LITR 4333: American Immigrant Literature

Sample Student Final Exam Answers 2003

Sample answers to "Supersize Question" on the dominant culture, Jewish American immigration, and the Exodus story.

[opening paragraphs from student essay]

       “I felt the shadow still there, over me. It wasn’t just my father, but the generations who made my father whose weight was still on upon me.” (297). These are the last words that Sara Smolinsky speaks in Anzia Yezierska’s novel The Bread Givers. She speaks for all of America’s immigrants, for they all must live in the shadow of the previous generations – the shadow of the Old World. Both the narratives of America’s dominant culture and the narratives of Jewish Americans reflect how strongly the culture of previous generations has influenced them. History has shown that these two cultures have felt the “shadow” of their ancestors over them. For America’s dominant culture immigrants, the Pilgrims, and Jewish Americans, their “shadow” was the “Book”. For the Pilgrims, the “book” was the Bible, especially the book of Exodus. For Jewish Americans, it was the teachings contained in the Torah and the Old World teachings handing down for many generations. 

       The narrative of America’s Pilgrims is tightly connected to the story of the ancient Jew’s narrative as found in the book of Exodus. Both groups considered themselves to be God’s people, following the special plan of God for their lives. For the ancient Jews, the Israelites, Moses wrote: “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord they God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all that are on the face of the earth” (Deut 7:6). For the Pilgrims, they knew the Bible well and also felt that “God” was “ working for their good beyond man’s expectation (Bradford 61), just like he was doing with the Israelites. The Israelites had Moses, who “wrote their goings out” (Num. 33:2) so the Pilgrims had their own “Moses” in Gov. William Bradford. He helped compose the “Mayflower Compact” and recorded the “goings out” of the Pilgrims in his book “Of Plymouth Plantation”. 

       Both the Israelites and the Pilgrims experienced stage one and two of the standard immigrant narrative, What was unique about both of these two groups was that they felt they were had to leave the Old World and journey to the New World because they were called by God. They both journeyed en masse as compared to most immigrants who travel in only family groups. Both groups crossed bodies of water to get to the New World. The Israelites crossed the Red Sea out of Egypt and then the Jordan River going into Canaan, the Promised Land. Similarly, the Pilgrims crossed a body of water going to Holland, and then crossed the Atlantic Ocean going to America. Before both groups came to the “Promised Land”, and both “wandered in the desert wilderness” (70).

       Both the Pilgrims and the Israelites experienced stage three of the standard immigrant narrative as they experienced the shock of a new land. The Israelites discovered that the Canaanites did not follow the ways of God. There were commanded to keep themselves separate from them and “thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them; neither shall thy make marriages with them (Deut. 7:2-3). Bradford wrote that while in Holland “they saw many different manners & customs of the people with their strange fashions and attires” (33).

Like the Israelites, the Pilgrims were resisted assimilating into the dominant culture of Canaan and Holland. When the Pilgrims arrived in America, Bradford wrote that they did experience shock at seeing how wild the land was and the “savage, brutish” natives (40). But they did not have to assimilate because their was no culture to assimilate into. As the plantation grew, the Pilgrims did move further away and become more materialistic which concerned Bradford.

        Stage five of the immigrant narrative for the Pilgrims can be seen in the way the dominant American culture is in many ways still under the shadow of the Pilgrim culture. Protestants today still believe in the Pilgrims strong work ethic. Bradford showed the importance of work when the settlers wouldn’t work because of Christmas and were scolded when they were found to be only “playing” when they could be working. Today, we are a nation of workaholics. The shadow of the Pilgrims is still with us. . . . [Jeanette]

[complete essay]  

The standard immigrant narrative can be seen in virtually every neighborhood in America. A family moves onto a block and they either fit in with their new neighbors or they do not. After some time elapses, the kids all get together and begin to play regardless of how the parents feel about each other. The kids then begin to form their own society as second-generation residents of the neighborhood. The influences of their new society go a long way to shaping their treatment of new kids on the block. The kids grow up, move out and the block then takes the shape of the remaining adults who return the neighborhood to the culture it was before the kids formed their own society. An immigrant family moving to America follows the same pattern. They learn quickly to get along they have to go along. In short, they must assimilate or be outsiders. However, a different narrative exists when a massive group of like-minded people move into the neighborhood at the same time. Suddenly, the dominant culture comes under fire and struggles to survive.

