Immigrants In The Joy Luck Club And Bread Givers

In All I asking for is my body by Milton Murayama, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, and Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska, the stories of immigrants are told in conjunction with the stories of their children and their respective viewpoints. The way immigration is posed through the lenses of the children of immigrants yields a perspective on the assimilation of a family or bloodline in a new country. While it is ultimately parents of first generation immigrants who decide that the family is to plant new roots in a new place, it is up to the children to decide how these roots will grow and manifest; children become conflicted between their new, modern American surroundings, and the more archaic, traditional view of their parents’ past lives. Before

In citing reasons why any immigrant would want to come to America, “People forsake their homeland and move to another country for various reasons. Some people emigrate to avoid starvation. Some seek adventure. Others wish to escape unbearable family situations. Still others desire to be reunited with loved ones” (Bryant). Joyce Bryant points out that there is a myriad of reasons why anyone would want to leave the place they call home, but then remarks that, “The main reason for immigration has long been economic opportunity, the lure of better land or a better job” (Bryant). In Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers the prospect of a new life in America is so strong that Reb Smolinsky and Shena’s views of their soon-to-be life are overly optimistic with regards to what America has to offer. The Reb tells Shena not to even think about bringing her old feather beds or dishes to America because “in the new golden country, where milk and honey flow free in the streets, you’ll have new golden dishes to cook in” (Yezierska 9). The Reb boldly calls America a land of “milk and honey,” which is a description traditionally reserved for describing Israel—a land that would surely be more holy in his eyes as a devoted Jew, showing how full he thinks America is with opportunity. He uses shining imagery in his description of their new life by repeating the word “golden,” as if to emphasize the economic gains they will surely make in the United States. At the same time, the desire to become successful is naturally related with the desire to pave a better way for one 's children in order to secure a better future for the family. If immigrants are coming to America for the money, and immigrants have kids in order to continue the bloodline, then the push to move to America for money is also motivated by the desire to provide better financial footing for