primary approach. There are two types of arrange marriages. The first is a traditional marriage where the children can, with strong objections, refuse to marry their soon to be spouse. In a forced marriage, the children have no say in the matter. Bread Givers shows an excellent representation of the pressures on children from their parents to be married against their will. The factors of arranged marriages are chiefly superficial. The most
The novel of Anzia Yezierska Bread Givers talks about a Jewish family who immigrated to America and lived in Hester Street in the lower east side of New York. The Smolinsky family lived in starvation, the ones who financially support the family were the daughters rather than the father. As a Jewish father, Reb Smolinsky, does not work because he is focuses all his time on reading his holy books and demanding his daughter’s wages. Shaena Smolinsky is the mother who is always stressed about the poverty
Doomed Relationships in the Bread Givers The Bread Givers, written by Anzia Yezierska, revolves around a starving lower east side family whose daughter rebels against her fathers’ strict conception of the role of a Jewish woman. The major theme of this novel is doomed relationships. There are several of these that are thoroughly analyzed in the novel. These include the relationship between Rabbi Smolinksy and the females in his family as well as those in his society, between him and his son-in-laws
In Fun Home, Alison’s dynamic with her father is damaged to a certain extent and she finds inspiration in how she wants to not make her life the way that she grew up. Just like Alison, Sara in The Bread Givers, finds inspiration in the dynamic with her own father because she wants to have a life of her own choosing, but she thinks so highly of father and his love for books and knowledge. These two girls both look up to their fathers to a certain extent but at the same time they each find resentment
their skin color. Even in the Bread Givers the struggle for equality was shown, “‘Cheaters! Robbers!’ I longed to cry out to them. ‘Why do you have flowers on the table and cheat a starving girl from her bite of food’” (Yezierska 169). Sara was starving and needed food so she asked the lunch lady for some more, the lut mre in the gave it to a man. Sara was furious and demanded to have food, a voice in the line shouted, “Don’t you know they always give men more” (Yezierska 169). Since men were more
A Realistic Look at Bread Givers and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents America is a country that was created and settled by immigrants from many different lands. These immigrants came to America in search of the "American Dream" of freedom and a better way of life, and their narratives have been recorded by various authors in both fiction and non-fiction stories. But can the fiction genre be considered a reliable source for studying the immigrant narrative? If American immigrant
Generational Differences in Yezierska’s Bread Givers Anzia Yezierska’s most-taught novel, Bread Givers, "is an extensive observation of relationships in an immigrant family of early 20th century America" (Sample 1). Noticeably, one of the most fascinating qualities of Yezierska’s work is that, though most readers probably come from significantly different backgrounds than that of her characters, she writes in a manner that allows her stories to be discussed in contemporary terms, (Drucker
riches and rags, juxtaposing the two jarring lifestyles to a key. A novel by Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers, shows that divide through a narration of daily living from a Jewish immigrant family who not only struggles for their prosperity, but also finding a place in an American society without truly feeling American at first. Yerierska, a Jewish-novelist, depicts flashes of her childhood through her fictional world of Bread Givers, which was published in 1925 only to be buried in time itself to resonate
of the Tenements,” Anzia Yezierska (est.1880-1970) is best known for writing about Jewish immigrants, specifically women, and the challenges they faced assimilating to life in the United States. An immigrant herself, Yezierska and her family moved to the United States to escape Eastern Europe’s poverty, and rising antisemitic attitudes. She ultimately chose a career in writing, and published several short stories and novels (Kent 144). Yezierska’s most popular novel Bread Givers, published in 1925
Ellis Island, and America and I The American dream is as varied as the people who populate America. The play The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the poem "Ellis Island" by Joseph Bruchac, and the poem "America and I" by Anzia Yezierska illustrate different perspectives of the American dream. All three authors show some lines of thought on what the freedom inherent in the American dream means. The authors clarify distinct ideas on the means to achieving the American dream