“Her Sister” and Umbertina are both from the mid to late 1800’s when southern Italy was dealing with an unjustful government and the people were living in extreme poverty because of it. The two stories parallel in a few areas. The first in the time period, the second in the marriage, the third in the need to go to America to start a new life. The shift was important in both stories as they went from feeling the importance of the family name and familism to leaving to go to America where they have no name and the old country family is abandoned.
In both stories the men do not initially seek to go to America. Both men find honor in the family name they have in Italy and feel that is more important than, only, the ‘hope’ America had to offer. …show more content…
He and his wife took off alone heading to America much to their surprise found peace on their journey, leaving the family behind. The night before boarding to America, alone in the hotel room “it was more privacy than the couple had ever had. They might speak as loudly as they liked” (Marotta 73). “Her Sister” ends at this point leaving the reader to think they went on to America, with new identities, and lived happily ever after. “Enzo smiled with a lighter heart than might have been expected in one who’d been through so much’ (Marotta …show more content…
Umbertina starting the family business that grew through the help of their sons. Knowing her place in society, the business was named after her husband, “Longobardi groceria” (96) where it would be taken more seriously. Her children and her business was what life was all about to Umbertina. She would do everything she could to keep her business and her children together.
All her children worked for the family business and when her daughter Carla decided to go to college Umbertina would not have it. First bribing her to stay. “Listen Carla, we’ll give you whatever you want. You can open charge accounts at all the stores downtown” (135). Then making the final decision. “We’re living in Jake’s house and he’s head of the family now. And don’t talk foolishness about college. No daughter of mine is going off to sleep out of town under strange roofs. Girls should be married. On her deathbed Umbertina had thoughts of her life, family, feeling herself abandoned. “She had won, but who could she tell the story to? At times the doubt came to whether she really had won, after all. All her life had been a struggle for family” (145). “She had seven living children and twenty-seven grandchildren but to none of them could she really speak. There wasn’t much to say anymore anyway. At the end of her life she was much alone”
In both stories the men do not initially seek to go to America. Both men find honor in the family name they have in Italy and feel that is more important than, only, the ‘hope’ America had to offer. …show more content…
He and his wife took off alone heading to America much to their surprise found peace on their journey, leaving the family behind. The night before boarding to America, alone in the hotel room “it was more privacy than the couple had ever had. They might speak as loudly as they liked” (Marotta 73). “Her Sister” ends at this point leaving the reader to think they went on to America, with new identities, and lived happily ever after. “Enzo smiled with a lighter heart than might have been expected in one who’d been through so much’ (Marotta …show more content…
Umbertina starting the family business that grew through the help of their sons. Knowing her place in society, the business was named after her husband, “Longobardi groceria” (96) where it would be taken more seriously. Her children and her business was what life was all about to Umbertina. She would do everything she could to keep her business and her children together.
All her children worked for the family business and when her daughter Carla decided to go to college Umbertina would not have it. First bribing her to stay. “Listen Carla, we’ll give you whatever you want. You can open charge accounts at all the stores downtown” (135). Then making the final decision. “We’re living in Jake’s house and he’s head of the family now. And don’t talk foolishness about college. No daughter of mine is going off to sleep out of town under strange roofs. Girls should be married. On her deathbed Umbertina had thoughts of her life, family, feeling herself abandoned. “She had won, but who could she tell the story to? At times the doubt came to whether she really had won, after all. All her life had been a struggle for family” (145). “She had seven living children and twenty-seven grandchildren but to none of them could she really speak. There wasn’t much to say anymore anyway. At the end of her life she was much alone”