Otherwise, There’s Nothing New
Sholem Aleichem’s “Otherwise, There’s Nothing New” weaves the themes of Labor and Capitalism seamlessly into the story. The story engages the morality of child labor and the idea that capitalism hurting Jewish communities while all functioning to critique Jewish immigrant communities in a comedic wrapper. As one begins to unwrap “Otherwise, There’s Nothing New”, similes and allusions are revealed to help deliver the theme of unfair labor treatment. These all highlight the harsh realities of not only America, but also the world for those underprivileged.
The tale begins a Jewish man named Yenkel who recently emigrated from Russia to New York with his wife and children. The story is laid out by an exchange of letters between Yenkel and his friend Yisrulik, who still lives in the old country. Immediately in Yenkel’s letter there is mention of Socialism, “Sometimes we go to a Socialist
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At first glance, this quote seem like miscellaneous detailed added in by Aleichem. But when looking at the context, Yenkel would not mention being a part of a Socialist organization to his friend if it were not important or warranted. When analyzing Yisrulik’s response to Yenkel, some light is shed on why the Socialist meeting was mentioned, “The rich men are doing nicely, as usual, and the poor people are dying of hunger […] Workingmen like us are sitting around without a stitch of work” (Aleichem, 239). Through Yisrulik Aleichem is alluding to capitalism, an economic system where private owners control a country’s trade and industry for profit. It is made clear that capitalism is hurting the Jewish community in Russia; so, Yenkel opens up the letter mentioning Socialism (a very different practice from Capitalism) as a nod to Yisrulik that things are much better in America. Aleichem uses “Otherwise, There’s Nothing New” to non-directly place ideas of Capitalism