Sara Smolinsky's 'Bread Givers': Quest And Theme

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Melanie Castellanos
Daniels
ENGL 3 - B5
26 August 2014
Bread Givers: Quest and Theme
As in any rite of passage novel, Sara Smolinsky is born into a world full of obstacles and difficult choices that soon will define her entire character. Sara is a young woman living in a traditional Jewish family and greatly dislikes her father and his inconsiderate actions. In Bread Givers, Sara Smolinsky struggles with a discriminatory society, the stressful challenge of finding a paying job while going to college and fitting in, and accepting and embracing her background, which is the overall theme of the novel.
Sara’s life, like any other great quest, started with a rough beginning: a poor family, sexist society, and the struggle to find true happiness. And sadly enough for her and her sisters, it does not get better quickly enough. Even their mother, who remarks, “And woe to us women who got to live in a Torah-made world that’s only for men”, points out the bigoted nature of their culture, despite …show more content…

However, it becomes clear that the struggle to work and become educated lights Sara’s internal fire, giving her a sense of being an individual woman. Her character obviously begins to build when we see her priorities; she even claims that she would do anything to achieve her dreams, even if it will kill her (177). This part of Sara’s quest allows for her to make decisions that will hugely impact how successful her future will be. When going to school, she struggles with herself because she does not fit in with the richer and happier people; she also comes to know a man who at first has good intentions, but he eventually tries to drive her away from her dreams. Nonetheless, Sara works hard, wins a writing contest, and continues her life without the negativity; this is a sign of Sara’s maturity and growth of her overall

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