Such was the case in the biblical Exodus and the Pilgrims. In both cases a large group of like-minded people moved en masse to a region and displaced the previously existing culture in favor of a new dominant culture. When the ancient Hebrews & Jews left Egypt and the holy land, they took their cultures with them. They were not just a family hoping to fit in. They were an entire society in search of territory where they could live free from the persecution of the dominant culture under which they were struggling to maintain an identity. Because of this massive movement, their immigrant narratives differ dramatically from the traditional narrative.

Interestingly enough, despite the fact that the two stories take place many centuries apart the similarities are striking. While the Pilgrims might not have actually intended to make their trek to the new world a re-enactment of the Jewish Exodus, the narrative of the story make one wonder as to whether or not the Pilgrims actually did intend to align themselves with Moses and the ancient Jews. For example, William Bradford was very much a Moses type figure as a result of his ability to write and formulate laws. The Mayflower Compact was an agreement among the Pilgrims for a mutual understanding of how each member of the society was to be treated. The Ten Commandments stand today as the ultimate model of that same agreement between people. The Jews parted the Red Sea, the Pilgrims sailed over the ocean. Both groups left “civilization” for wilderness. Both groups were escaping a king who treated them poorly. Finally, although it could not be known until many years later, both groups suffered the inevitable split between the original society and the societies of subsequent generations.

Therein lies the similarity between the Exodus and Pilgrim narratives with the current immigrant narrative. In virtually every form of immigration, a gap opens between the original generation and subsequent generations. The nature of human beings is such that as long as people are interacting with society, there will be a desire to form one’s own opinion. That opinion may or may not fit into the overall scheme of the society in which that person is living. The formation of opinion is merely a reflection of a person’s views and values. Invariably, people interacting with other people of differing opinions will develop their own set of norms, values, beliefs, whatever. This development is seen as progress by the younger generation and decline by the older generation.

In the case of a more modern massive movement of people in a culture, the Jewish American society of today’s world is a classic example of the difference between the early immigrations and more modern narratives. True, they moved en masse, however, they did not seek to overwhelm the culture in existence. The Pilgrims displaced Indians; the ancient Jews displaced the Canaanites. Modern narratives depict a very different philosophy of Jewish migration. Rather than try to conform to or convert the dominant culture, recent narratives depict a people intent on maintaining traditional old world values in a sectionalized society within the dominant culture. They simply choose not to interact with the portion of society that is counter to Jewish beliefs. For example, the daughters in Bread Givers are all required to marry Jewish men. If they marry outside the religion, then the culture becomes slightly diluted. If enough of this dilution takes place, then the dominant culture will attain a foothold within the Jewish culture that could cause a fragmenting of the society.

The influence of the dominant culture is what tends to make more modern Jewish immigrant literature follow the pattern of standard immigrant narratives. In Bread Givers, one of the daughters breaks free from the culture and enters the dominant culture. Her split is seen as a betrayal, yet she is maintaining complete consistency with what every generation prior to her has done. That is: think and live for herself, not for her parents. Other immigrant narratives repeat the same story over and over. The subsequent generations cannot connect with the previous. In tattoo, the narrator is unable to relate to his father’s pain. “We are continents, worlds apart…,” Gregg Shapiro writes (UA 35). While his statement is based on the chasm created by his father’s silence about the Holocaust, the indication is that there is indeed a split between the generations. In the absence of the father’s words, the narrator is certain to follow other leads in his growth. The same can be said about the characters in 2G. They all wonder about the stories their parents tell. They can recount them, but they cannot relate. Therefore, they feel less inclined to continue upon the path their parents laid out for them. Sonia Pilcer wrote in 2G that the war experiences disconnected her from her parents. “Yes, I was their first seed of life after so much death,” she wrote. “A living, breathing monument to their survival, a shrine to their mothers. But I wasn’t a survivor. All that I had survived was my childhood and my parents’ fierce, anxious love” (VA 206.) Although the dominant culture does not directly affect this split, it is allowed entry to the Jewish culture as subsequent generations begin seeking an identity. In that manner, the narratives of modern Jewish immigration are much more closely aligned with traditional immigrant narratives than the Exodus and the story of the pilgrims. The migration might have been a massive one along the lines of the earlier migrations, but their actions upon arrival were far different. [Rob]

[complete essay]

In examining the narratives of the ancient Jews in the Exodus story, the history of Jewish-American immigrants, and the account of the dominant culture of American society that begins with the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation, one discovers that while there are many similarities in those narratives to the “standard immigrant narrative,” there are many differences in them as well. This brief study will attempt to illustrate how those narratives resemble and differ from each other, and will also attempt to determine how these narratives shape values or identities in those cultures.

