Topic > Bread Donors: The Limits of the American Dream

For many immigrants, coming to America was an opportunity to leave their home country in hopes of finding a better life in a new land. In this vein, Anna Yezierska writes about the struggles of an immigrant Jewish family living on New York's Lower East Side during the 1920s in her novel Bread Givers. The Smolinsky family had high hopes, as the father says: “Don't you know that in America it is always summer? And in the new golden country, where milk and honey flow freely through the streets, you will have new golden dishes to cook, and you will not burden yourself with your old pots and pans" (Yezierska 9). Unfortunately, this golden life will not it was what most immigrants came to when they arrived in the “New” world. Yezierska expresses the specific struggle of an early 20th century immigrant family in America, while also showing more broadly how important it is to adapt to new things. cultures. and environments to ensure success. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay History marks a complete revolution America to bring its Sacred Torah in the New World. He tries to live the "old life" style, studying his sacred scriptures while the burden of supporting his struggling family falls on his wife, Shena, and their daughters. The three eldest daughters, Bessie, Mashah and Fania, pushes away their true lovers and arranges marriages that help him gain financial gains by making these women unhappy. Reb attempts to succeed in business in America and fails terribly, while loyally sticking to his faith. After watching her father's faith and stubbornness ruin his family, his youngest daughter, Sara, goes to college and walks away from that life. After his wife's death, Reb tries to gain financial gain again by marrying another woman, Mrs. Feinstein. She in turn ends up trying to exploit his daughters, and after spending all her money she leaves. Angrily, Mrs. Feinstein writes a letter to the principal of Sara's school, Hugo Seelig. This letter ends up bringing the two together and Sara falls in love. After learning of her father's difficulties, Sara turns to him and offers him a place to live. Ultimately, his adherence to Orthodox Jewish principles and culture and his refusal to adapt to the American ideal became a key part of his failure, taking his family with it. Throughout the novel, Reb constantly allows his old lifestyle to get in the way of his life. the new life of his family, even if in somewhat small ways. At the beginning of the novel he is reluctant to give up his study and move his books to the kitchen so he can rent a room to make money. At that time the family also had no money for food, and all they could say was, “What is there to worry about, as long as we have enough to keep breath in our bodies? But the real food is the Holy Torah of God" (Yezierska 11). Reb does not work and insists that women are here to work for their husbands so that they can enter heaven. When Reb drives away his daughters' lovers , primarily to fix their marriages for his own financial gain, ruins their chances of future or success. His arrogance is his persistence in not changing his cultural values ​​when he says: “Speak again to this liar, this denier of. God! Didn't I tell you once that you can't trust a man who plays the piano on the Sabbath, a man without religion? As he left you once, he will leave you again" (Yezierska 63) about Jacob Novak, l Mashah's lover. Even after Sara moved away and went to college to become a teacher, his.