Struggle for the American Dream Anzia Yezierka’s, Bread Givers talks about the life of an immigrant girl who struggles to leave behind her Jewish American culture and obtain the American culture by interacting with Americans. Throughout the book, Sara Smolinsky is looked down upon because she’s an immigrant. Because of her Jewish heritage she is being forced to do what her father tells her. As Sara starts to become older she starts to change and do things her own way. Not following her sisters footsteps, Sara wants to make a difference for herself and decides she wants to associate with the American life.
Barrientos depicts the hardships and discriminations of the growth of a child coming to America from another country and being forced to speak English and not her native tongue. She knew she was not white like the other children and although she was living the American dream with her family, her parents put her into a position to be English speaking where as they spoke in Spanish to one another but English to the children. As she got older she realized she wanted to be a proud Latina and felt like an outcast from her people because she didn’t speak the language. As her efforts continued she felt discriminated upon by the very people she sought out to teach her. Page 58 she says the registrar called her and her brother, “you people”.
My second oldest sister was never a big fan of school. She believed she was not smart enough and that school was way too hard for her. She got pregnant by the age of 19 years old; she became a young, and happy mother. Her decision of starting a family at a young age was always part of her plans; she had wanted this all along. Her choice was never based on how school made her feel but on how she felt.
It took courage for her to flee the south, from the only home and the only family she’d ever known, and it took just as much courage for her to defend the new family she created while living in New York. Ruth persevered despite the racial prejudices again her, her children and her husbands. Due to the need to be accepted, which is true of both the characters in The Crucible and today’s civilizations; many choose to fore go their own comforts for assimilation, submitting to their fears. But not Ruth; with her courage, she overcame it
Jenna’s mother and her get into arguments over Jenna asking her mother to watch her son. Jenna has to pay for daycare after school for him while she is at work and has little money to pay for additional daycare when she would be at college classes. Her mother says that she has raised her children and does not believe that she should have to help her daughter because she received no help with her children. Jenna has a 17 year old sister who does help with watching her son, but Jenna also feels guilty always having to ask her and has no money to pay her to watch her son. Jenna and her sister are close, her sister plans on attending college at the end of her senior year and wants to study to become a doctor.
Although Wes’ mother tried making it with her children on her own it was very difficult. His mother tried making life as normal as possible, however it became increasingly harder for her as time passed. She ended up moving her family to the Bronx as the children got older and ready to begin school. They had a lot of relatives in Maryland who were very supportive, however she decided to move back home to her parents and into the home she grew up in and had many fond memories of Wes’ (B) mother Mary did not have that option as a single parent. Her own mother died when
My older sister and I both lived with our mother. Since she was the lone parental figure, we always listened to what she said without argument. “Never date a Middle Eastern man,” my mother told us. My mother was sexist in a way that she did not think women needed to have a husband, much less a Middle Eastern one. As I grew older, I began to question why my mother would give such bizarre advice.
People struggle determining what the American Dream is. No one can clearly define what the American dream is but can only describe what it means to them. Many say the American Dream is coming to America to have the many opportunities and live their lives in riches. Others demonstrate that the American Dream is being treated fairly and equally, no matter what race, color skin, and family they come from. Those who are blessed enough to be born in a life of wealth and comfortable livelihood may not be able to grasp the meaning of the American Dream, but others who struggle in life and are restrained by the opportunities that did not come their way, tend to understand what the American Dream is.
At least two generations of Jews immigrated to America at the turn of the century: parents and their children. Not surprisingly, the ease of their entry into American society varied greatly. Dora, while immensely proud when her daughter Lucy started school, was determined to not be left behind. “People will beggar themselves to send their children to college, only to be treated as fools and greenhorns by them. I call that terrible.
Today people just make it seem like it’s a normal way of living but that not something that should be normal. What happens if someone is really bother by it but can’t speak out because he or she is scared of what others might do to them? People are to use to the fact that stereotyping and being a little racist to each other is a normal way of living. But then again people raise their kid’s different ways. Like author Judith Ortiz Cofer writes her story “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl named Maria” that “As a Puerto Rican girl living in the Unites States and wanting like most children to “belong,” I resented the stereotype that my Hispanic appearance called forth from many people I met” (366).