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Sample Student
final answers 2013 (2013 final exam assignment) #1: Research Reports |
LITR 4333
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Cassandra Rea
Anzia Yezierska: A Diamond in the Rough
I honestly do not know what it was about Anzia Yezierska but she spoke to me in
a way that no other writer has up to this point in my life. Through her
narratives, I could feel what she felt, her sadness, anger, her faith, and
because of this; she is whom I chose to do my research report on. The only bit
of information I knew about her before research was that she embodied the
immigrant narrative with Soap and Water, she came to the New World with
the American Dream glued into her brain, despite her struggles, and she would
eventually achieve her American Dream in becoming a writer. In conducting
research on her, I wanted to learn about her life as immigrant growing up in
America, how she became a writer and her success.
My research was conducted online with the use of research databases on the UHCL
website as well as exploring through Google and what I found was astonishing.
Anzia’s birth is not certain due to reasons that she kept changing it to modify
her age within the literary world to not seem so old but historians put it
between 1880 and 1885. She was one of many siblings to a Polish Jewish family.
Anzia and her family immigrated to the United States when she was fifteen years
old. When they arrived at the historic Ellis Island, they were given a new
surname of Mayer and she was also given a new first name, Hattie because it was
easier to not only pronounce but spell it as well. This part of her life spoke
numbers in the sense that when she came into America, the dominant culture
forced her and her family to assimilate to names that their culture was
accustomed to. Whether her family was ready for it, they were met with
assimilation before they could get settled into their life. She would eventually
go back to using her birth name when she would get older.
Her family would settle into an apartment in the Lower East Side of New York.
Her life as a teenager was depressing, while she and her sisters worked in sweat
shops, her brothers received top notch education. Her father refused to
assimilate to the dominant culture and kept his Old World ways of the daughters
supporting the family until they are married. This Old World custom would later
go on to help her inspire her most acclaimed work, Bread Givers. It would
later become her inspiration to tap into her writings that would aim at her
misfortunes of being a female and an immigrant. Frustrated by these ways, Anzia
left home and found a room in a girl’s home. While there, she manufactured a
fake high school diploma to get into Columbia University where she studied
science to become a teacher. Once she graduated, she taught for a while and
became bored with it, and then she had a brief stint at the American Academy of
Dramatic Arts where she studied to become an actress. This time in her life
shows the indecisive part of her life. She is constantly bouncing from
professions but cannot seem to find her American Dream. As a young adult she
does not know what her right path is and what will lead her to success. While
reading this information, I felt her own frustration within the writing because
she was bouncing from job to job unsatisfied. Unfilled by the previous
excursions, she was inspired by her sister’s advice to become a writer.
In 1913, she began her quest as a writer. At first she had a hard time getting
published but Anzia pushed on until she got her big break. Throughout her entire
works of writings, they all reflect on some biographical aspect of her life. One
aspect in particular was her great romance with John Dewey who was a professor
at Columbia University. Despite these two not having a long romance, they each
left a lasting impression on one another. The fascinating part of her life
during this time was that they served as inspiration in each other’s writings.
In retrospect, he was part of her American Dream because he was the man she
idealized as the Anglo-Saxon male that represented the dominant culture
perfectly. Just like her writing reflected the need to assimilate to the
dominant culture, this also seemed like her way of attempting to assimilate by
yearning a relationship with the ideal man of the dominant culture.
Another aspect of her writing that was also essential to her was that she relate
in words the ways of the ghetto life (Poland) to the American readers. This
showed the harsher side of reality to readers because it showed how she
struggled in the Old World before moving to the New World. Her style of writing
surrounded the immigrant narrative as well as telling it from a woman’s eyes
which was uncommon at the time. This was intriguing in the sense that we as a
society in today’s world, we do not look between genders but rather the better
writer. It just goes to show how different America was only by a hundred years.
