Bread Givers: Patriarchy, Nativism, and Identity in Yezierska

Introduction to Bread Givers and Its Themes

Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska is the moving story of one young woman's struggle to make something of herself in a new country. This paper introduces, discusses, and analyzes the novel, focusing primarily on the concept of the father figure, as well as on the concepts of nativism and national identity. Sara, the novel's heroine, struggles against the Old World ideals of her family — especially her father — who clings to his native customs even after coming to America to better his family's lives. He is a cruel and demanding man who rules his home with an iron fist, until Sara stands up to him and creates the life she wants for herself.

Bread Givers, like most of Yezierska's works, is semi-autobiographical. Like her heroine Sara, Yezierska came to America when she was young, lived on the Lower East Side in the Jewish ghetto of New York, and constantly pushed herself to work hard, write, and rise above her beginnings. One critic writes, "Yezierska's works chronicle the lives of Jewish immigrants in America, in particular the struggles of Jewish women to escape drudgery and realize their dreams. She was critical of the patriarchal religious culture of Orthodox Judaism that transported old-world oppression to America" (Bloom 160). The introduction to the novel's modern printing adds that "her constant themes are the dirt and congestion of the tenement, the struggle against poverty, family, and tradition to break out of the ghetto, and then the searing recognition that her roots would always lie in the old world" (Kessler-Harris xvi).

Reb as the Old World Patriarch

Written in 1925, Bread Givers remains relevant today because it speaks to the eternal struggle of the oppressed to better themselves, and to the eternal struggle of women to be taken seriously in a society where "God didn't listen to women" (Yezierska 9). It is a difficult and demanding journey, but to Sara, it is worth it to escape from under her father's ruthless thumb.

Sara's father, Reb, was a holy man in the Old World, respected by his peers. In the new world, however, he cannot assimilate to a new way of life. As a result, he treats his wife and daughters like chattel and rules over their home with an iron fist. As Sara remembers, "Women had no brains for the study of God's Torah, but they could be the servants of men who studied the Torah" (Yezierska 9–10). All Reb does is read his books and study his religion, while his family struggles to put food on the table and pay the rent. He appears cruel, lazy, and heartless — particularly when he marries off his daughters to men he believes have money, purely so those men can support him in his old age.

At one point Reb rants, "The whole world would be in thick darkness if not for men like me who give their lives to spread the light of the Holy Torah" (Yezierska 24). He is certain of his own significance and is not afraid to assert it, regardless of the situation. Even more telling, Reb is convinced that he alone knows how to manage his family, and he sees nothing wrong with ordering the women of the household around while he sits, reads, and contemplates more "lofty" matters. He is almost a caricature, yet his character shapes the entire family. The women know that America has more to offer than what Reb allows them to experience, but none of them are willing to stand up to him — except Sara.

Sara's Rebellion and the Pursuit of Self-Determination

Sara knows she wants more than what her sisters and mother have. Her mother dies young, worn down primarily by overwork, and her father immediately remarries — not for love, but simply for someone to take care of him. He arranges his daughters' marriages to men they do not love, to demonstrate his own importance and skill at matchmaking. Sara is the only one strong enough to resist. She tells him passionately, "I don't want to sell herring for the rest of my days. I want to learn something. I want to do something" (Yezierska 66).

She breaks away from the family and endures tremendous hardship to educate herself. Her experience provides deep insight into both the personal and social history of her people and her era. She reflects: "For seventeen years I had stood his preaching and his bullying. But now all the hammering hell that I had to listen to since I was born cracked my brain... Should I let him crush me as he crushed them? No. This is America, where children are people" (Yezierska 135). Sara's strength comes from living in a new country with new ideals, while her father cannot release his grip on the old country and its ways. His culture and nativism combine to create an immovable force — one that cannot change, and cannot allow those around him to change. He is unbending, unyielding, and unwilling to grow into a more understanding and loving father.

Conclusion: Legacy of Patriarchy and Nativism

Bread Givers is a novel, but it rings true. Sara's father is a classic example of an Old World patriarch who could not adjust to new times and new conditions. He ruled his family with an iron fist and expected them to adhere to Old World customs even as they attempted to create better lives for themselves. Nativism became his anchor, and he clung to his beliefs until he died. The family endured poverty and humiliation in their struggle to survive, and Reb's failure to provide for them now reads simply as selfish, shortsighted, and lazy.