46 pages • 1 hour read
Anzia YezierskaBread Givers
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1925A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Traditional Values Versus Modern Aspirations
Yezierska highlights the differences in Traditional Values Versus Modern Aspirations through Reb Smolinsky and Sara’s relationship. Sara’s individuation from her family causes her to pursue modern belief systems such as feminism, which directly contrasts with Reb Smolinsky’s traditional beliefs.
At the beginning of the narrative, Reb Smolinsky’s religion comforts his family as they experience displacement in America. Reb Smolinsky clings to his religion because it reminds him of their lifestyle in Poland. He does not adapt to the changing American environment like his wife and children because he directly benefits from the misogyny in his religion. At first, Sara and her family see anything outside of their community as a direct threat to their cultural identity. For example, when Reb Smolinsky slaps the landlady for stepping on the Torah, everyone who lives on Hester Street views this as a triumph for their united cultural identity. Reb Smolinsky’s faith and traditional values are a tool for maintaining the boundaries of his insular community and family in the face of Americanization.
However, as Sara grows up, she realizes that her personal beliefs do not align with her father’s religion and turns instead to modern aspirations that take her away from the traditional family unit. A major turning point in Sara’s character development occurs after Reb Smolinsky buys the grocery store without consulting Shenah first. Even though Reb Smolinsky promised Shenah he would talk to her before he bought the store, he buys the store without talking to her because he believes that he has inherent wisdom from God because he is a man. When Sara sees Shenah fall apart after this, she realizes the harm within Reb Smolinsky’s traditional values; he does not value his wife’s opinion but continually takes advantage of her. Once Sara realizes that Reb Smolinsky’s beliefs are abusive towards women, she chooses to live on her own. Even though Reb Smolinsky believes that Sara’s actions are blasphemous against God, Sara places her mental health and value in self-worth over her father’s tradition. Sara sees the difference between herself and Reb Smolinsky as evidence of the difference between the Old World and the New World. In this allegory, the Old World represents traditional values while the New World represents modernity. Once Sara lives alone, when she looks at her father all she sees is “a tyrant from the Old World where only men were people” (205). Sara does not want to align herself with traditional values that diminish her own value as a human being. Instead, Sara chooses to pursue her own career to support herself as a modern woman away from the constricting belief system of her childhood.
The Threat of Patriarchal Control
Sara struggles with overcoming the misogynistic views of Reb Smolinsky throughout her life. Since Reb Smolinsky interprets the Torah to promote sexism, Sara initially believes that her only value in life is in finding a good marriage. However, as Sara sees how Reb Smolinsky makes her sister’s lives miserable through their arranged marriages, she realizes that she has inherent value as a woman, even if her father does not see it.
Reb Smolinsky uses religion as a tactic to control the woman in his life and support his misogynistic views, especially surrounding marriage. He tells Sara and her sisters that the only way they can get into heaven is by marrying a God-fearing man, a fearmongering tactic to control them and get them to marry the men that he wants them to marry. Even though Sara’s sisters all find men that they love and respect, Reb Smolinsky finds fault with these suitors because he wants to control their lives. His pride causes him to pick men for his daughters who all end up being unsuitable husbands. Even after Sara and Shenah confront Reb Smolinsky on his poor judge of character, he refuses to take responsibility for how his actions affect his daughters lives, illustrating his belief that women don’t deserve happiness. In Reb Smolinsky’s mind, he did the right thing for his daughters because they married Jewish men who will get them into heaven; the quality of their lives on earth does not matter to him. Marriage therefore acts as a tool of both religion and patriarchy throughout the narrative.
Although Sara decides to make a life for herself unlike anything anyone in her family has done before, she realizes that the oppressive system of patriarchy will follow her for the rest of her life. Sara feels compassionate for her father at the end of the narrative because she realizes that his traditional values are all that he has left. She does not want to take this comfort from him in his old age, even if it devalues her as a person. However, as Sara allows her father to continue in his misogyny, she feels the weight and oppression of generations of men who devalue her and other Jewish women. Although Sara has made greater strides for herself as a woman than anyone else in her family, she also allows Reb Smolinsky to keep his traditions at the end of the novel. Through her actions, Sara decides to honor her traditional Jewish roots, while simultaneously staying true to her beliefs about feminism.
The Complexities of Assimilation and Identity
As a Jewish immigrant, Sara experiences isolation and loneliness. When Sara lives by herself, she wants to find community with other people but finds difficulty in gaining acceptance from those around her. Sara longs for acceptance but realizes that she does not find a connection with anyone unless they have had similar experiences to her own.
When Sara works at the laundry, her coworkers mock her because she holds onto the traditional values of her upbringing. Sara does not know how to integrate into American culture, so she buys makeup and new clothes, hoping that her coworkers will accept her. However, Sara feels humiliated in her new makeup and shamefully wipes it off her face when she gets to work. This series of events reveals Sara’s difficulty of assimilation and finding her own identity apart from her upbringing. Sara believes that life will be easier for her when she goes to college, but she finds that she has difficulty connecting with her classmates as well. Sara soon realizes that she has a completely different set of experiences to draw from than her classmates, which always sets her apart. Sara cannot divorce the trauma of living through poverty with her perspectives in college, which makes her different because her classmates have lived lives of privilege and wealth. Although Sara knows that she can always find support from her sisters, her life as a single woman pursuing a career sets her apart from her sisters so they do not always understand her particular struggles. However, Sara fights her loneliness by focusing on her goal of becoming a schoolteacher, revealing that the challenges of assimilation can be mitigated through developing a strong personal identity.
Once Sara creates her own identity that is unique to her life experiences, she finds a friend, and later a partner, in Hugo Seelig. As a Jewish Polish immigrant, Hugo understands what Sara has sacrificed to pursue her education apart from her family, especially as a woman. Sara finally finds love and support with Hugo, although her experience as a Jewish woman makes her perspective unique even from him. When Sara asks Hugo if they should let Reb Smolinsky live with them, he immediately agrees because he thinks that it will be good for all of them. Sara knows that Reb Smolinsky will never turn his back on the Torah. Allowing her father to live with her with his oppressive views will force Sara to sacrifice a part of her identity even as it brings her closer to her traditional, familial identity, underscoring that the processes of assimilation and individuation are complex and ever evolving.
