Bread Giver Essay Thesis

1258 Words6 Pages

Everyone has their reason for migrating to the United States of America. Some immigrants are determined to leave what would be consider the “Old World “ to seek fortune in the “ New World” . In Anzia Yezierska 's book “Bread Giver “ she presents a family working their way out of a falling poverty, to seek great fortune in America. The book follows Sara Smolinsky as she continues her development into womanhood in the 1920’s . She lived on the lower east side of New York around 1890. She was born in a small Polish village. Sara was surrounded by poverty and struggled with gender class, family, religious and cultural traditions.

Sara was the youngest of four daughter to this poor Polish family that is pursuing independence and the American dream. She was the only one to deal with her Russian Jewish Rabbi father because all of her sisters went and married men that they weren 't really in love with.That decision was made by her father. Her father Reb Smolinsky was very selfish and very hypocritical . Reb denies the oldest daughter chance at happiness with the guy of her dreams. Reb does not work at all and he spends all his time studying Holy Torah.Holy Torah is the main reference of the religious Judaic tradition. He not only reads these holy books all day but he command his daughters around, and make …show more content…

It is very clear that the oppression of women’s individuality in the book “Bread Givers” forms an outline on how Sara gave various attempts to live her life on her own as an independent women. She wants to be seen and respected more as an “individual”.She not only want this to be the case in her own eyes and the eyes of others that lives in this society. While individuality does not seem that unlikely to be given the United States , with their obsession with individualism. This is very true especially the belief of the self-made independent man. On the other hand, the self-made independent women, has unfortunately always played the victim to