Silver’s 1975 film Hester Street, many immigrants today maintain strong ties to their home countries and native cultures. But, considering the recent increase in political and social discussion surrounding the topic of immigration, the struggle to balance American and native customs

Dealing with the theme of assimilation, Hester Street, set in 1896 was a depiction of the immigrant Jewish community living in the Lower East Side of New York City. Throughout the film, we see the challenges the Jewish immigrant characters endure when their “Old World” traditions, practices, and ideas were juxtaposed with the “New World,” American values. Thus, Hester Street highly endorses the characters’ acceptance with assimilating to American values. Furthermore, the film also showcases the resistance

Assimilation in Hester Street and Babbitt 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

balance between assimilation and the preservation of one’s ethnic identity. Such a struggle is very present in the romantic film Hester Street, directed by Joan Micklin Silver, detailing the lives of Jake and Gitl, two Jewish immigrants living in New York during the early 20th century. Jake and Gitl each maintain different attitudes toward assimilation, yet

most importantly, for the American Dreams. As each new era of foreigners migrate to America, they face the obstacle of conforming to mainstream America. As “Hester Street” and “Eat a Bowl of Tea” portrayed, immigrants come to this land of opportunities with the hopes and dreams of a better life for themselves or their families. In “Hester Street”, Jake, a Russian Jewish immigrant who lived in New York's Lower East Side for five years, leaving his wife behind, and taking up with a new woman and earning

Street railways were created and they were the most aggressive expansion in the 19th century. From the 1880’s to the 1890’s street railways took up at least six miles from City Hall in Boston. The service of the first railway began in 1852. The first street railway in Boston would go between Harvard Square, Cambridge, Summerville, and Union Square. The increase in the street railway brought excitement for the entrepreneur’s as well in other cities in America. Eventually the street railways

Close by the giant textile mill row on row on row of drab terrace houses huddle together as if to fend off the bitter cold of a winter night in December of 1811. Night obscures the narrow streets of the industrial village of Holmeside as morning’s hesitant light pokes through the canopy of dismal clouds. Inside the mill, workers have been toiling for hours. They rose from their beds early and put on their work clothing. The lucky ones ate a crust of bread and drank the remains of yesterday’s milk

other with metalic blue eyes. The people looked to be teenagers like me. The kid with metalic blue eyes took 1 glance at me, then at the girl next to her and took off. She jumped through the small window in the corner and disappeared through the busy streets. The other girl, with golden hair, chased

Of all the people and things that have influenced me thus far has to be the most amazing lady that I have ever met, my grandmother. She’s the kind of person who has thoughtful discussions about which artist she would most likely want to meet in life whether musical or artistic, the kind of grandmother who always had time for her family and the kind of advocate to voice her opinions on the world and life as I’ve come to know it. Growing up with such a strong role model, I developed many of her enthusiasms

about that person, it becomes racism. Being a malicious looking black man, walking the streets at night may give someone the idea that you’re a rapist, killer, robber, or even a stalker. Nearly everyone has experienced these same emotions before and each has