Thursday, 1 November: Jewish-American: Chosen People in the New World. Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers (1925)

·        Text-objective discussion leader: Rita Zelaya

Anzia Yezierska was a Russian immigrant who grew up in the Jewish ghetto located in New York’s Lower East Side. She eventually leaves her family and goes in search of her “American Dream,” to become a teacher. The Bread Giver and Soap And Water are semi-autobiographical.  

The Bread Givers is told from the perspective of Sara Smolinsky, a young woman who rebels against her father’s rigid view of Jewish women. Her struggle towards independence and self-identity resonates with the Immigrant Narrative. In this story, Sara Smolinsky experiences marginalization for the following three reasons: (1) she’s an immigrant, (2) she’s a Jew, and (3) she’s a woman.

The Story Illustrates the 5 Stages of Immigrant Narrative

Stage 1:  Leave the Old World

Sara Smolinsky felt smothered by the hopeless and bleak existence awaiting her. According to her father’s teachings:

“Women had no brains for the study of God’s Torah, but they could be the servants of men who studied the Torah…if they cooked for the men, and washed for the men, and didn’t nag or curse the men out of their homes; only if they let the men study the Torah in peace, then, maybe, they could push themselves into Heaven with the men, to wait on them there.”  (10).

Stage 2:  Journey to the New World

When she leaves her father’s house, she’s full of hope for the future. The immigrant narrative at times parallels the “American Dream.”

“I’m smart enough to look out for myself. It’s a new life now. In America, women don’t need men to boss them…In olden times the whole city would have stoned you…Thank God, I’m not living in olden times (137)

“My will is as strong as yours. I’m going to live my own life. Nobody can stop me. I’m not from the old country. I’m American!” (138)

Stage 3:  Shock, resistance, exploitation, and discrimination (experiences an overlap with or resembles the minority experience)

She was shocked to discover that society treats women as unfairly as her father.

“But you didn’t give me as much as you gave him. Isn’t my money as good as his?...She gave you a fair portion. But why did she give more to the man just because he was a man? I’m hungry.” (169)

She deluded herself into thinking that things would be different in the academic realm, however, reality intrudes.

“When they planned any picnics or parties, I was left out…I pretended not to see, not to hear the slights heaped on me…I longed to throw myself at the feet of the girls and cry out to them, ‘Say anything you like. Do anything you like. All right – hurt me. But don’t leave me out. I don’t want to be left out?” (180)

Sara suffers the defeat of not fitting in, however, she is not beaten.

“I had tried to be like the rest and couldn’t…My one hope was to get to the educated world, where only the thoughts you give out count, and not how you look.” (183)

“All pioneers have to get hard to survive…your place is with the pioneers. And you are going to survive.” (232)

Stage 4:  Assimilation to dominant American culture and loss of ethnic identity (departs from minority experience)

Sara fought hard to obtain her college degree and ultimately succeeds. She finally receives recognition from her peers.

“Then all the students rose to their feet, cheering and waving and calling my name, like a triumph, ‘Sara Smolinsky—Sara Smolinsky!” (234)

Sara further manifests her assimilation to the dominant culture when her mother dies and she refuses to follow Jewish tradition.

“The undertaker, with a knife in his hand, cut into Father’s coat and he rent his garments according to the Biblical law and ages of tradition…Then the man turned to me with the knife in his hand. ‘No,’ I cried. ‘I feel terrible enough without tearing my clothes.” (255)

The Jewish people are shocked by her response and say, “It has to be done.”

She responds, “I don’t believe in this. It’s my only suit, and I need it for work. Tearing it wouldn’t bring Mother back to life again.” (255)

Stage 5:  Rediscovery or reassertion of ethnic identity (partial)

Sara discovers that being a teacher is not enough, she is still missing something.
 

“Now I was the teacher. Why didn’t I feel as I had supposed this superior creature felt? Why had I not the wings to fly with? Where was the vision lost? The goal was here. Why was I so silent, so empty?” (269)

She begins to second guess herself, wondering if she might have been wrong in turning away from her traditions.

“Maybe after all my puffing myself up that I was smarter, more self-sufficient than the rest of the world—wasn’t Father right? He always preached, a woman alone couldn’t enter Heaven. ‘It says in the Torah: A woman without a man is less than nothing. No life on earth, no hope of Heaven.” (270)

Sara and Hugo see the wisdom in reacquainting themselves with their Jewish traditions:

“Our home will be richer if your father comes with us.” (296)

Objective 4:  To identify the dominant culture, the culture to which immigrants assimilate.

These are some of Sara’s perceptions of the dominant culture:

“They had none of that terrible fight for bread and rent that I always saw in New York…Their faces were not worn with the hunger for things they never could have in their lives…settled look of those who belong to the world in which they were born.” (211)

“The neat finished quietness of their tailored suits.” (212)

Overall, I have found both of Anzia Yezierska’s stories to have enduring relevance. She tries to explain that everyone (including immigrants, the poor, and women) should have a chance at the “American Dream.”  

 Questions:

1.) Do you believe the author portrayed immigrant life accurately?

2.) Do you find her stories relevant today?

3.) How did you feel about the ending? Was it believable?