Jewish literature in America at the turn of the twentieth century focused on the challenges of assimilating and the difficulties facing children of the new world and their parents of the old world.
In The Bread Givers, by Anzia Yezierska, a Jewish girl, Sara, living in NYC sees her sister’s lives be ruined by her father picking their husbands simply for economic reasons. She decides she wants to marry for love and tensions rise between her and her father. She moves out and makes a living on her own. She starts to date a gentile and eventually finds her father dying in a gutter. She offers for him to stay with her and her boyfriend, but he says only if they keep holy all that he considers holy. In the end Sara is still haunted by her father and his old fashioned culture.
In Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto, by Abraham Cahan, a young Russian Jew, Yekl, moves to New York City with his family because of the difficulties caused by the pogroms. Yekl tries to assimilate to American life and thinks he must purge all that is Jewish about him. He changes his name to Jake and grows hostile towards less assimilated Jews. Despite his attempts to fully assimilate, Jake still uses Yiddish words sporadically and it seems as though he can not truly shed his Jewish identity.
In As a Driven Leaf, by Milton Steinberg, Elisha ben Abuyah, a second-century Rabbi, struggles between his loyalty to his religion and the allure of Roman culture. Despite the ancient setting, it is a clear parallel to the struggles facing Jews and the allure of American culture as they immigrated to this country. An audio reading is available by clicking the link and clicking the play button on the left below the image.
