Bread Givers

1675 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Generational conflict in the times of change

Clashing of Wills

	

	Conflict between generations is a common them to many novels. In the novel"Bread Givers", by Anzia Yezierksa, the clashing of wills of two generations is one major theme. We see clashes through culture, generations, community, religion,generations, and many others. The most prominent clash of wills is that of the protagonist Sara with her father Moisha or Reb Smolinsky. Some may say that these two characters clash because of their differences. Others might say that it their similarities that cause the clash between them both. It seems that it is a combination of their similarities and their differences that cause their clash and, in fact, binds them closer than

any of the other characters.

	At the beginning of the novel we learn that Sara’s father has nick named her blood and iron recognizing the fact that she has a strong will. It is Sara’s strong will that causes the most of the conflict with her and her father. Sara gets her strong will and drive from her father. She is not like her sisters who follow the cultural expectations of early marriage, but she, instead, has greater ambition for her life. Sara plans to get an education which is not in her fathers plan for her life. Reb wants Sara to marry like her

other sisters, and live a "holy" life according to the Torah. Sara’s will to educate herself, and Reb’s will to have Sara married is what causes the conflict in their relationship. Like Sara’s blood and iron will, Reb also is driven for his daughters to live their life according to the Torah.

	It is the strong will of these two characters that cause their connection. While Reb is bound to the laws and traditions of the Torah, Sara is bound to the drive to be educated or make herself a better, more successful person. One incident that exemplifies the strong will of both these characters is found at the beginning of the novel. The rent collector for the landlord comes to the apartment to collect rent, but Reb does not have the money. The two argue and Reb finally hits the collector, who is Jewish, and

shouts, "I’ll teach you respect for the Holy Torah" (p. 18). Reb is then taken off to jail for assault. Then Sara decides since none of her sisters are bringing in enough money, that she would go out and make some.

Show More
Related

  • Jewish Immigrants In Bread Givers By Anzia Yezierska

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    For an immigrant, entering into the United States during the early 1900s was a time in search for new beginnings, new possibilities, and a new life. Similarly, this concept was the same for Sara. In the early chapters of the novel, Sara's character is introduced as a young, courageous girl who works hard every day providing money and food for her family. Her job consisted of working in shops and going out into the streets of New York as a beggar

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of 'Confetti Girl And Tortilla Sun'

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    Conflict between the main characters in fictional stories can be so thick, you need a razor-sharp knife to cut it; that is definitely the case in the two literary texts I recently analyzed titled “Confetti Girl” by Diana Lopez and “Tortilla Sun” by Jennifer Cervantes. In the first text, tensions mount when a social butterfly of a teenage girl and her oblivious father lock horns over the subject of homework. In the second passage, drama runs high when a lonely child and her career-driven mother battle over the concept of spending the summer apart. Unfortunately, by the end of both excerpts, the relationships of these characters seem damaged beyond repair due to their differing points of view - the children end up locked behind their barrier-like

    Read More

  • Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierskia

    1481 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... her goal. Just like most first generation immigrants, the family went through dreadful poverty. Anzia Yezierska did an excellent job in describing what life was like for Sarah’s family, which was a sample of what life was like for immigrants. As an illustration, when Mashah, who was worked went out and bought herself a toothbrush and a small towel for thirty-cents so she can have her own towel. The rest of the family became horrified. It was like, how dare she spend thirty-cents on a toothbrush and towel, when the rest of the family is starving and they needed that money to buy food? The father supposes it is his absolute right to expect that the four daughters either will never leave home thereby supporting him forever or they would leave home and marry somebody rich, who will then support him forever. The women in the Smolinsky family were the breadwinners.

    Read More

  • Bread Givers And Family Limitation

    1522 Words  | 4 Pages

    Early in the book we first learn about the oldest Smolinsky sister Bessie, who is also known as the, "burden bearer" of the family. The Smolinsky's rely on Bessie to contribute her wages to the family's well being, and is seems that if she fails to make good enough money, the family will undoubtedly fall into pieces. "And the whole family were hanging on Bessie's neck for her wages. Unless she got work soon, we'd be thrown in the street to shame and to laughter for the whole world." (Pg 1) Perhaps it is Bessie who has suffered the most from her family duty. It seems that Bessie has not even had time to develop a personality due to the weight her family has put on her shoulders throughout her years as a young child and through her adolescence. She needs to work in order to feed her family and she unlike Sara, has no freedom and no chance of escaping her family duties without the separation of her family due to poverty. This truly holds Bessie back from what she wants. Her duty to her father keeps her from marrying Berel and going off to live with him. However she wants, like Sara, to run away and be independent but she feels that without her family she will be left alone in the cold world with no where to go. This frightens Bessie and she feels that she would rather stay with what she has at home, than risk getting something she truly wants by running away from her family.

    Read More

  • Sarah and Angelina Grimké

    1974 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sarah was the sixth child. Even at a young age she showed great independence and focused many of her efforts on justice. She was very intellectual and because of this, her father paid particular attention to her over the other children. He is said to have frequently declared “if she had been of the other sex she would have made the greatest jurist in the land” (Birney, 1970, p 8). Sarah was also very personable, empathetic and car...

    Read More

  • The Significance of Sibling Rivalry in Steinbeck's East of Eden

    1394 Words  | 3 Pages

    The struggle of sibling rivalry over ability and temperament has taken East of Eden in a whole new perspective. Steinbeck’s portrait on sibling rivalry shows the good vs. evil of each character in the story. The nature of good vs. evil as natural selection is also seen in siblings, as a compete for something physical, mental, or something emotional. The sibling rivalry from the biblical characters embraced Steinbeck’s characters throughout every concept in the novel, the good vs. evil confines the characters personality in every idea of Steinbeck’s novel. From the biblical story of Cain and Abel to Adam and Charles to Cal and Aaron the story continues through out every generation.