The standard narrative is typically characterized by five stages, which Dr. White identifies as the following: Leaving the old world; traveling to the new world; shock, resistance, exploitation, and discrimination (immigrant experience here overlaps with or resembles the minority experience); Assimilation to dominant culture and loss of ethnic identity; and finally, rediscovery or reassertion of ethnic identity (although there is usually only a partial reclamation of that identity). Beginning with the Exodus story, one notices that there are both similarities and differences with regards to the standard immigrant narrative, and one recognizes this pattern, as well, in the account of the Pilgrims’ flight from England and in the history of Jewish-American immigration.

The Exodus story itself provides an immigrant narrative to which all that follow throughout history are compared. Thanks to the Hebrew tradition of keeping meticulous records for historical purposes, the world today has an accounting of the first true immigrant narrative. In this story, Moses tells of the generations of oppression and persecution that the Jewish people suffer while in Egypt, “strangers in a strange land.” Moses leads the entire nation of Israel (a people without a country) out of this bondage, setting out for a homeland that has been promised them by God’s covenant with Abraham, patriarch of the “chosen people.” This group of chosen people wanders through the desert for years, suffering many hardships before entering the “land of milk and honey,” Canaan, their new homeland.

Once having arrived at this new homeland, they are told that they should not intermarry with the natives of that land, since to do so would defile them in the eyes of God. By avoiding this taboo, they will remain pure, and their peoples will not be assimilated into the culture of “savages” that inhabit the land that they now claim as their own, a belief that is echoed in William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, an account of the Pilgrims’ arrival in another land of milk and honey—America.

Bradford describes a similar tale to that of the Exodus in the Pilgrims’ immigrant narrative, beginning with an account of their groups’ persecution at the hands of the church in England. To escape this oppression, the Pilgrims first take flight to Holland, but soon find that their children are becoming assimilated to this culture of peoples who do not even speak their own language. Fearing that staying in the Netherlands—strangers in a strange land—will lead to a corruption of their own culture, they decide to make for the new world.

Bradford’s account of the voyage and the first year at Plymouth Plantation—both of which are full of hardships—echoes the Exodus story’s tale of an oppressed people wandering across great distances in search of the “promised land” of the chosen people, and Bradford himself draws parallels between the two narratives. Likewise, Bradford makes references to those in the Exodus story about the “lost souls” who defile themselves by having relations with the “savages” who inhabit this new land, in this case, the Native Americans rather than the Canaanites, and he voices concern as well about the fact that the peoples of his own culture, rather than clinging together in a homogenous group, begin scattering across this new country—a type of Diaspora.

According to The New American Webster Handy College Dictionary (New Third Edition), Diaspora is defined, in part, as “the dispersion of a religious or political sect after conquest of its homeland.” What is interesting in this definition is the reference to a sect conquering its “homeland,” because in actuality, what is really meant is that the sect is conquering another group’s homeland and then displacing the original indigenous group of peoples to whom that homeland arguably belongs. Such is the case in both the Exodus and the Pilgrim narrative, because both groups migrate to another country, claim it as their new homeland, and then disperse across their newly-conquered homeland, displacing the original inhabitants. In the case of the Israelites, it is the Canaanites who are displaced, and in the case of this country, the Native Americans are displaced by the Pilgrims, a group whose arrival stakes a claim for future generations of this dominant culture.

After generations of domination by this cultural group, the beginnings of Jewish-American immigration signals another Exodus, but this story differs from the original in that an entire nation is not emigrating en masse, but rather one family at a time, which follows more closely the pattern seen in the “traditional” immigrant narrative. One example of this narrative is seen in Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, a story that focuses on one Jewish family, and in particular, one daughter in that nuclear family, Sara.

Although Sara’s father believes that his daughters should strictly adhere to the old traditions, Sara, like many second-generation immigrants, finds assimilation into the dominant culture more appealing than living one’s life by adhering to those old—and sometimes oppressive—traditions that represent the old country, especially if tradition dictates something contrary to the new values and ideals of the dominant culture. Sara departs from traditional roles and decides to get an education—something that this culture has come to expect as a right to which all are entitled and encouraged to pursue.

