At the beginning of this semester, students were asked to read three memoirs in order to have a better understanding of “the American Dream” with the intention to learn more about the American history. These memoires were Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska, Growing Up by Russell Baker and Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody. The three memoires provide readers with stories explaining the struggle that each main character had to go through while chasing “the American Dream.” Due to the fact that the characters in the memoires come from different backgrounds, those characters approached “the American Dream” differently. Stories provided by the three memoires exposed the similarities and differences the major characters in these biographies
…show more content…
Having a degree in their era was really more treasured than having it in today’s world. They really felt that education would open doors for them that cannot possibly be open without it. In Bread Givers, Sara expressed how much education meant to her by proclaiming “Knowledge was what I wanted more than anything else in this world” (Yezierska, p. 208). In Growing Up, Russell stated “I took physics and calculus, thinking they would improve my chances of getting into flight training” (Baker, p. 263). At the time, Russell felt that education was a way of opening doors for better job opportunities. He even specified that learning those two courses could help him get a job he wanted in the flying industry. Anne also expressed her excitement for going to college and getting an education. In Coming of Age in Mississippi, Anne communicated her love for college by writing “All the way from New Orleans to Natchez, I was excited and anxious. I sat on the bus dreaming about Natchez College” (Moody, p. …show more content…
Sara Smolinsky wanted to experience freedom away from her family and become independent. She wanted to provide for herself and live in her own apartment. In Bread Givers, Sara said when she found an apartment that she wanted to live in: “This door was life. It was air. The bottom starting-point of becoming a person. I simply must have this room with the shut door. And I must make this women rent it to me” (Yezierska, p. 159). This quotation describes how badly Sara wanted to be free and independent. Russell’s ultimate goal was to become a writer in which he achieved after a confusion about deciding what he actually wanted to be. He once thought that he was not qualified enough to become a writer, so he decided he will become a pilot in the army and go to war. However, the war ended prior to complete his training of becoming a pilot. After that, he finally realized that he is good at writing and decided to become a writer. According to Russell in Growing Up, he claimed “It was surprisingly easy. After two years studying what rewrite men did with the facts I phoned them, I knew that journalism was essentially a task of stringing together seamlessly an endless series of clichés” (Baker, p.328). This quote proves that Russell figured that he is good at writing. From that point, he realized that this field could help accomplish
Having a degree in their era was really more treasured than having it in today’s world. They really felt that education would open doors for them that cannot possibly be open without it. In Bread Givers, Sara expressed how much education meant to her by proclaiming “Knowledge was what I wanted more than anything else in this world” (Yezierska, p. 208). In Growing Up, Russell stated “I took physics and calculus, thinking they would improve my chances of getting into flight training” (Baker, p. 263). At the time, Russell felt that education was a way of opening doors for better job opportunities. He even specified that learning those two courses could help him get a job he wanted in the flying industry. Anne also expressed her excitement for going to college and getting an education. In Coming of Age in Mississippi, Anne communicated her love for college by writing “All the way from New Orleans to Natchez, I was excited and anxious. I sat on the bus dreaming about Natchez College” (Moody, p. …show more content…
Sara Smolinsky wanted to experience freedom away from her family and become independent. She wanted to provide for herself and live in her own apartment. In Bread Givers, Sara said when she found an apartment that she wanted to live in: “This door was life. It was air. The bottom starting-point of becoming a person. I simply must have this room with the shut door. And I must make this women rent it to me” (Yezierska, p. 159). This quotation describes how badly Sara wanted to be free and independent. Russell’s ultimate goal was to become a writer in which he achieved after a confusion about deciding what he actually wanted to be. He once thought that he was not qualified enough to become a writer, so he decided he will become a pilot in the army and go to war. However, the war ended prior to complete his training of becoming a pilot. After that, he finally realized that he is good at writing and decided to become a writer. According to Russell in Growing Up, he claimed “It was surprisingly easy. After two years studying what rewrite men did with the facts I phoned them, I knew that journalism was essentially a task of stringing together seamlessly an endless series of clichés” (Baker, p.328). This quote proves that Russell figured that he is good at writing. From that point, he realized that this field could help accomplish