Bread Givers
Encyclopedia
Bread Givers is a 1925 novel
by Anzia Yezierska
.
, begins with a 10-year old Sara Smolinsky. Sara lives with her mother, Shenah, her father, Moses (referred to as "Reb," a title of respect in Judaism) and her three sisters, Bessie, Fania, and Mashah in the Lower East Side tenement of New York City. As the story opens, the Smolinskys are destitute, with the five women struggling for money to simply survive and Moses concerned only with the study of the Jewish sacred texts. The opening chapter depicts the family's financial struggles and the Smolinsky family dynamics. Additionally, this chapter hints at the struggle between Sara, who yearns for American ideals independence, and her father, who clings obsessively to traditional Jewish culture.
The following three chapters center on Moses' complete domination of Sara's 3 sisters as they each fall in love, have their suitors rejected by their father, and end in arranged marriages. These marriages, arranged by Moses for his financial comfort, bring the three daughters great misery. Bessie marries Zalmon the fish-peddler seemingly because she pities his children. Mashah is wedded to Moe Mirsky, a man pretending to be a diamond dealer, but is actually just a middle man. He spends all of his money on showy clothes and lets his family go hungry. Fania ends up marrying a gambler, Abe Schmukler, who buys her affection and shows her off to appear rich. Sara witnesses the devastation her father causes her sisters and vows that she will not follow in their footsteps; she will marry only a man she loves.
The next chapters detail the family's further financial misfortune as Reb struggles to understand American business practices and is continually hoodwinked. The tension between Moses and Sara escalates quickly when she is forced to move to a new town and work in her father's store, where Moses constantly displays his inaptitude for business yet refuses to take advice from his wife and Sara. Eventually, Sara moves back to New York City
and decides she wants to become a teacher.
While living with her parents, Sara primarily experienced Jewish-American culture. However, her college experience is where she first interacts solely with the predominantly American culture. In order to pay for school and get good grades, Sara must ignore everything else, including her family, to work and study. Slowly and painfully, Sara learns to talk, dress and act like her American peers. She leaves college with her teaching degree and $1,000 which she won in an essay contest.
Feeling successful, Sara returns home (only a short distance physically, but light-years apart otherwise) to find her mother fatally ill. After her mother's death, her father remarries only to find his new wife, Mrs. Feinstein, is a gold-digger after his late wife's lodge money. Sara and her sisters, still furious over their father's treatment of them, become enraged at his quick marriage after their mother's death and refuse to help him when his new wife spends all his money and refuses to work. Sara goes back to New York and finds a teaching job.
Mrs. Feinstein is not satisfied with Mr. Smolinsky's money and wants more from his daughters. She is angry that Sara is avoiding her father, so she writes a nasty letter to her school's principal, Hugo Selig, in hopes to give her a bad reputation. Instead, the principal sympathizes with Sara and feels Mrs. Feinstein is desperate and pathetic. Sara is relieved and eventually she and Hugo, who is also a Polish-American, start dating.
Sara feels she has left her old life completely behind and wants to find a way to give back to the community. While pondering this, she finds her father practically on his deathbed, literally lying in the gutter selling chewing gum. Sara asks her father to come live with her and Hugo. Moses is concerned whether he can share the same roof with Sara. He says he will come if they "promise to keep sacred all that is sacred to [him]." In the end, Sara is still haunted by her father and his old-fashioned culture.
The story takes place in three distinct settings: the tenements on New York's Lower East Side
, the town of Elizabeth, New Jersey
, and Sara's college. The tenements on New York's Lower East Side supplied an instant Jewish-American community for the tenants. They housed the working-class Jews and the floor a family lived on often told of their financial status, with the top floor of these walk-up buildings representing the lowest status. People from the same culture tended to dominate sections of tenements, creating an island of sorts in the midst of New York City in which they were surrounded by their familiar culture. In Elizabeth, New Jersey, the family is somewhat more exposed to the American culture as they interact with white customers. The move is particularly tough for Sarah and her mother as the community of women in the New York City tenements is absent in Elizabeth. Sarah becomes entirely isolated from her culture when she leaves for college.
for his life view and these teachings often make their way directly into the text. Additionally, he often uses the sacred texts to justify his domination of his wife and daughters. There is a particular connection between Bread Givers and the stories of Rabbi
Chanina ben Dosa, the Rabbi's wife and the Rabbi's daughter. Reb is clearly associated with Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa and Shenah with the Rabbi's wife. However, while Sarah is clearly associated with the Rabbi's daughter, she is the antithesis of the daughter.
Additionally, while many of the critics already mentioned believe Bread Givers is largely autobiographical, Carol Schoen has been careful to point out that Yezierska's actual autobiographical information doesn't quite match up, largely due to Yezierska's own deceptions about her history.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Anzia Yezierska
Anzia Yezierska
Anzia Yezierska was a Polish-American novelist born in Maly Plock, Poland.- Personal life :Anzia Yezierska was born in the 1880s in Maly Plock to Bernard and Pearl Yezierski. Her family immigrated to America around 1890, following in the footsteps of her eldest brother Meyer, who arrived to the...
.
Synopsis
Bread Givers, a Jewish-American female coming-of-age story written by Anzia YezierskaAnzia Yezierska
Anzia Yezierska was a Polish-American novelist born in Maly Plock, Poland.- Personal life :Anzia Yezierska was born in the 1880s in Maly Plock to Bernard and Pearl Yezierski. Her family immigrated to America around 1890, following in the footsteps of her eldest brother Meyer, who arrived to the...
