AMST 301- Midterm exam 2 final draft PDF

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Trang Phi Professor AMST 301 October 24, 2020 Midterm Exam 1. In the novel Bread Givers, Sara Smolinsky describes her desire to become "a person among people." How did Sara Smolinsky define success, and what did she hope to achieve on her journey to becoming a person? What price did she pay for pursuing her goals? How did her experiences parallel those of Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass? How did her status as an immigrant and as a woman present challenges different from those faced by Franklin and Douglass? (50 Points)

Bread Givers is one of the most well-known autobiographical novels of Anzia Yezireska. The whole book is about Sara Smolinsky, a Jewish girl who struggles to fit in the two worlds, the old world, her traditional family, and the new world, the American society. Throughout the book, Sara constantly mentions that she wants to become "a person among people". She desires to fit in American society where she can be independent, get married to someone she loves, and be an educated woman. In modern days, her dream sounds simple; however, as the story is placed in the 1920s when the world is centered by men, her dream is likely to be impossible to be achieved, especially for an immigration girl like Sara. In order to be a successful woman, Sara has to sacrifice a lot which would not be if she were a man. Among her family, Sara is such a special girl because what she values neither money nor outside beauty, but knowledge. Sara's success definition is to be independent and educated. If her sisters are afraid to be old maids and are happy as long as they are able to get married, Sara's fear

is to be controlled by men and lack of education. She does not want to be a bread giver all her life as her mom and her sisters. She wants to earn the bread herself and for herself. In other words, she just wants to be the bread giver of her own, but nobody else's. She expresses her strong personality at a very young age. She refuses to receive help from Muhmenkeh who offers Sara free old herrings (20). Instead, she insists, "I want to go into business like a person. I must buy what I got to sell" (21) even though all she has is a quarter in her little hand. She feels like she is richer than Rockefeller after she earns twenty-five cents profit. That is the first time she feels the happiness of being independent. Later after she witnesses how much her mother and her sisters have to suffer from her ignorant father, she decides to move out and live her own life which is really a big deal to any woman at the time. After all the work hard, Sara finally achieves her goals: graduate from college, find herself a job, live happily with her true love, a person who respects her as a person. In order to reach such success, Sara has to pay a significant price which is being alone. Again, Sara lives with a family where women are believed to be nothing without a man. Just because Sara wants to pursue knowledge rather than getting married, her father calls her "wild animal! Thing of evil!"(207), and to him, she is nothing but an unmarried daughter to be bought and sold" (205). Everyone thinks she is crazy, and nobody understands why a girl like her needs to be so educated. Even her sisters think in the same way. Despite the fact that none of them experience a happy marriage and they continuously complain about how miserable their married lives are, all of Sara's sisters still believe that it is still better than being an old maid (176). "Let's leave her to her mad education. She is worse than Father with his Holy Torah", Fania angrily says when Sara refuses to go visiting her mother because she is busy with work and school. Sara

becomes worse than the person who ruins their lives, their father. That is what Sara has to pay to "become a person among people". Not only does she have no support from her family, but she is also an outcast at her workplace because she is an immigrant woman who lives with nobody but herself. First, Sara has no common things with her peers as they often gossiped about beaux, or dances, or the latest styles which Sara has no ideas (180). She has no friends at work, and she does not have any friends at her night school either. "I was not like the rest", Sara confesses (180). She irritated the teachers, stopping the lessons with her questions. She refuses to study geometry, a subject that she has no interest in. And the whole class thinks that she is showing off her smartness. She is just the only one in class who thirst for knowledge which is why she does not fit in. Even her teacher makes fun of her. Later when Sara gets into college, she thinks that everything would be better, but she is wrong. She again feels left out among her college friends. It is even worse because she is almost invisible at school. Nobody wants to be her friends because of her looks. While other students enjoy societies, dances, letters from home, packages of food, parties, etc, Sara "never knew that there were people glad enough of life to celebrate the day they were born."(218) Everything seems to be so fancy for Sara. In the novel, Sara appears to be just like any other girl who wants to love and be loved. However, whenever she expresses her feelings toward a man, she is always being laughed at and is thought to be such an annoying person. Even when she meets Max Goldstein, a successful businessman who seems to be like Sara so much that she falls in love with him almost immediately. However, soon Sara realizes that he is her kind because he does not value education as much as she does (201).

