What does Sara Hunger For?

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Recommended: Gender roles of women in literature

In Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska Sara is growing up as a Jewish immigrant migrated from Russia. From a young age she has only wanted to support herself and her family. As she grows older she begins to aspire to be “something”. What that something is seems unclear even to Sara. Sara is so unsure of what she hungers for that multiple points can be argued. Some may say she hungers for money because of the way her family has always had to scrape for pennies just to survive. Some may argue she quests for freedom because she runs away from her family. These are decent analysis but they do not dive as deep as they should. Sara’s aspirations are so much more than just money to buy more clothes or just freedom from her family. Sara is an individual that hungers to be seen: by her family, by her peers, and by society. Sara desperately seeks to be seen as a contributor. Her family struggles throughout most of the book to make ends meet but when she tries to help her mother says, “An empty head on one side and craziness on the other side” (20). In this passage she refers to Sara as crazy as if she would surely fail in whatever her endeavor to get money might be. “Craziness” is surely a strong word in this context because it makes Sara out to be worthless in her mother’s eyes. Sara sees everyone else in the family making money and when they bring in money they are noticed by all family members as having value. This to Sara is her mother ignoring her and only pushes Sara further to make them see her as worth something. In her determination, Sara goes out and peddles herring by the side of the street. After she makes a profit she thinks, “I only wanted to show them what I could do and give it away to them” (22). Sara says “show” which further ... ... middle of paper ... ...w, even before I did, that there was a slight wrinkle in the shoulder of the jacket, and called for a fitter to make it just right on me” (239). With use of words such as “slight” and pointing out that she saw the wrinkle before she did tells how much Sara takes the attention to heart. For once she feels as though people notice and attend to her and her needs. Throughout the book Sara has struggled to find herself and be seen by everyone. Her mom and father are pointed out as not believing in her and noticing that she has something to offer. Her peers are pointed out as ignoring her for her looks and her background. Men have continued to see her as only something for them to own as if she had nothing to share with them. Overall Sara is shown to have struggled with when and what people see her as. Her greatest moments boiled down into when she is seen by everyone.

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