Yezierska writes of another immigrant who pursues this American Dream in her short story “Soap and Water” as well, although this work illustrates that the American Dream may sometimes become the American Nightmare instead. The main character in this story, a female immigrant, works for years in a laundry, cleaning other peoples’ fine clothes, while she attends college in hopes of becoming a teacher. After finishing her studies, the Dean withholds her teaching certificate, merely because the Dean (a member of the dominant culture) believes that the woman’s appearance and manner of dress do not reflect the norms established by that dominant culture, which illustrates how this culture “identifies” and places values on others.

This identification of others “outside” the realm of the dominant culture results in those “outsiders” redefining their own values within that dominant culture’s context. One example of these conflicting values is illustrated in Enid Dame’s poem, “On the Road to Damascus, Maryland.” In this work, the narrator speaks of having been, at various stages in her life, “a New York Jew, a radical teacher, an Ethical Culturist, a barefoot breadbaker, [and] a nice girl in knee socks” (UA 141-2). The speaker finishes her poem by stating that she “sat in the back seat dreamily making a list of new names” (ibid). This may refer to the fact that assimilation into a dominant culture entails that one redefines oneself in terms of that culture and thus “changes names,” which seems at odds with both the Exodus story’s and the Pilgrims’ concern that assimilation is the equivalent of abandoning one’s heritage.

This implies that, perhaps, the Jewish-American immigrant narrative differs from those earlier narratives, and that it more closely resembles that of the standard immigrant narrative, where assimilation is expected of, and perhaps, embraced by those outsiders. This may also suggest that America provides a middle ground for reconciling those conflicting values and identities that immigrants carry with them from the old country, like so much baggage that makes the body—and the soul—ache from its being carried on life’s journey. [James]

[complete essay]

The impact of the Exodus story from the Bible can be seen in many aspects of American Immigrant Literature.  This narrative with its history of a people trying to escape their oppressors, taking a journey in search of a promised land, and creating a new existence for their people is more often than not consistent with that of the immigrant narrative.  People from other countries left their homeland in search of the American Dream.  The major difference between the Exodus narrative and the American Immigrant Narrative is that in the history of the Israelites, they are led by a single man, Moses, and escape their oppressive situation as a group.  Most American Immigrants, in contrast, came to America as individuals or within small groups and were only responsible for their individual families or groups.

The story of the Pilgrims more closely resembles that of the Israelites in that the Pilgrims, too, felt like a chosen people being led to a promised land.  Also, like the Israelites, the Pilgrims were also in search for religious freedoms.  The Pilgrim migration to the New World is also one of a national migration.  It can also be said that the African American immigrant story is similar to that of the Israelites because although they did not come to America by choice, they were brought here as a large collective group.  They, too, were a type of national migration.

One of the immigrant narratives, that of the Jewish people are most often noted for its ability to assimilate into the dominant culture without sacrificing its religion and tradition.  This can be seen in Bread Givers.  The Jewish people lived in the same area of the city, amongst other Jewish people.  This allowed this group of people to hold on to their beliefs and customs.  The only way they were able to assimilate into the dominant culture was if they left home.  Sara in Bread Givers is an excellent example of how that in order to pursue her dreams (the American Dream), she had to move herself away from the culture that surrounded her.  Like in 2G, the story of survival usually resonates clearly in Jewish immigrant narratives and the Jewish people are a people of storytelling.  Remembering the past allows them to hold on to the present as a collective group of people

In other ways, the comparison between the Exodus and Pilgrim narratives and the immigrant narrative varies greatly.  Most groups of people, although coming to America to sometimes escape the conditions in which they lived, they arrived here individually, not nationally.  They also, instead of trying to create a new culture in one that already existed, they often tried to assimilate into the modern culture.  The Jewish people differed from this way of thinking in that they  wanted to become as American as they possibly could while still holding on to the traditions of the past.  This can be seen in “Preparations for Seder” where the family who now lives in Boston is still holding on to the traditions of Passover and the Seder meal.