, begins with a 10-year old Sara Smolinsky. Sara lives with her mother, Shenah, her father, Moses (referred to as "Reb," a title of respect in Judaism) and her three sisters, Bessie, Fania, and Mashah in the Lower East Side tenement of New York City. As the story opens, the Smolinskys are destitute, with the five women struggling for money to simply survive and Moses concerned only with the study of the Jewish sacred texts. The opening chapter depicts the family's financial struggles and the Smolinsky family dynamics. Additionally, this chapter hints at the struggle between Sara, who yearns for American ideals independence, and her father, who clings obsessively to traditional Jewish culture.
The following three chapters center on Moses' complete domination of Sara's 3 sisters as they each fall in love, have their suitors rejected by their father, and end in arranged marriages. These marriages, arranged by Moses for his financial comfort, bring the three daughters great misery. Bessie marries Zalmon the fish-peddler seemingly because she pities his children. Mashah is wedded to Moe Mirsky, a man pretending to be a diamond dealer, but is actually just a middle man. He spends all of his money on showy clothes and lets his family go hungry. Fania ends up marrying a gambler, Abe Schmukler, who buys her affection and shows her off to appear rich. Sara witnesses the devastation her father causes her sisters and vows that she will not follow in their footsteps; she will marry only a man she loves.
The next chapters detail the family's further financial misfortune as Reb struggles to understand American business practices and is continually hoodwinked. The tension between Moses and Sara escalates quickly when she is forced to move to a new town and work in her father's store, where Moses constantly displays his inaptitude for business yet refuses to take advice from his wife and Sara. Eventually, Sara moves back to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and decides she wants to become a teacher.
While living with her parents, Sara primarily experienced Jewish-American culture. However, her college experience is where she first interacts solely with the predominantly American culture. In order to pay for school and get good grades, Sara must ignore everything else, including her family, to work and study. Slowly and painfully, Sara learns to talk, dress and act like her American peers. She leaves college with her teaching degree and $1,000 which she won in an essay contest.
Feeling successful, Sara returns home (only a short distance physically, but light-years apart otherwise) to find her mother fatally ill. After her mother's death, her father remarries only to find his new wife, Mrs. Feinstein, is a gold-digger after his late wife's lodge money. Sara and her sisters, still furious over their father's treatment of them, become enraged at his quick marriage after their mother's death and refuse to help him when his new wife spends all his money and refuses to work. Sara goes back to New York and finds a teaching job.
Mrs. Feinstein is not satisfied with Mr. Smolinsky's money and wants more from his daughters. She is angry that Sara is avoiding her father, so she writes a nasty letter to her school's principal, Hugo Selig, in hopes to give her a bad reputation. Instead, the principal sympathizes with Sara and feels Mrs. Feinstein is desperate and pathetic. Sara is relieved and eventually she and Hugo, who is also a Polish-American, start dating.
Sara feels she has left her old life completely behind and wants to find a way to give back to the community. While pondering this, she finds her father practically on his deathbed, literally lying in the gutter selling chewing gum. Sara asks her father to come live with her and Hugo. Moses is concerned whether he can share the same roof with Sara. He says he will come if they "promise to keep sacred all that is sacred to [him]." In the end, Sara is still haunted by her father and his old-fashioned culture.
Setting
The text takes place in the 1910s and early 1920s. By the 1920s, 2.2 million Eastern European Jews had immigrated to New York City, creating a culture clash between the Americanized Jews and the Eastern European Jews. The Eastern European Jews were typically perceived as more conservative and traditional than the Americanized Jews. The 1910s and early 1920s were marked by problems of immigration and poverty, unsafe working conditions, sweatshops and the beginning of the women's movement. For Jewish Americans, the 1910s and early 1920s signaled the beginning of the Jewish women's movement, the beginning stages of movement into the middle class and a flight toward secular Judaism.The story takes place in three distinct settings: the tenements on New York's Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
, the town of Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
, and Sara's college. The tenements on New York's Lower East Side supplied an instant Jewish-American community for the tenants. They housed the working-class Jews and the floor a family lived on often told of their financial status, with the top floor of these walk-up buildings representing the lowest status. People from the same culture tended to dominate sections of tenements, creating an island of sorts in the midst of New York City in which they were surrounded by their familiar culture. In Elizabeth, New Jersey, the family is somewhat more exposed to the American culture as they interact with white customers. The move is particularly tough for Sarah and her mother as the community of women in the New York City tenements is absent in Elizabeth. Sarah becomes entirely isolated from her culture when she leaves for college.
Judaism in Bread Givers
In Reb and Sara, the reader can see the clash between traditional and assimilated Jews. Reb Smolinsky represents traditional Eastern European Jews, while Sara represents the Americanized Jews. Reb Smolinsky relies heavily on teachings from the TalmudTalmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
for his life view and these teachings often make their way directly into the text. Additionally, he often uses the sacred texts to justify his domination of his wife and daughters. There is a particular connection between Bread Givers and the stories of Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Chanina ben Dosa, the Rabbi's wife and the Rabbi's daughter. Reb is clearly associated with Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa and Shenah with the Rabbi's wife. However, while Sarah is clearly associated with the Rabbi's daughter, she is the antithesis of the daughter.
Opinions and interpretations
Most critics agree that Bread Givers is a coming-of age story. However, Nicholas Coles explains how it fits into the working-class literature genre as well. While some scholars believe the ending of the novel represents Sara's success in American culture (Evelyn Gross-Avery, Melanie Levinson), other scholars believe the ending explores the notion that Sara can never escape her Jewish heritage (Steven J. Belluscio, Renny Christopher, Gay Wilentz).Additionally, while many of the critics already mentioned believe Bread Givers is largely autobiographical, Carol Schoen has been careful to point out that Yezierska's actual autobiographical information doesn't quite match up, largely due to Yezierska's own deceptions about her history.