Sara’s American dream revolves mainly around her defiance toward the patriarchy and its unfair code of rules in her society. She hates the idea of being owned or dominated in any way by a man, which is a big reason why she is always vehemently against her father’s attempts to marry his daughters to men who they do not love. She feels that despite her father’s dated opinions about women’s role in the world, “In America, women don’t need men to boss them.” (Yezierska, 137). She dreams of finding a love that is true, not just one that will make her wealthy. She also wants to go to college, because she wants to work as a teacher and be able to provide for herself instead of being a servant to a man.
The American dream for her father is nearly the opposite. His main goal in life is to study the Torah every day, for “the whole world would be in thick darkness if not for men like [him] who give their lives to spread the light of the Holy Torah” (Yezierska, 24). However, while he would not attempt to make a profit off of his religion, he expects all of his daughters to make money and contribute to the family financially. He also tries to marry them to religious men with money, so that he can be well off into the future.
And lastly, in the eyes of Sara’s sister Mashah, the American Dream mainly involves vanity and looks. She is “always busy with her beauty” (Yezierska, 4), and spends a lot of time in front of the mirror. She often wastes the money that she makes (that should go to the family) on things like clothing or accessories. It is clear that she does not think about things long-term and places a lot of value in material things.
