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Feminist essays literary criticism
Feminist literary criticism an introduction summary
Feminist essays literary criticism
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The autobiographical novel, Bread Givers, is the story of a young girl Sara Smolinsky growing up in an immigrant Jewish household with her sisters Bessie, Fania and Mashah along with her parents Reb and Shena. Sara’s father, Reb, refuses to work to support his family and instead spends most of his days reading holy books. In turn, the neglect for his family has left his daughters to find means to provide for themselves. Throughout the novel there can be seen a common theme of oppression from Reb and other men. Additionally, other themes such as independence, self-sustenance, the struggle to find happiness and duty versus desire can be seen within the novel.
In the novel there can be seen a new age in the United States where women are branching
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away from the idea of depending on men to provide for them and instead are finding means of independence. Sara Smolinsky see’s that her household is in no way an ideal way to live where she has oppressed by her father. In an attempt to have a better life she runs away from home and decides to go to school and pursue a career in teaching. Before the civil war had happened it was very rare for women to be represented in the paid labor force but post-civil war women began to break the gender division of labor. Teaching was one of the few professions women were beginning to branch into in the early 20th century. Sara realizes that what she wants most to have is knowledge. She parallels the time she spends education herself to the amount of time her father spends reading and studying his holy books. Sara finds the importance and drive to not rely on men, although her father’s constant pestering about marriage does seem to have some effect on her. She reminds herself that she is able to succeed without men and that getting married to a man would have held her back from learning. Progress was being made for herself as she entered an occupation that was originally male dominated. By the early 20th century only a fourth of teachers were male. Although there is progress being made for women towards independence a theme of women being oppressed is still very prominent throughout the novel.
Sara’s father seems to be a man that unintentionally brings down the women in his family but does this because of the way society is. At the end of the novel it ends with, “It wasn't just my father, but the generations who made my father whose weight was still upon me” (297). Sara acknowledges that the society that her father was influenced by is the reason he acts in such a way. Sara advocates for women and fights against the injustices presented to women throughout this time and especially for her sisters. When she is eating at a restaurant she sees that she is given less food because she is a woman. Her sisters and mother are belittled by her father and his obsession with reading holy books leads to his self-destruction and that of his wife and children. His religious background leads him to believe that women are inferior and only have meaning because of men, “Women had no brains for the study of God's Torah, but they could be the servants of men who studied the Torah. Only if they cooked for the men, and washed for the men, and didn't nag or curse the men out of their homes; only if they let the men study the Torah in peace, then, maybe, they could push themselves into Heaven with the men to wait on them there” (9). He claimed that women had no place in heaven and that the current and the next world had no place for women …show more content…
as God did not intend there to be place for women. Thoughts and opinions like this were very prominent in earlier centuries. While Sara was working to better herself, her family felt a sense of neglect when she left.
This is where the theme of duty versus desire played a huge role with the internal struggle Sara faced. In the beginning Sara left and refused to visit her family as she thought they would only hold her back from progressing in her growth. As the novel progressed, six years after Sara leaves she received word from her family that her mother is ill and dying. When she arrives her mother asks her to take care of her father when she passes and although it may burden Sara, she agrees. The obligation felt to her family bring Sara back to the earlier centuries where women put their families first and then themselves. Prominently seem in in the 18th and 19th centuries women needed to care for the men in their families even if that meant it would not be the best option for themselves. Sara was not the only one from her family that was held back from happiness because of family. Bessie falls in love with a man, Berel, and when he proposes to her to marry him she refuses in an attempt to stay loyal to Reb. Mashah also experiences something similar to her sister Bessie since the man she loves, Noah, refuses to be with her as he attempts to remain loyal to his
father. The Jewish immigrant experience played a big role in why Reb and the family operated in such a way. Because of the religious background of her family, her father used a lot of context from his holy books to show that his daughters and wife were less than him and any other man. In addition, Reb lacking as a provider from his family stemmed from his Jewish faith that stated women should provide for men so that they could focus on studying their holy books. Reb believes that in immigrating to America their lifestyle will be that of a wealthy family and he will not have to do any work to be successful, "all America will come to my feet to learn" (9). The simple notion of oppressing women was common not only with Jewish people but in the United States as a whole. Something else that was common in the Unites States society that was presented in the novel was educated women not marrying or marrying much later in life. Sara did not marry anyone in the novel and she was an educated woman who went on to have a profession as a teacher. Bread Givers is a huge representation of the struggle women endured to have independence from their familiar lives and roles. Through the lens of Sara readers see her story passionately told and unfolded as she navigates through her feelings, life and family. The men in her life tried to hold her back but she worked hard to leave that life and create something new for herself. Her life came full circle as she once again lived with her father but instead of allowing him to belittle her she decided she would no longer live a life like that. Sara’s life and attitude mirrors that of many women in the early 20th century who were also fighting to have their sense of independence and their attempt at being bread givers.
