The Struggle In Homer Hickam's Bread Giver

Often, teenagers face barriers and challenges when trying to transition into college to pursue their goals when clashing with their parents’ desires. For example, Sara Smolinsky, a Russian, Jewish immigrant sought to become a teacher, but her father, a strict Jewish rabbi, rejected her dreams. In the movie, “October Sky,” Homer Hickam grew up in the small remote town of Coalwood, W.V., so he’s expected to follow in his father’s footsteps working in the coal mines. Lastly, Rudy Ruettiger, a young man from Joliet, Illinois, fantasized about attending Notre Dame and even joining their famed football team, but his father wanted him to work along with his brothers at the steel mills. Regardless of their generation, these young people struggled against their father’s expectations and despite their challenges, achieved their college degree beginning a new generational tradition. …show more content…
As the youngest daughter of a Russian Jewish family living in America, Sara is expected to follow her Jewish religion’s rigid laws to “honor & obey” and “breed & multiply.” Throughout her childhood, Sara argued with her father’s hypocritical stories justifying his rigid traditions she saw as completely unfair. Instead, she wanted to escape a predestined life and become a “person” attending college and choosing her husband to marry, not her father. Unfortunately, Sara’s older sisters suffered from following their father after he arranged their marriages as a matchmaker with disastrous results. Fania married a gambler, Mashah a fake diamond dealer, and Bessie, the burden bearer, traded responsibilities marrying Zalmon, a fish peddler and widow with six children become a caretaker