As stated by Y.H. in the 2001 semester, by reading narratives, we are reading about “history past and in the making.  We learn of the human condition depicted in suffering and tribulation.  We learn how peoples’ experiences differ, and how they are essentially the same.”  This is so true of the American Immigrant Narrative whether it be the story of the Pilgrims, the Jewish people, or any other immigrant who has come to America.  No matter how different their circumstances may be or what their reasons are for coming to this country, their narratives still remain like that of the Israelites and the Pilgrims; they are in search of a better opportunities in what they believe to be their promised land. [Kathy]

[nearly complete essay]

 . . . The Pilgrims in Of Plymouth Plantation were seeking the right to practice their religion and hold on to their own traditions.  First they moved to Holland, but they found many were beginning to assimilate into the dominant culture there.  In order to keep their traditions and culture alive a group of them decided to leave Holland and leave for America.  In America they were so isolated (after removing the natives) they were able to establish their own community, which became the background for the dominant culture in the United States today.  As stated in a 2002 final exam, “Bradford’s repeated quotations from the Bible and correlations between the Puritan Pilgrims and the Exodus narrative from the Bible prove the depth of the connection between the Pilgrims’ journey and the feelings of being God’s Chosen People.”  Both groups have this religious connection and feeling of being “chosen”.  Much like the Pilgrims the ancient Jews in the Exodus story were seeking a place to practice their religion without persecution.  The ancient Jews with the help of Moses and G-d were able to escape from their persecutors and travel to a new land.  In this land of “milk and honey” (after removing the natives) they were able to establish a separate community and attempted to resist assimilation. 

The story of the Pilgrims and the Jews is also similar in the way that they try to hold on to their uniqueness, but eventually with success and with the quick pace of change they are changed.  In Of Plymouth Plantation Bradford says, “the people of the Plantation began to grow in their outward estates . . .many were much enriched and commodities grew plentiful…this benefit turned to their hurt, and this accession of strength to their weakness. For now as their stocks increased and the increase vendible, there was no longer any holding them together.”  This loss is another aspect of the American Dream.  At one point the Pilgrims were a group distinct in their ways, but with time and success they began to blend in with other cultures and groups in America.

The majority of Jews who have immigrated have suffered from a loss of identity, common to most immigrants who join the dominant culture.  Some struggle to hold on to as many traditions as possible, while several others tend to create new identities within the dominant culture.  This ability to assimilate while creating new traditions is what has kept the Jewish religion in tact.  However, the American version of the religion has suffered from the loss of flavor common to many assimilating immigrants.  In Eva Hoffman’s Lost in Translation the character speaks of the struggle she has with holding onto her self while becoming one of the dominant culture.  She states that her friends who belong to the dominant culture are “trying to colonize [her] and rob [her] of [her] distinctive shape and flavor”.  She also states that she knows that she will eventually not be labeled as an immigrant or “visitor”, and that she will not be able to stand outside of the group and observe.  Like many Jews who mix into the dominant culture, she knows she must “learn how to live with them, find a common ground.”   This narrative shows how the Jews like most immigrants struggling to fit in to the dominant culture often lose a part of themselves.

On the other hand, many American Jews are able to reinvent themselves that will allow them to be a part of the dominant culture while also holding onto a piece of their own traditions.  In the poem “Preparations for Seder” the narrator speaks of wanting to continue the ancient tradition of celebrating the Exodus story, but choosing to recreate the traditions to ways that are in tune with the dominant culture of American society.  The narrator speaks about possible dangers from the modern world, but says that he wants to establish some version of the tradition to pass down to his children.  He knows that traditions can easily be lost in a fast changing society like the United States and wants to hold on to it as much as possible. . . . [Giselle]

When I think of the standard immigrant narrative in reference to the earlier works examined in the course, the individual person seems to be the focus in the various stages rather than the ethnic group that person represents.  The experiences of the narrative are based on the immigrants’ identification to a specific group (Asian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic), often by their physical characteristics, and this influences their immigrant experience, but it a journey traveled alone and usually has a unique flavor dependent on the particular person or family involved. 

