Analysis Of Reb Smolinsky's Bread Givers

In the “Bread Givers” the story of the Smolinsky’s was set on Hester Street in lower Manhattan after immigrating to the U.S. In this house patriarchy was the rule of the day, where Reb Smolinsky dishes out is absolute power and savagery and small-mindedness on his wife and four daughters where he displayed his patriarchal rule and dominance. Mr. Smolinsky epitomizes the old the old world Russian Judaism tradition and values, he forces his family to work and provide for him while he rejected the notion of working, since his only job was devoted to studying the Torah in synagogue every day of his life and be closer, even if that means his daughters and wife must live under deplorable and disgusting condition.
Nothing is wrong with studying the …show more content…
All he sees in these young men is someone who renounces their religion and works on the Sabbath, he rejected these young men too and with his arrogant self he arranges matches with two men who he imagines to be rich and suitable husbands for his daughters but he was sadly mistaken and was proven wrong in both cases. The men Reb Smolinsky choses for his daughters was just like him in some ways if not all, after Reb rejected the cutter he weds his eldest daughter Bessie to Zalmon widower who had six children and was a fish peddler, he genuinely wants to give Bessie everything he promises her during their courtship. However, he is too conservative and cheap to bother finding out what might win her over, one of many concerns he feels she is too “Americanized,”, just after getting marry she finds herself working in the fish shop covered in scales, yelling and bargaining for …show more content…
As for Mashah, she falls in love with the music Jacob Novak makes before she even sees Jacob himself, and when he breaks her heart, he destroys her hope of finding any more beauty in the world. But her father marries her to a diamond dealer whom he taught was rich, he charming and free-handed on surface but beneath that exterior he was manipulative, conning and a calculating liar, who will say and do anything to get what he wants. He could not hold down a job to save his live and know that he needs to provide for his wife and children that was home starving, he was also emotionally abusive to his wife. Sara the youngest of the Smolinsky daughters who was call iron-head because of her stubbornness and strong willed personality vowed to never let what happen to her sisters happen to her. She did not wait around for her father to marry her off to someone she did not love or even liked she did not let that thought manifest itself. Sara wanted more than any of sisters to create a life of her own and she embark on doing, first she found a job as a presser and she saved her money so she could attend college and returning home with the distinguished credentials of a school teacher. Though she admires her