Americanization of Jewish Daughters – Is it all Fashionable?

     After reading Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, I became particularly interested and intrigued by Jewish immigrants and the way they assimilate to American society, especially females.  I found it to be interesting that Sara’s father, Reb Smolinksy put his daughters to work while he stayed at home and studied the Torah.  Then to add further aggravation, he wanted to marry them off without regard to their happiness.  I began to ponder what processes female Jewish immigrants go through in order to assimilate to American culture.  What do they want when they come to America?  How do females differ from assimilating males?  It seemed logical to begin my research by observing and analyzing the effects of immigration and assimilation on cultural units or identities, specifically gender. 

     When Jewish women come to America, primarily they want to fit in.  The way they consider themselves as American is to adapt to American society standards in terms of clothing and appearance.  In the article, “Becoming American: Jewish Women Immigrants” by Barbara Schreier, she points out that “wearing fashionable clothing was second in importance only to learning English in their quest to become American” (25).  I found this to be very ironic, since clothing is very symbolic in Jewish tradition.  “Jews grew up in a religious culture which used clothing as symbolic wares to give meaning to their lives” (Schreier 26), meaning that special outfits and newly acquired items were worn to honor Holy Days and the Sabbath.  Seemingly, the most visible way immigrants could change their identity and become a Jewish-American was by a change of clothes (Schreirer 27).  Once the immigrants arrived to America, however they found a fashion new to women, hats.  Yezierska states in Bread Givers, it only took ten cents for a pushcart on Hester Street to look “like a lady from Fifth Avenue” (2).  Therefore, reiterating how important fashion was to the female immigrants. 

     Fashion seemed like a good dilemma to be faced with.  The dilemmas became more complicated as women began assimilating more with American society.  Living life as an American and retaining Jewish heritage became a challenge for many women, especially for Sara.  The more freedoms she had in America further “exacerbated by her desires for independence as a woman” (Wilentz 34).  Females particularly had freedoms in American in which they were not accustomed to before.  Therefore, a tension develops in the family, which strains the relationships between father and daughter, daughter and mother, and finally mother and father.  Resulting in the “price of Americanization was high – due to the loss of Jewish traditions” (Wilentz 34).  So even as Sara was coming into her own person and becoming the person she wanted to be; free from the rigid structures of her traditional culture, it “left her rootless and thrust her into a hard and prejudiced world which kept her always a stranger” (Wilentz 34).  Since Sara was leaving the traditional Old World, she was also leaving her family therefore putting her into the position of what W.E.B. DuBois calls, “a double-consciousness ‘a two-ness’ in which ‘two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings, two warring ideals’ remain in an uneasy relationship” (Konzett 597). 

     However, the females can take the good with the bad, they may be in a state of confusion over their identity, but in America, they gain the right of obtaining basic feminist rights.  Equality occurs especially between males and females.  No disputes are made about seeing “enormous progress toward gender equality occurring within the American-Jewish community in the last generation” (Charme’ 37.)  When questions of gender come up, it is found to be that girls are more aware of “equal rights and sexism” (Charme’ 37) whereas boys are more “likely to defend more traditional gender roles” (Charme’ 37).  

     I would like to continue research to find if males or females are happier assimilating to American culture or if both are equally in favor of and happy once the assimilation process occurs.  It appears that females would like the assimilation process better, because they are free from various restraints and obtain a change of wardrobe.

Works Cited

Charme’, Stuart Z.  “The Gender Question and the Study of Jewish Children.”  Religious Education Vol 101, Issue 1 Winter 2006: 21-39.

Konzett, Delia Caparso.  “Administered Identities and Linguistic Assimilation: The Politics of Immigrant English in Anzia Yezierska’s Hungry Hearts.”  American Literature Vol 69, No 3, Sept 1997: 595-619.

Schreier, Barbara.  “Becoming American: Jewish Women Immigrants 1880-1920.” History Today Vol44, Issue 3 Mar 94: 25-31.

Wilentz, Gay.  “Cultural Mediation and the Immigrant’s Daughter: Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers.”  MELUS Vol 17, Issue 3 Fall 1991-1992: 33-41.

Yezierska, Anzia.  Bread Givers.  New York: Persea Books, 1925.

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