Bread Givers
by: Anzia Yezierska
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This ethnic novel is probably one of Yezierska's most famous works. It is the story of Sara Smolinsky's quest for self-reliance and independence. Not only is Sara after leading her own life, but she also wants to escape her father's consistent pressure and insistences that only the ways of the old, Polish Jewish world are correct.
After watching her father--Reb Smolinsky-- marry her three older sisters off to men whom they do not love. Even though all three were in love at one time, Reb refused to grant permission for them to be joined in marriage because they were not satisfactory. Bessie's love refused to pay Reb to take her off his hands. Mashah's piano player failed to observe the Sabbath correctly. And Fania loved a poet. A poet cannot be a man of God, and definitely cannot provide a suitable living for himself, yet alone a family. So, all three suitors are refused by Reb. He then decides that he will choose the husbands himself. As Sara watches her three older sisters be married, very unhappily, and her father lose $500.00, Sara decides that she has had enough and finally leaves the house of her father.
And so, Sara is left in New York city, alone, jobless, homeless, and even family less. She runs deeper into teh heart of the city searching for her heart's desire--knowledge. Eventually Sara finds a room she can rent, and a job; she even starts attending night school in the hopes of one day becoming a teacher. At one point her mother comes to visit her, and Sara, finally renounces her family in the pursuit of knowledge.
...But it all works out in the end...
If you are in search of a good novel that accurately portrays how life was for the Jewish immigrant in the slums of New York, then this is a good novel. However, if what you are looking for is a good story, a story which can be used to unwind, relax then this probably is not your best choice. The book is relatively predictable, not overly so although, and also a touch on the boring side. I did enjoy the book, and it is a relatively fast read, appropriate for all ages. In fact, it is probably a good one for young adults. It will offer them a sense of appreciation for what they have, and how easily they have it. This is also a very popular book in college courses. I, personally, have had to read it for three different classes, and examine it from three different perspectives. If you are a teacher and looking for a good book to teach in class, this one can be taught from a theoretical perspective (Marxism), ethnic immigrant perspective, and also as an emergence into adulthood approach.
Anzia Yezierska (1885-1970) was born in a mud hut in the village of Plinsk to Jewish parents living in poverty near the border between Russia and Poland. At fifteen she emigrated with her family to New York City, where she worked in a sweatshop while she studied English at night school. After three years she was granted a scholarship at Columbia University to train as a domestic-science teacher. In 1910 she was briefly married to an attorney, and then she married a teacher. Yezierska gave birth to a daughter, but she found life as a wife and mother so oppressive that she gave up her child to her husband's care. For the rest of her life she devoted herself to her career as a writer.
Hungry Hearts, her first collection of short fiction about Jewish immigrants, was published in 1920. The film producer Samuel Goldwyn brought her to Hollywood soon afterwards to make a silent movie out of her book. Yezierska was called "Queen of the Ghetto" and "The Immigrant Cinderella" by the Goldwyn studio publicists. After a year on the West Coast, Yezierska returned to New York's Lower East Side, where she felt more at home and resumed her writing.
In 1923 she published her second collection of stories, Children of Loneliness, and her first novel, Salome of the Tenements. Yezierska followed this work with three more novels about the Jewish immigrant experience. During the Depression, as her book royalties diminished, she was hired by the Works Progress Administration's Writers' Project in New York to catalogue the trees in Central Park. In the last years of her life she continued to write autobiographical fiction and book reviews. The Open Cage: An Anzia Yezierska Collection (1979) contains a representative sampling of her work.
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This useful site for teachers of Yezierska suggests ways of understanding the text, common classroom issues in reading Yezierska, as well as questions for reading & discussion of different works.
https://www.georgetown.edu/bassr/heath/syllabuild/iguide/yeziersk.html
This site features a biography of Yezierska, as well as useful information on her heritage and culture. It includes photographs and a relevant link to the American Jewish Historical Society Web Site
https://www.ultranet.com/~coop/english/bread/bread.htm