"No father. No lover. No family. No friend (208)." That is how much Sara Smolinsky pays to be an independent and educated woman who fits in the American new world. No matter how much she is willing to change, she is still left out, still being laughed at, and still invisible in the new world. She is stuck between the two worlds and that is exactly what an immigrant woman like Sara facing in the 1920s. Sadly, the main reason that Sara has to face such challenges is due to the fact that she is an immigration and a woman. She lives in a world where even women look down and are mean to other women. When Sara looks for a space to live in New York, nobody is willing to let her rent because most of the landlords do not want to take girls as they want to "keep the house clean. No cooking, no washing. Less trouble, less dirt, with men." And all the landlord characters are women. Another hard time for being an immigrant girl is when the employee is skeptical to hire Sara as an ironer because he thinks she would not be strong enough for the job (161). And in chapter XI, Anzia Yezierska spends the whole chapter to describe how Sara gets so upset over a piece of meat, and through the incident, the readers can see how difficult and unfair to be a woman at the time. Sara pays the same amount of money, but she gets less food than the man behind her just because she is a girl, "don't you know they always give men more?", "It takes a woman to be mean to a woman (169)". Nobody stands by her side. What she just experiences is exactly the same as what happens in her family. Father always gets the best part of the food even though he does nothing. That is the moment Sara realizes that not just her family believe in the privilege of being a man, but even the American society believed in that at the time. To this point, the character Sara Smolinsky somewhat reminds of Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass, the two self-made figures of all time in America. These three people strongly believe in the importance of education. They all work hard to achieve their goals. If

Douglass desires to free himself from slavery, Sara also wants to be a free person but in a different way. With Sara, a free person means she has a space to live, a job to afford her own needs, and not being controlled by any men. If knowledge would make Douglass unfit to be a slave, knowledge makes Sara unfit to be a good daughter, good wife, and a good woman. While education does not make either Franklin or Douglass less man, education would make Sara less woman. Even though three of them face different challenges in their lives, most of the difficulties that Sara experiences, Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass would never have thought of. If Sara were a man, she would be the pride of her father and her family to pursuing knowledge, instead of being a shame. If she were a man, nobody would judge her characters just because she lives alone with no family. If Sara were a man, she would not have a hard time renting a room for herself in New York. If Sara were a man, she would be easily accepted by the iron employee. If Sara were a man, high education would not become a barrier to get married to someone she loves. And certainly, neither Franklin nor Douglass have to be alone in order to become successful. There are a lot more challenges that Sara would not have to cope with if she were a man. In other words, if she were a man, her life would be much easier. Bread Givers has conveyed to the reader a true insight into the life of an immigrant woman in American society in the 1920s through the character Sara Smolinsky. Sara's struggles represent all Jewish immigration women who are stuck between the old world and the New world, and attempt to achieve the American Dream, the dream of opportunities, pursuing their fulfillment, and overcoming prejudices of the society about women during the early twentieth century.

2. How did each of the characters we discussed (Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglass, and Sara Smolinsky) describe the influence of religion in their lives and on people in American society? (15 Points)

Religion plays an important role in the life of Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglass, Sara Smolinsky, and American society in general. In the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, he says that he was raised as a Presbyterian. And even though there were a lot of doubts, he always believes that there is a Deity who created the world. Immortal people will be punished, and there will be rewards for good people. Franklin does not devout religion as much as his family. However, he does believe that religion encourages people to do the right thing. Benjamin Franklin also mentions early in the book that his family came to America to practice their religious freedom which they could not when they lived in English. This shows that religion is a significant part of American society. American people carry different religions and they are free to express their beliefs without any hesitation (The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Gutenberg.org). Similarly, Frederick Douglass also mentions the role of religion in his life in his narrative book. To him, religion makes a negative impact on slavery's life. It is used as an excuse for religious slaveowners to be crueler. "For of all slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst (67)", Douglass expresses his feeling about how religious slaveholders are worse than non-religious slaveholders. He respects religion, "I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I, therefore, hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land". He just dislikes "the slaveholding religion of this land (101)."

