Joan Micklin Silver

nation brings with it a series of difficulties, one of which is the struggle to find 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

immigrants have struggled to find a 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

During the early 20th century, the expansion of the immigrant population and wealthy class represented the changes occurring in America. Through Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis and Hester Street, directed by Joan Micklin Silver, we absorb personal stories of both sides. Babbitt epitomizes the lifestyle of the wealthy through his desire for material things and his discontent with his life. Jake represents the immigrant population, caring more about finding his identity as an American than big houses and

Sonia De Mello Professor Gilbert RLST December 4, 2014 The Representation of Immigrant Mothers in Film and Television Cinema is an extremely powerful and important artistic tool that reveals significant amounts about the perception society, or certain groups have on specific types of people. By looking at how Jewish immigrant mothers have been represented through films between 1927 and 1956, one can understand society’s perception of her as a central figure amongst newly settled Jews in America