Identity In Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s twenty- five million immigrant came over from Eastern Europe to the United States looking for the “American Dream” or greater opportunity. A life they thought would give them a sense of purpose and success. Bread Givers, a 1925- themed novel by Anzia Yezierska, provides a look into what it was like as an immigrant women coming to America. Immigrant women did not have an identity when they were by themselves, but had an identity among people of their same ethnicity/ racial background, and eventually they established an identity in White America; however in White America, if they did have an identity, it wasn’t a very positive one all the time this was because of all the outside and internal forces keeping them from finding their identity.
Every person coming to America was hesitant and scared of this transition so when …show more content…
You saw this come out when each white man that their father found for them, wanted the woman to stay home and tend to the household, take care of their children, and to make sure their was food on the table when he got home from work. Men didn’t want anything else— this path didn’t give women the opportunity to form an identity so a lot of women were starting to get fed up with the role they were expected to play. Others found this role nice and safe. According to their father, if you didn’t have a man to buy you nice things and to provide for the household, you were an embarrassment and absolutely nothing. However, the girls’ father also made it very clear that his wife and his daughters were expected to provide for him and to make sure he has a great life first, while his wife was always worried about the rent and bills that needed to be paid. His daughters, went out and earned the money for the family. The time they had to focus on themselves was