Thursday, 8 November: selections from the Exodus story in the Old Testament of the Bible (student provides; King James / Revised Standard version preferred);

·        Web highlight (final essays or research reports): Ashley Kauppi

Intro:  The purpose of this web highlight is to sample responses from previous final exams and research reports to give a better idea of what is expected and also to share any useful information I found. I used samples from a 2006 final exam, a 2003 final exam, and a research report from 2003.

Explaining assimilation problems for Jewish families:

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 [KD].

Explaining assimilation problems for all immigrants:

“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 [JS].

Research Report on religious assimilation:

There are many different topics related to the word assimilation and immigrants.

Usually the culture is the first thought that comes to mind with the word assimilation. Immigrants that come to America will most often change many of their habits in order to belong to the “land of milk and honey”. But this is not the end of the assimilation. Along with their culture, something that is perhaps more of importance to these immigrants was lost. That is their religion.

The assimilation that occurred was not like the initial onslaught where people were immediately told they were heathens and that they need to worship the one true god. This came about as a means of trying to belong to the dominant culture. Another thing that happens is that followers of this faith begin to follow less strictly as they did before they came to America [ML].

Conclusion: I really liked doing this research because it has helped me to see what is expected for the final and the research reports and also each of these examples has given some new insight on the questions we’ve been asking in class.

Questions? Comments?