Mary Antin‘s Portrayal in The Promised Land and Anzia Yezierska‘s Portrayal in Bread Givers:

IN THE SHTETL:

-“More than once in the bitter winter, as my father remembers, she carried him to heder on her back, because he had no shoes; she herself walking almost barefoot in the cruel snow. No sacrifice was too great for her in the pious cause of her boy’s education.” (Antin 23)

-“When I got fourteen years old, the matchmakers from all the villages, far and near, began knocking on our doors, telling my father the rich men’s sons that were crazy to marry themselves to me. But Father said, he got plenty of money himself. He wanted to buy honour in the family…Not only could he give his daughter a big dowry, but he could promise his son-in-law twelve years’ free board and he wouldn’t have to do anything but sit in the synagogue and learn.” (Yezierska 31)

IN THE UNITED STATES:

-Always Father was throwing up to Mother that she borne him no son to be an honour to his days and to say prayers for him when he died. (Yezierska 9)

-And so, since men were the only people who counted with God, Father not only had the best room for himself, for his study and prayers, but also the best eating of the house. The fat from the soup and the top from the milk went always to him. (Yezierska 10)

-“Woman! Stay in your place!” His strong hand pushed her away from him. “You’re smart enough to bargain with the fish-peddler. But I’m the head of this family. I give my daughters brains enough to marry when the time comes, without the worry of a dowry.” (Yezierska 13)

-“It says [in the Torah] no man needs to wait more than thirty days after his wife’s death to marry again.” (Yezierska 259)

-“In America they got no use for Torah learning. In America everyone got to earn his living first.” (Yezierska 48)