My thoughts on Anzia Yezierska's BREAD GIVERS
*Originally posted on Goodreads.
**Some spoilers (sorry)
I had to read Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers for class in late September this years, and I simply loved it. In class, we are talking about immigration in America, this book helping us on the focus of Jewish immigrants. I'd expected to be bored by the read, but Yezierska's writing style was so immersive, I'd end up reading ahead of what had been assigned for class.
The story focuses on Sara Smolinsky, living with her father, mother, and sisters, Bessie, Fania, and Mashah. It shows the issue between the ways of the "Old World", meaning the traditional ways of life, and the "New World", veering off said path into a more independent route.
The father is strongly set in his traditional ideology, with the importance of religion, the need to marry off daughters, and the general control he holds in the household. The mother accepts this, and though we see moments of her love to him, we also see how she wants to do best for her girls, putting her at a difference with her husband.
Sadly, Sara's three older sisters are married off to men of their father's chosen, despite having men they have chosen, men they wish to be with. The father rejects them, whether it be because he'll take away Bessie (the money-provider), have a shameful occupation (in his religious opinion), or will not provide.
Sara, in turn, is able to escape from her father's control, to make her own life. After her father is tricked into buying an empty supermarket, he gets mad at her for a sale she has made (she trusted that the client would return later with full pay, and gave the product). Sara, instead of taking this, leaves, making a living in a patriarchal world as she tries to study her way to college. In college, being a first generation student, she struggles with money and getting accustomed to the new field she is placed in.
My surprise in this part was how she was still helped, having also read her incident in which she argued why a male should get more soup than her, despite them both paying the same price. Such section reflected the ideal "American Dream", Sara being able to not only graduate, but win a contest, giving her money to start off her new life.
Sara also comes to a sort of reconciliation with her past. Her mother sadly dies, and her father marries shortly after, a horrid woman, though he has also been horrid as well (in this section, especially so considering how little he waits before remarrying). Sara, now a teacher, is even accused of being a bad daughter, for not providing for her father and his new wife. Yet, when Sara finds him out on the streets, she agrees to helping him, which made the ending seem both happy and saddening. Happy, in that she and her father have, in a way, made up, but saddening in that she is still bound to him, despite his ways. I know it seems mean of me to wish he'd learn his lesson, and him being on the streets in a way was his teaching moment, but I did not feel that he was sorry enough.
I may be biased, in this sense though. The issues of the traditional vs the new felt similar to my own and of those I knew. So I believe that my reaction to the conclusion was just me reflecting my own situation on it. Perhaps, if I reread this in the future, around the age Sara is at the end of the novel, instead of the middle, I may feel that what she did was proper. My age and own point in life might be what is making me slightly question the ending. And no, I didn't want her to leave her father out and forgotten, but I wanted him to ask for more forgiveness, for him to fully comprehend how he affected the lives of his other daughters.
My conclusion? This is definitely a must read, whether for educational purpose or pleasure, or both. I did not expect to enjoy this read so much. Still, fair warning, you may end up getting mad with the father and possibly even the mother for her standby ways at some points. But it's important to see how some people had to live, have to still live. It does help prove the "American Dream" ideology - Sara does go to college, does become a teacher and earn money - but it isn't all lighthearted happiness as some versions of the "American Dream" are. Bread Givers is a good mix of light and dark, realistic with and overall happy conclusion.
**Some spoilers (sorry)
I had to read Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers for class in late September this years, and I simply loved it. In class, we are talking about immigration in America, this book helping us on the focus of Jewish immigrants. I'd expected to be bored by the read, but Yezierska's writing style was so immersive, I'd end up reading ahead of what had been assigned for class.
The story focuses on Sara Smolinsky, living with her father, mother, and sisters, Bessie, Fania, and Mashah. It shows the issue between the ways of the "Old World", meaning the traditional ways of life, and the "New World", veering off said path into a more independent route.
The father is strongly set in his traditional ideology, with the importance of religion, the need to marry off daughters, and the general control he holds in the household. The mother accepts this, and though we see moments of her love to him, we also see how she wants to do best for her girls, putting her at a difference with her husband.
Sadly, Sara's three older sisters are married off to men of their father's chosen, despite having men they have chosen, men they wish to be with. The father rejects them, whether it be because he'll take away Bessie (the money-provider), have a shameful occupation (in his religious opinion), or will not provide.
Sara, in turn, is able to escape from her father's control, to make her own life. After her father is tricked into buying an empty supermarket, he gets mad at her for a sale she has made (she trusted that the client would return later with full pay, and gave the product). Sara, instead of taking this, leaves, making a living in a patriarchal world as she tries to study her way to college. In college, being a first generation student, she struggles with money and getting accustomed to the new field she is placed in.
My surprise in this part was how she was still helped, having also read her incident in which she argued why a male should get more soup than her, despite them both paying the same price. Such section reflected the ideal "American Dream", Sara being able to not only graduate, but win a contest, giving her money to start off her new life.
Sara also comes to a sort of reconciliation with her past. Her mother sadly dies, and her father marries shortly after, a horrid woman, though he has also been horrid as well (in this section, especially so considering how little he waits before remarrying). Sara, now a teacher, is even accused of being a bad daughter, for not providing for her father and his new wife. Yet, when Sara finds him out on the streets, she agrees to helping him, which made the ending seem both happy and saddening. Happy, in that she and her father have, in a way, made up, but saddening in that she is still bound to him, despite his ways. I know it seems mean of me to wish he'd learn his lesson, and him being on the streets in a way was his teaching moment, but I did not feel that he was sorry enough.
I may be biased, in this sense though. The issues of the traditional vs the new felt similar to my own and of those I knew. So I believe that my reaction to the conclusion was just me reflecting my own situation on it. Perhaps, if I reread this in the future, around the age Sara is at the end of the novel, instead of the middle, I may feel that what she did was proper. My age and own point in life might be what is making me slightly question the ending. And no, I didn't want her to leave her father out and forgotten, but I wanted him to ask for more forgiveness, for him to fully comprehend how he affected the lives of his other daughters.
My conclusion? This is definitely a must read, whether for educational purpose or pleasure, or both. I did not expect to enjoy this read so much. Still, fair warning, you may end up getting mad with the father and possibly even the mother for her standby ways at some points. But it's important to see how some people had to live, have to still live. It does help prove the "American Dream" ideology - Sara does go to college, does become a teacher and earn money - but it isn't all lighthearted happiness as some versions of the "American Dream" are. Bread Givers is a good mix of light and dark, realistic with and overall happy conclusion.
-Thanks, Covy
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