Gender Identity In Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers

During the early nineteenth century, generations of immigrant women undergo assimilation to unite themselves in American customs. The ideology that they will be accepted into a society that does not suppress their gender identity has driven them to this process but they blindly forget their origin culture. America’s “opportunities” is proved an illusion when the “American Dream” influences many foreigners to reevaluate their lives and social standings upon arrival. The illusion of upward mobility and freedom are highly enforced as immigrants enter American gates. One author who portrays the temptation of this “New World” America for Jewish women is Anzia Yezierska’s “Bread Givers”. In the introduction of her book, Alice Kessler-Harris supports …show more content…
The articles focusing on diverse theories of assimilation being a natural element in the immigration process such as Milton Gordon’s “Assimilation in America: Theory and Reality” which will contribute the concepts “Anglo-conformity” and “cultural pluralism” as they assist Yezierska’s directive of assimilation in America. “Spatial Patterns of Immigrant Assimilation” written by James P. Allen and Eugene Turner will propose the significance of “cultural assimilation” constructing Sara’s identity through a culture that expresses a wealthy lifestyle in terms of success. Joane Nagel’s argument of “invented traditions” will allow Sara a character created by Yezierska to assimilate into educational norms as she believes it will allow her access to the label “educated American woman”. These theories support Yezierska’s strategy to highlight the difficulty of a complete assimilation using Sara as a representation of overcoming religious barriers and cultural inequality for Jewish immigrant women as they are left unsatisfied when their culture still lingers in a constructed American