For awhile she feels deathly lonely "cheated and robbed of the life that more fortunate girls seemed to have (Chapter 16)." However, Sara manages to get into college and despite all the discouragement and hard work she graduates and gets a job as a teacher. She gets her own apartment, which she vowed to keep clean and empty, a dramatic change from her small and filthy childhood home she shared with her whole family on Hester Street. And even despite her mother's death, her father's rapid remarriage, and then his diamond earring wearing new wife's attempt to blackmail her into losing her teaching job, Sara still manages to find happiness. She gets married to the principal at her school, even when she thinks that her step mother drove him away. Yet, in the midst of all her good fortune, "[her] joy hurt like guilt (Chapter 21)." So much in fact that even through all her hatred for him, she still developed a longing to see her
... 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.
Sara feels horrible that she didn’t come to see her mother and spend more time with her. She knows that she should’ve come to see her mother instead of investing so much time in school. Then, her mother died a couple of days later. She decides to stay and visit her father, Reb Smolinsky, often but doesn’t visit him after he gets married again only thirty days after her mother died. A couple months later, she sees Reb again, but he’s working.
... while she still has time (257). She fails at first, thinking her father is “bereft of his senses” in his second marriage (258). She believes this despite the Torah saying, “a man must have a wife to keep him pure, otherwise his eyes are tempted by evil” (259). Gradually, Sara begins to understand her father: the only thing he has in life is his fanatical adherence to traditions; “In a world where all is changed, he alone remained unchanged” (296). Reb has a deep and true fear of God, to expect him to change beliefs that he believes have been handed down by God, beliefs that have persisted for thousands of years, is illogical. It is impossible to reconcile fully the New World with the Old, and it is the responsibility of the New to be the more flexible, unfair as it may be.
Perhaps the best example of Sara’s deviation from her Jewish heritage and her attempt to assimilate was her refusal to allow the undertaker to tear her suit during her mother’s funeral service. The clothing that she wears is a symbol to her of wealth and of being an American. For Sara the ripping of her clothing had become an “empty symbol,” a cultural construction with only symbolic meaning that could help to identify her ethnicity, and does not serve any logical purpose. After being distanced from her family and immersed in American culture for so long, she no longer understands the purpose of the action, and posits verily that “Tearing [her only suit] wouldn’t bring Mother back to life again” (Yezierska 255). This represents a clear distinction between volunta...
Family is a story about slaves, masters of the land, and the interconnectedness of what it means to be “family”. Loretta is the daughter of the Master of the Land and as a child spends time with Sun even teaching him to read. She was going against the law in doing this and she helped him to escape. Loretta was not a mean person; she risked a lot for Sun and truly cared about him. She knew he was her half-brother and treated him with respect. When Sun left he promised he would send for her, but he never did. He sent letters asking how his sisters were and she became jealous. Loretta had power over the slaves because she was the white daughter of the master and as she grew more jealous and learned the ranks in society she changed. She took out her anger and jealousy out on Peach, Plum, and Always. She became evil and all the goodness in her heart was gone. Due to the experiences in her life, she adapted to accommodate for her jealousy and to take on the role of Mistress of the Land. Under different circumstances in a different time period this might not have been the outcome. As a chil...
