Life in the U.S. as a Jewish Immigrant in the 19th Century

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Life in the U.S. as a Jewish Immigrant in the 19th Century
The 19th and 20th centuries both witnessed significant immigration into the United States from different places or countries around the world in pursuit of greener pastures or the American dream as it was commonly known. However, the realization or rather the actualization of the American dream wa a challenging endeavor for the immigrants. Factors such as language barriers for non-English speaking immigrants coupled with their unique cultural orientations challenged their quest for living the American dream. The deplorable living conditions of their habitats across different cities across the nation further made their lives difficult in their new found homes and establishments. The Jewish immigrants, for instance, had to overcome the deplorable living conditions as well as their cultural inhibitions to achieve that which they desired for their lives and that of their families. Living the American dream required overcoming such cultural barriers and embracing the American way of life as evidenced by the perceived principles, values, beliefs, and norms guiding the interaction and integration of the social, political, and economic divides in the country. Jacob A. Riis’s work, How the Other Half Live, creates a vivid picture of the immigrant’s living conditions across the United States and thus allowing for the understanding of the challenges faced by immigrants including those of Jewish origin or descent. Among the Jewish immigrants who faced the socio-cultural challenges in pursuit of the American dream is an author named Anzia Yezierska. In one of her greatest works of fiction, Bread Giver, the author narrates the struggles and experiences of Jewish immigrants in the United States in their pursuit of the American dream. A comparative analysis of the two texts provides an excellent framework for the understanding of the immigrants’ life experiences in the United States in the late 19th century.
Riis provides a detailed description of the social, political, economic, and cultural aspects of the immigrants from different ethnic backgrounds as per their distribution across their habitats in New York City. The Jewish immigrants, posits Riis, occupy the tenth tenement in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York and makes for one of the habitats with the most deplorable living conditions for human beings (Riis, pg. 104). The author further highlights the Jewish immigrant’s desperate need to better their lives that they function as the main source of cheap labor in the clothing industry. Anzia Yezierska, on the other hand, provides a personal account on the life of a female Jewish immigrant as she struggles to overcome the tough living conditions and cultural inhibitions that limit her quest for living the American dream. Sara Smolinsky, the protagonist in Anzia’s Bread Givers, overcomes the socio-cultural challenges to attain college education and thus living the American dream as she escapes her family’s poverty by becoming a registered teacher. She refuses to be defined by the Jewish cultural stipulations and finds her own path to happiness by going against its stand on education for girls ...