Bread Givers (1925) by Anzisa Yezierska

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Bread Givers (1925)

by Anzisa Yezierska

The Lower East Side, Manhattan

New York: 58/105

Manhattan: 14/34

     Really feeling like I've passed the hump on the New York section of the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America list.  Not a huge number of surprises on the list thus far, and no Manhattan Murder Mystery's as of yet- proof that you don't need filler to paint a literary portrait of the PEOPLE of New York City. Like Triangle,  Bread Givers lands us amongst the Jewish immigrants on the lower east side in the early 20th century.  It's not exactly my people- who were midwestern Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century, but I'm thinking this is the closest I'm going to get, since there aren't many midwestern Jewish immigrant authors out there.

   I call Bread Givers an example of the Martin Eden genre- an American immigrant/first generation native from a lower socio-economic background who struggles against family (or lack of a family) and the indifference of America to create themselves as an educated member of the professional class.   These titles blend florid descriptions of urban poverty, working class characters and a burning desire by the protagonist to achieve something more than their circumstances.  Here, the protagonist is the youngest daughter of a Russian-Jewish immigrant family.  The mother, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant and the Dad a Rabbinical scholar.  In the old country this pairing was quite common- the husband being a variety of "trophy husband" who was supported by his father-in-law and not expected to work to support the family.

  This was all well and good in Europe/Russia, but America was, as they say, a different kettle of fish, and basically all of the conflict in Bread Givers is caused by the Dad's refusal to work, and his insistence that it is the duty of his daughters to support him.