Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers

Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers is the story of Sara Smolinksy, a young Jewish girl, growing up in New York City in the early twentieth century in an extremely impoverished family. Even as a young girl, Sara rejects the Orthodox Jewish teachings of her father, a rabbi. She refuses to accept the Torah's idea that without a man, a woman is "less than nothing" (205). Instead, she embraces American culture. "In America, women don't need men to boss them" (137). She sets out to find her own life. She sees how the lives of her mother and sisters are dominated by her father and does not want that for herself. "Thank God, I'm not living in olden times. Thank God, I am living in America! You made the lives of the other children! I'm going to make my own life!" (138). Sara views success as the attainment of individuality through hard work. Sara's vision of the American Dream contrasts sharply with her father's traditional beliefs and his desire to be wealthy without working although once Sara does achieve her professional goal, she realizes that without family and love, she is unfulfilled. Sara discovers that personal success does not necessarily mean happiness and contentment, but is a critical part of developing her own identity.

Even as a very young girl, Sara's quest for self-sufficiency and willingness to work hard is evident. One day she decides she is not going to sift through the ash cans for coal. "...that morning, I had refused to do it any more. It made me feel like a beggar and thief when anybody saw me" (7). She does go out later to find coal, as she feels guilty for disappointing her mother. The idea of balancing family obligations with her own wishes ends up being an important one in the novel. In order to help her family, she decides to find a way to help support the family. "No---no! I'm no beggar! I want to go into business like a person. I must buy what I got to sell" (21). With a quarter, she buys 25 herring and sells them on the street for two cents apiece. She feels pride in her work after making a twenty-five cent profit. "Give only a look what 'Blood-and-iron' has done" (23).

Sara's father, Reb, refuses to embrace American values. He is concerned foremost with his religion and preaching. He relies on his daughters to provide for him. When his daughter Bessie falls in love with Berel Bernstein, Reb refuses to allow her to marry him because Berel will not give him money to start a business. Berel says, "In America, they got no use for Torah learning. In America, everybody got to earn his living first. You got two hands and two feet. Why don't you go to work?" (48). Reb replies that he has a head for business; he merely needs the money to start it. Reb later proves himself a horrible businessperson when he is scammed into buying a store that is busy when he sees it only because the seller slashed prices to draw crowds. His response is, "This man who robbed me only pushed me closer into the arms of God. Now I know that everything that happens to us is from God, for our good" (125). Sara denounces such unbending faith in God and the beliefs of the Old World and believes instead in the opportunity in America to build up oneself through work and determination.

Sara watches as her father marries her sisters off to men they do not love. Bessie is married to Zalmon the fish peddler, who repulses her, because he will pay her father a dowry. Sara's other sisters, Mashah and Fania, are married off to a diamond dealer and a "cloaks-and-suits millionaire," respectively. The former turns out to be a fraud and the latter a gambler. Both women end up unhappy. Sara does not want this for herself. "I'd want an American-born man who was his own boss. And would let me be my own boss" (66).

While Sara knows what she wants in a man, she finds love difficult. While still a child, she professes her love to Morris Lipkin, Fania's former boyfriend, by whose poetry she is captivated. When he dismisses her with a laugh, she is crushed. While stomping on all of Morris's letters to Fania, she says, "I felt I stamped for ever love and everything beautiful out of my heart" (88). For several years, she is able to put love aside to pursue her goals, but she eventually discovers that she needs love in her life in order to be happy.

Sara decides to leave her family while only seventeen years old. She can no longer stand being under the control of her father. She needs to find herself, and running away is the only way to do so. "I leaped back and dashed for the door. The Old World had struck its last on me" (138). She first attempts to live with Bessie and then with Mashah, but finds both living arrangements impossible. She is truly on her own. She walks the streets one night, "drunk" with her dreams. She recalls a story of a girl that goes to college and becomes "a teacher in the schools" (155). She experiences hope through independence for the first time. "I, alone with myself, was enjoying myself for the first time as with the grandest company" (157). She finds a small, dingy room to rent, but it is her own, and that is all that matters to her. It has a door that she can close to block out the rest of the world. "This door was life. It was air. The bottom starting-point of becoming a person" (159). Finally relieved of the burden of her father, Sara forms a conception of success. She needs to be independent and possess the capacity to pursue her American Dream. It is only once these qualifications are met that she can grasp the other necessities of fulfillment.

Sara demonstrates great resolve in creating her own life. She works ten hours a day as an ironer, takes two hours of night classes, and then studies for another two hours. Her studies are all that matter to her. One day her mother comes to visit her. Sara is thrilled to see her, but when she asks Sara to visit home, Sara replies that she cannot. "I'd do anything for you. I'd give you away my life. But I can't take time to go 'way out to Elizabeth. Every last minute must go to my studies" (171). Sara's mother is concerned that she will end up an unmarried woman, but Sara assures her she will be married one day. "But to marry myself to a man, I must first make myself for a person" (172). Sara needs a sense of individuality before anything else in her life can become truly meaningful.

Her sisters see Sara's commitment to the pursuit of her American Dream as crazy. Fania and Bessie also visit Sara, and they want to take her home to see their mother. Sara refuses because of her schoolwork. Fania cannot believe her and says, "Come, Bessie. Let's leave her to her mad education.