The narratives of the Puritans, Jewish Americans, and Jews in Exodus are experienced as a group rather than as an individual, a great migration of a large number of people for the collective good rather than a journey based on improving one person’s situation in life.  For these narratives, the journey to the New World involves escaping the old one, usually to avoid persecution. The Jews experience assimilation into American culture easier than some other immigrants as they lack the physical characteristics to make them easily identifiable as outsiders, instead looking like the majority.  All these immigrant groups relied heavily on religion to guide them, placing importance on the traditional religious ways of their ancestors and allowing them to be the driving force behind all decisions made.  Perhaps that is why they remain strong in their journey even when faced with tremendous adversity, since there is such

In Plymouth Plantation, the Puritans left England in protest of what they saw to be unfit practice in the church, a struggle for freedom, which on a smaller scale is what many who travel the immigrant narrative are in search of.  However, the Puritans mobilized, taking initiative even though they were “constrained to leave their native soil and country, their lands and livings, and all their friends and familiar acquaintance” just as all immigrants everywhere must do (11).  What makes their journey different than the standard immigrant narrative is also the fact that rather than coming to America for financial prosperity, the Puritans were instead seeking something higher. This enabled the Puritans to persevere, even when they faced not only migration from England but also from Holland.  Similar to the Jews, the Puritans were a wandering people, although their travels took them on a more direct course to America. . . .

The Exodus story also includes a mass mobilization of people rather than individuals, traveling together to the Promised Land to escape persecution. Their power exists as a group, and this is also seen in the modern day exodus of the Jews from Europe.  Together they leave Europe, slowly at first but quicker as they are persecuted, traveling to America, the new land of milk and honey (similar to Exodus 3.8).  Although they are considered an immigrant group, somehow they have managed to resist assimilation into American culture, even through many generations, retaining many of the same cultural characteristics as old world Jews had.  This can be seen in almost every Jewish American text examined in this course and is what makes this literature so different from the rest of the works.  The family unit is an important part of the Jewish American culture, in contrast to many other immigrants that do not retain such strong ties to family after being in America many generations.

 Not that life is easy for generations of Jewish Americans, because gaps still occur as successive generations experience the new improved ways of their new home. The ways of the Old World and the New World are subject to conflict. Education comes up specifically in Bread Givers, as Sara discusses marriage with her father, who believes it to be more important than schooling.  “I no longer saw my father before me, but a tyrant from the Old World where only men were people” (205).   She frequently refers to her father as “Old World”, a man who refuses to assimilate to the dominant culture.  Near the end of the novel, this is portrayed dramatically as Reb says, “Let the world see the shame that my daughters heaped on me.  What’s an old father to heartless American children? (284).  His children have not treated him honorably, instead turning to America for guidance. 

When Jews come to America in the aftermath of World War 2, there is a sense of escaping the old ways of the parents, but it has more to do with the way they have been changed by the war experience rather than the idea of culture.  In 2G, second-generation resistance is seen as the narrator remembers her parents experience coming to America from Poland and says, “I was an American girl with no accent.  I had friends, my own life, which I longed to grow into like a pair of oversize shoes.  When I left home, I intended to create a self that had nothing to do with my parent’s past” (203).  Yet, she refers to the Holocaust as “our scar, distinguishing us like stigmata.  It gives our life gravity and we cling to it. Secretly we believe that nothing we can ever do will be important as our parents suffering.” (205)

The poem Tattoo also focuses on the idea of second-generational conflict because of the parents’ suffering.  The narrator’s inner turmoil is due to the lack of connection he has with his father possibly because of the father’s memory of the Holocaust.  But the narrator also longs to clear out the memory of this experience, not to forget, but to take the edge of it.  Let the father know it as the son knows it, as history, his history, but not something directly lived.  In trying to erase the images from his fathers mind, undoubtedly the narrator absorbs them himself.

One thing I found interesting about these texts, particularly those dealing with Jewish American immigrants, is their longing to remain connected to the past, even when attempting to become American. In Bread Givers, when Sara and Mr. Selig discuss where they came from and find they both lived in Poland, they express happiness at discovering a “countryman”.  Neither remembers much about Poland, yet they feel some connection with each other that they were unable to find with anyone else.  “All the secret places of my heart opened at that moment.  And then the whole story of my life poured out…now I could go on and on—I could never again be lonely!” (278).  Despite the fact that these characters are not related, they feel connected because of the history of their ancestors.  “You and I, we are of one blood” (280).  [Claudine]

[Excerpt(s)]

Of Plymouth Plantation differs from the immigrant narrative because as they enter the New World, they set up their own culture; they entered as a dominant culture.  They were not exploited and they were not discriminated against, they simply (not physically simple, but ideally) created a new way of life according to their ideals and beliefs. . . .