    Read More

  • Bread Givers By Anzia Yezierska

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    Anzia uses the narrator Sarah, to tell the story of family who newly moved to America and is living in New York City. From Sarah’s narration, we can see the idea that some first-generation immigrants had a resistance to assimilating to American culture, whereas their children quickly became Americanized. Sarah describes her father Reb Smolinsky as the patriarch of the family, who is often accused of keeping his children only for their wages. By her father relying on his daughters to bring in money for the family, he can continue to practice Torah like he did in the old country. We can further see this resistance to assimilate by Sarah’s father when he says “Sell my religion for money? Become a false prophet to the Americanized Jews! No. My religion is not for sale” (111,cite). By Sarah’s father refusing to get a job and contributing to his families American Dream, it shows that he has no desire to assimilate to new American ideals. Reb Smolinsky becomes a representation of a generation that is so deeply rooted in the past and has no intention to move forward. Sarah and her sisters are the newer generation and their view of assimilation is clearly different. Sarah recognizes that her father is stubborn and his difference in ideas of how life is supposed to be when she states that “he was the old world. I was the New” (cite). Unlike her father, her sisters work to further themselves and fulfill the American Dream. Sarah engages in hard work and doesn’t want to beg on the street for food, instead she has the desire “to go into business like a person” and proves this when she buys herring to resell on the street and despite her little knowledge of business she ends up earning an unexpected twenty-five cents profit (21

    Read More

  • June Jordan Many Rivers To Cross Analysis

    622 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her only option was to move back into her childhood home with her parents. Her father was very disapproving of Jordan because she was once again an unmarried woman, and, to make matters even worse, she was pregnant. This abuse from her father is the second river that she must cross. Her father believes that women should marry and stay married, serving their husbands and taking care of the children.

    Read More

  • Symbolism for Adam and Eve in Nathanial Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter"

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through the use of numerous symbols, Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter serves as an allegory for the story of Adam and Eve and its relation to sin, knowledge, and the human condition that is present in human society. Curious for the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, which resulted in the revelation of their “humanness” and expulsion from the “divine garden” as they then suffered the pain and joy of being humans. Just as Adam and Eve were expelled from their society and suffered in their own being, so were Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter. Hester was out casted and shunned, while Dimmesdale suffered under his own guilt. After knowledge of her affair is made known, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest to symbolize her crime of adultery, and is separated from the Puritan society. Another “A” appears in the story, and is not embroidered, but instead scarred on Dimmesdale’s chest as a symbol of guilt and suffering. Hester’s symbol of guilt comes in the form of her daughter, Pearl, who is the manifestation of her adultery, and also the living version of her scarlet letter. Each of these symbols come together to represent that with sin comes personal growth and advancement of oneself in society as the sinner endures the good and bad consequences.

    Read More

  • The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    life and looked for a way to gain her freedom. Emily must endure her fathers

    Read More

  • I Stand Here Ironing By Tillie Olsen

    674 Words  | 2 Pages

    First, in the beginning of the story someone was on the phone that cared for Emily, told her mother “I wish you would manage the time to come in and talk with me about your daught...

    Read More

  • The Power of White Bread

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    Little would one know that something as simple as the bread one uses to make their sandwich could cause so much havoc and debate in the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The debates over whether or not white bread was healthy, or whether homemade bread is healthier than store-bought bread consumed the minds of many Americans during this period. According to Aaron Bobrow-Strain, “well-meaning efforts to change the country through its bread ended up reinforcing forms of race, class, and gender exclusion – even when they also achieved much-needed improvements in America’s food system.” But what does this mean? Well, the varying belief on quality and health of bread was closely tied to who was making the bread. Through the production, distribution, and purchase of bread during the late 19th and early 20th century, one is able to discover the views on race and social class that surrounded the country during this period.

    Read More

  • The Scarlet Letter

    1871 Words  | 4 Pages

    What is The Scarlet Letter really about? “It has all the ingredients of a soap opera, but it is far more than that,” (Johnson 1995) writes Claudia Durst Johnson in her book which analyzes The Scarlet Letter thoroughly. Rather it is about the consequences of breaking the moral code, or in this case a moral law. It is about failing to be true to human nature. It is about cruel and terrible revenge. It is about the hypocrisy of members of a community who refuse to acknowledge that each of them is just as human, just as vulnerable to passionate feelings as the women they label an adulterer. I could go on and on. The Scarlet Letter’s psychological aspects seem never-ending.

    Read More

  • Conflict In The Rez Sisters

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    The sister's fights are usually underlined with their desires to make each other into better people. The sisters are connected by their pursuit a better life causing them to push each other towards their goals. When Emily gets herself

    Read More

  • Jealous deaths

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...e ways in life jealousy and revenge is shown. Serena throughout the book is noticeable the source to the beginning of the jealous and revengeful streak that the camp goes through. Rash uses many of his different characters to show different forms of jealousy and revenge. As with Galloway he shows us a side of jealousy and revenge that is more or less due to his debt to Serena. Rash shows us that with life people can be jealous and revengeful due to others whether by debt or bias. Serena is the one character that rash uses as the main focal and at parts mysteries focal point of all the distrust and vengeance. With the use of Pemberton as the husband and starts to fall into these qualities of Serena. Rash though does use Rachel as the pure soul to the camp. Showing that as in life there is always the one that no matter how others act around them they are pure inside.

    Read More

More about Bread Givers

Open Document