In Bread Givers, religion seems to be a burden to Jewish women, Sara Smolinsky in particular. Sara is raised in a family where the women are believed to work and sacrifice for their husbands. "When a woman's autonomy involved the search for personal fulfillment, it became nothing short of revolutionary. It violated a basic tenet of Jewish family structure: that women were merely the servants of men, the extensions of their husband (XXV)", which is why the whole family does not support Sara on her dream to get an education. They all think that a girl like Sara should not need to be so educated. Instead, getting married to not become an old maid is more important. It would disgrace to have an unmarried woman in a Jewish family. Therefore, religion is a burden to Sara who wants to pursue her American Dream. 3. Benjamin Franklin was a very influential figure in the city of Philadelphia. How did he help to modernize the city and improve the lives of its residents? What public projects/institutions did he help to plan and fund? How were his values reflected in his support for these civic improvement projects? (15 Points)

Philadelphia is a well-known city by Franklin's contributions. Since he returned to the city in 1726, he had done many public projects to improve the lives of Philadelphia's residents. All his contributions reflect what Franklin values. The first one is the club called Junto, where people would gather together to share their ideas and gain knowledge between one and others. The club was also the start of the subscription library, Franklin's first public project which according to him, "have improved the general conversation of the Americans, made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other countries". He wanted everyone to get access to education. Franklin also established the Academy and College of Philadelphia, which is nowadays known as the University of Pennsylvania, one of the top

universities in the United States. These two establishments reflected how much Franklin valued education. He then also helped found a hospital in Philadelphia. In order to raise public safety and cleanliness which falls on Franklin's thirteen virtues list, he improved the lighting and paving of the streets. He invented the Franklin stove which was not only warmer but also saved fuel. Franklin lived to his fullest life to improve himself as well as improve the life of people around him. (The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Gutenberg.org) 4. As described in the film Ethnic Notions, how did minstrel show characters depict African Americans? What message did these shows send about slavery? How did depictions change after the end of the Civil War and emancipation, and why?

In the film Ethnic Notions, minstrel show characters depict African Americans differently before and after the end of the Civil War and emancipation. Before the Civil War and emancipation, the happy Sambo and the Mammy were the two most popular depictions of African Americans. They were always happy and lazy. They enjoyed dancing and were comfortable being slaves. Against, Zip Coon is "the proof of blacks' ludicrous failure to adapt to freedom", according to the film. The reason such characters were created was that white people wanted to convince everyone especially the slaves that slaves are only happy when they are slaves. Their lives would become miserable when they are free by themselves. After the Civil War and emancipation, everything changed. The shows depict that black people wanted to be back to the South to live as slaves again. And to justify the reason for killing black people, they described black people as bad people who were "vicious, brutal, aggressive, and violent" white people (Ethnic Notion), and therefore, they deserve to be killed.

Before the minstrel shows wanted slaves to be convinced that serving their masters were what made their lives happy, and there was no reason for them to escape from slavery. After the Civil War, white people could not accept the fact that blacks were free and were no longer belong to them. Therefore, they were no longer need Mammy or happy Sambo to defense slavery. Instead, they created bad characters like Brute Negroes to smear the good repute of African American people and to make them think that they should go back to slavery as that was the only place they belonged to and would be happy to live. 5. What was the Ideology of Separate Spheres? When and why did it emerge and come to dominate American culture? According to the Cult of Domesticity/Cult of True Womanhood, what four virtuous attributes were a "good" Victorian woman expected to embody? (20 Points)

The Ideology of Separate Spheres expresses the idea of how gender would define where men and women should belong to whether it is public or private. In which, men are believed to fit in public like working outside of the home. On the other hand, women are expected to belong to the home doing housework and raising children. The idea emerged and came to dominate during the industrial period. Before industrialization, people worked at home and everybody worked together. However, in the world of industrialization, working in the home became much more separate than it had been before. So did men and women. Men started to go out working while women stayed home taking care of their children as they were believed to be naturally suited to the home and they were too fragile for working out of the home. According to the Cult of Domesticity, the four virtuous attributes that a "good" Victorian woman was expected to embody are Piety, Purity, Domesticity, and Submissiveness. Piety refers

to religion. In other words, Victorian women are expected to be religious and are responsible for the morality of their husbands and children which is kind of a new idea at the time. The second virtue that makes a good woman is Purity which is also understood as virginity. Women are believed to naturally have less sexual desire than men. Virginity is the most important possession of a woman and it needs to be protected at any cost from men. Another double standard for Victorian women is Submissiveness which means women are expected to submit to the head of the household. They are expected to be fragile and dependent. If the husband is lost at his morality, it is the wife's responsibility to bring him back to life. The last virtue is Domesticity. In pre-industrial society, a home is a productive place. However, in industrial life, the home becomes a sentimental value, sort of romanticized. It is the woman's job to create heaven and a hurtless world where the husband can come back after work and be embraced by his family....