            The Exodus story in the Bible resembles the immigrant narrative because the Jews leave their homeland in search of a better place to live and worship God.  The Jews travel to Canaan and they are told by God, through Moses, to completely inhabit the land and to run out the Canaanites.  This differs from the immigrant narrative because the Jews are ordered to dominate the new land and to remove all Canaanites from any political or social authority.  The Jews are also forbidden to intermarry with the Canaanites because they are not Jewish. . . . [Christy]

Eventually, [the Pilgrims] have peaceful relations with the Indians, but they never try to convert the Indians to their way of living, and they certainly do not try to become like the Indians. [Jane]

 . . . For both cases, this migration is not a decision of the Jewish people, but is destined by God for Moses to free them from their severe persecution.  As God says to Moses in Exodus 3:9-10, “the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them…I am sending you to Pharoah to bring my people out of Egypt.” However, the journey of these people to the promised land was not without hardship.  They had to wander for years through wilderness while suffering from hunger and fear.  Similarly, the Jews during the Holocaust suffered the same.  Many were beaten and thrown out of their homes into ghettos.  Those lucky enough to escape or to leave prior to such severe persecution journeyed to America.  These people too suffered from fear on their journey and upon arrival in America, faced much hardship.  Such is the story with Sara in Bread Givers, when her and her family arrive in America.

However, though these people are moving to a new country and culture, they do not change their ways and beliefs.  The Israelites continued to observe their religious rituals and laws and the Jews, such as Sara’s father and family, held strong to their culture as well.  As Sara states of her father: “in a world where all is changed, he alone remained unchanged… all that he had left was his fanatical adherence to his traditions” (296).  These two stories of exodus show how, not of their own decision, the Jews must migrate in mass to a foreign land and try desperately, under God’s command, to hold to their customs and culture.  As God directs them, “drive out all the inhabitants…neither shall thou make marriages with them.”  By doing this, they not only hold to their ethnicity, but they continually strengthen it by not allowing any foreigners to dilute their culture.

Similarly, the Puritans migrated to a promised land called America.  Like the Jews, the Puritans, or Pilgrams, traveled to America for a better life, however, did not plan to let go of their cultures or customs.  Because they were persecuted in their homeland for their religion, their arrival to America allowed them to hold much stronger to their belief and religion.  These Puritans were very much influenced by the story of the Exodus. . . .[Jana]

Certainly the most important difference between the standard immigrant narrative and the dominant and Jewish narratives is the existence of the written word and scholastic backgrounds of the peoples.  Bradford and his Puritans could read and had educated their members, and they had guidelines they were expected to follow in their interpersonal dealings with one another and outsiders, in other words, a culture.  The Jews had at least educated their men and had a written guide to govern behaviors, the Torah.   This idea of education served to release those particular individuals from tutelary powers and made them masters of their own destinies in the confusing and demanding immigrant world.  That was the secret to their special success in the new, democratic, and capitalistic cradle of humanity to which they all had come.  . . .

Although the Holocaust came later in history than the above mentioned immigrant narratives, those American immigrants who survived Hitler's "Final Solution," had, in a sense, passed through the same forty years in the desert. . . . [Kathleen]

The “standard immigrant narrative” promotes voluntary participation in the pre-established dominant culture.  The ancient Jews and Pilgrims represent the immigrant narrative which does not assimilate to a culture, but defines it. . . . Although the Pilgrims created the dominant American culture that still exists in a altered form, the dominant culture is becoming more like that of the standard immigrant culture.  As Americans maintain the white, Protestant, plain style, there is an assimilation of the children of the dominant culture to that of the immigrant cultures, leading to a creation of a dominant culture not as white, religious, or plain as the American culture predecessors. [Lori]

 . . . These are the value systems that are established by these narratives that do not follow traditional immigrant narrative patterns.  These narratives are different for one key reason, instead of most narratives, where the immigrant group becomes a minority that must adapt to a new culture, these three groups have either remained separate from or overtaken the existing culture, or in the case of the American Jews, have successfully assimilated into a culture, while not losing their own culture. 

The values that are set forth by the beliefs of the cultures not only set them apart from traditional narrative stories, they allow them to be successful in their endeavors into new worlds.  These cultures pursue life with such determination and faith that they react very differently in situations than other immigrant groups.  The belief that they belong in a place, that they are choosing to go there changes the dynamics of immigration.  Often in immigrant narratives people are running from a place, but the ancient Jews, Pilgrims and American Jews are running to a place, and that changes the results. [Kate]