It was truly admirable that she took on this responsibility to speak not only
for the Old World Immigrant but also the hardships that woman immigrant faces
when coming to the New World. It’s hard enough to come to the New World and
attempting to assimilate but also being a woman made it that much harder. While
reading her historical information, it was mesmerizing in how she was a no holds
car type of woman. She would not let anything or anyone tell her she could not
do something. If she made her mind up, there was no stopping her. I felt that
this mind set divided her from others because she was so fierce and eager when
it came to achieving her American Dream. It is truly one of the qualities that I
most personally have envied since conducting my research.
Her books published in the twenties came with dismal reviews from mainstream
Americans (the dominant culture) as well as from her Jewish community citing
that her characters were too predictable but the immigrant experience was
interesting. The Jewish community did not like the majority of her works because
they felt she painted their culture in a poor light and used over-dramatic
stereotypes. This was very shocking because throughout her journey all she
wanted to do was tell a story, her story through fiction. It was truly heart
wrenching to read that even her own culture turned their backs, all because she
wanted the world to know about her culture. Fortunately, her response to her
critics was that the language was necessary for the readers to understand the
ghetto life style. Without this knowledge of these common stereotypes or ideals
reader could not grasp the realism within the Old World. Even though she faced
harsh criticism, she made no excuses and kept on pushing. Her most famous and
highly acclaimed book to date is Bread Givers which was published in
1925. The book was her fictional autobiographical novel that reflected her life
as a teenager and how she was able to break away from her highly religious
father. It was very admirable that she had the strength to relive her hardships
with her father and turn it into fictional biography of her life. She would go
on to write more short stories and books but would not have anything published
after 1950. She died in California of a stroke on November 21, 1970.
Anzia Yezierska is the model for the standard immigrant narrative. Through her
writing she was able to document her journey from the Old World to the New
World. She fits beautifully into this course because she crafted the immigrant
narrative so well that it seemed effortless. Her short story of Soap and
Water approached the struggles that an immigrant woman faced while
attempting to pursue the American Dream. It is the perfect piece to start out
with in the course because it sets the standard of overall objective 1: escaping
the Old World and assimilating to the New World. Her story centralized around
the yearning to assimilate to the dominant culture with frequent references to
their appearance and cleanliness. Even though there was an in depth research on
her, it was amazing that in her works as a reader I felt like I knew her whole
story, her feelings and emotions that went along with it.
Overall, she has truly made an impact on the literary world as well as the minds
of individuals across America. Her writings have shown many generations the
trials and tribulations that immigrant’s especially female immigrants must
endure while making the journey into assimilating to the Dominant culture. As
Americans who were born into this country, the realization of opportunity does
not come easy to others who come from a different land. Her narratives show the
harsh reality of life for an immigrant in achieving success or their version of
the American Dream. As an individual, the information that was collected opened
a new light, professionally and personally. It is rare that a piece of work can
move someone to emotions but it was Anzia’s work that did just that. She
ultimately achieved her goal in becoming a successful writer as well as her
American Dream. It is ironic that she used her struggles to achieve greatness
within the world and her artifice of works will continue to live on, teaching
individuals everywhere what it was like to be an immigrant within America. She
is truly an inspiration to all people with the no quit attitude and strong
perseverance. Even though she was not liked by some, it is no question that she
is one of the great writers of the immigrant narrative.
Works Cited
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 221: American Women Prose Writers,
1870-1920.
A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Sharon M. Harris, University of
Nebraska, Lincoln. The Gale Group, 2000. Pp. 381-387.
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 28: Twentieth-Century American-Jewish
Fiction Writers.
A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Daniel Walden, Pennsylvania State
University. The Gale Group, 1984. Pp. 332-335.
Erens, Patricia Brett. "Anzia Yezierska." In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and
Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. Center for Digital
Research and Scholarship. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2013.
Web. 1 Nov 2013.
Horowitz, Sara. "Anzia Yezierska." Jewish Women's Archive. Jewish Women a Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia . Web. 2 Nov 2013.
