Bread Givers, By Anzia Anzierska

Throughout the 1900s, a time of immigration and development, higher education swarmed with clean upper class individuals - a poor Jewish girl was a rare sight among the glistening fields and brick universities. Better to give the valuable college opportunity to a wealthy American destined for achievement than to a slum dweller too incompetent to succeed. What would be the point of forfeiting a spot to a student raised in the ghettos of New York or Philadelphia? He or she could not possibly be as able as one raised in wealth, with constant education preparing them for their college years. In Bread Givers, Anzia Yezierska illustrates the struggles and triumphs of Sara, a Jewish immigrant raised in the ghettos of New York City. Despite the commonly …show more content…
Blossoming in her psychology class, Sara describes her realization of the value of her wisdom as a "flash." She instantly connects her past to the present as she illustrates how severe emotion can obstruct proper thought by referencing Zalmon the fish-peddler, and how he wasted precious funds out of rage. Over the other more wealthy students, Sara is able to harness her streetwise observations, her "treasure chests of insight" (223), to help her understand the world around her. She begins to recognize her advantage, calling the other less seasoned students in her class “pink faced children who never had had to live yet” (223) as they have yet to, and may never experience the aging struggle Sara faced while living in need. While she perceives the ignorance of her other classmates, Sara also observes similar inexperience in her younger professors, who she comes to understand may dislike her because she has a greater understanding of life because of her diverse background than the professors, whose “heads swelled from too much knowing” (231). Contrary from her younger professors, Sara finds the “older and wiser” (231) professors are pleasant to socialize with as they are much more open to Sara and her …show more content…
As Sara begins to connect her past to her life at college in psychology class, she also analyzes in addition to her fellow classmates and professors, herself. After gaining a “wider understanding of life,” equipped with “a new power of logic and reasoning,” Sara recognizes the value of her experiences, which she deems more valuable than traditional schooling, saying she “was learning life more,” (223) selling herring on Hester street than she would have learned in school. While Sara finds the value of her difficult childhood she also finds a “new world of reason and objectivity” (226), which helps her to further understand herself. With this new capability Sara considers her past relationships, such as that with Morris Lipkin, determining she prefers Mr. Edmans more scientific qualities. Throughout her time at college, Sara comes to understand herself by finding a “scientific attitude of mind” (226) after relating her adolescent observations and encounters to her