Economic inequality and injustice come in the same hand. Poor people are more likely to experience inequality and injustice. The negative assumptions of poor people are created by the media and politicians. Promoting economic justice by offering people living in poverty some form of social support. Barbara Ehrenreich found in her experiment the workforce for low-wage was difficult. Conley talks about the different types of social inequalities and how they have been unsuccessful.
Initially, Elisabeth is the matriarch of the four generations of women talked about in the story. Elisabeth works in the house, but she’s married to a field slave and has three daughters. Not much insight is given on Elisabeth and her feelings, yet through the narration it is as if she lived vicariously through her youngest daughter, Suzette: “It was as if her mother were the one who had just had her first communion not Suzette” (20) Even though Elisabeth too worked in the house, Suzette had more privileges than her mother and the other slaves. Elisabeth represented the strength and the pride of her people: “You have a mother and a father both, and they don’t live up to the [plantation] house” (25). She would constantly remind Suzette of her real family, which signifies the remembrance of a history of people and their roots. It is up to Suzette to keep the heritage even through the latter miscegenation of the generations to come.
Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, written in 1984, and Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, published in 1925, are both aimed at adolescent and adult audiences that deal with deep disturbing themes about serious social conditions and their effects on children as adults. Both books are told in the first person; both narrators are young girls living in destitute neighborhoods; and both young girls witness the harsh realities of life for those who are poor, abused, and hopeless. Although the narrators face these overwhelming obstacles, they manage to survive their tough environments with their wits and strength remaining intact.
Sarah and her mother are sought out by the French Police after an order goes out to arrest all French Jews. When Sarah’s little brother starts to feel the pressures of social injustice, he turns to his sister for guidance. Michel did not want to go with the French Police, so he asks Sarah to help him hide in their secret cupboard. Sarah does this because she loves Michel and does not want him to be discriminated against. Sarah, her mother, and her father get arrested for being Jewish and are taken to a concentration camp just outside their hometown. Sarah thinks Michel, her beloved brother, will be safe. She says, “Yes, he’d be safe there. She was sure of it. The girl murmured his name and laid her palm flat on the wooden panel. I’ll come back for you later. I promise” (Rosnay 9). During this time of inequality, where the French were removing Sarah and her mother just because they were Jewish, Sarah’s brother asked her for help. Sarah promised her brother she would be back for him and helped him escape his impending arrest. Sarah’s brother believed her because he looks up to her and loves her. As the story continues, when Sarah falls ill and is in pain, she also turns to her father for comfort, “at one point she had been sick, bringing up bile, moaning in pain. She had felt her father’s hand upon her, comforting her” (Rosnay 55).
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.
Sara's father also feels that he should get to pick the man that his daughters will marry. This is so old world, and Sara is not going to have it. She has watched her sisters who are so unhappy with the husbands that the father picked for them. Her father believes, "No girl can live without a father or a husband to look out for her," "It says in th...
...oreover, Hugo’s eager acceptance of Sara’s father and his cultural traditions draws Sara full circle into reconciliation with both her father and the traditional Jewish culture he personifies.
The story in The Giver by Lois Lowry takes place in a community that is not normal. People cannot see color, it is an offense for somebody to touch others, and the community assigns people jobs and children. This unnamed community shown through Jonas’ eye, the main character in this novel, is a perfect society. There is no war, crime, and hunger. Most readers might take it for granted that the community in The Giver differs from the real society. However, there are several affinities between the society in present day and that in this fiction: estrangement of elderly people, suffering of surrogate mothers, and wanting of euthanasia.
The constant hum of street vendors yelling, car horns blaring, and poor people complaining acts as the soundtrack to the family drama within the small apartment on Hector Street. There was never a quiet moment, and between the four sisters, an overworked mother, and an entitled father, the place was bustling and busy enough to burst. But to a young Sara Smolinsky, this chaotic ensemble was home. In the novel Bread Givers, immigrant author Anzia Yezierska writes about the realization of the American Dream for the ambitious and determined Sara Smolinsky, but the price of success is high. Sara starts her journey in the impoverished ghetto of Hester Street, and she escapes its dirtiness and shame, going on to achieve the American Dream. The apartment