Author: Maria Tsampas

Gangs of New York

Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York follows Amsterdam Vallon as he tries to establish himself in the Five Points while plotting his revenge against his father’s killer, Bill “The Butcher” Cutting. Even before Amsterdam was born, his father, Priest Vallon, and Bill were fighting over territorial control of the Five Points. At their final battle in 1846, it is clear to the viewers that the two are not so different despite how much they fight each other. Amsterdam slowly realizes this himself throughout the movie and becomes conflicted about his feelings towards Bill and who he really is as a person. Back in the Five Points, Amsterdam’s developing relationship to Bill complicates his loyalties to Priest Vallon, but by the end of the Draft Riots, the young man emerges as a bridge between the Irish and nativists and the symbol of a better future.

Before Amsterdam’s time, the racial tensions between the Irish immigrants and the nativists caused multiple clashes between the different gangs. Priest Vallon’s group, the Dead Rabbits, and the nativists were the two main gangs at the time and it is eluded to in the movie that they had multiple fights. The leaders of the gangs, Vallon and Bill, are actually very similar despite their differences. In addition to both of them being the heads of their respective parties, they both believed in the ‘old way’ of fighting. This way included organizing a battle and setting the terms of the fight beforehand. If they weren’t different religions, they would have probably worked together in controlling the Five Points. In reminiscing about Priest Vallon, Bill even says that they, “lived by the same principles [but only] faith divided us.” Going on, they both recognized Amsterdam as a son to them. Even though Amsterdam is the actual son of Priest Vallon, the viewers get the sense that Bill sees Amsterdam as a son he never had. Bill starts to think twice about the Irish as Amsterdam becomes closer to him. Due to Bill’s paternal treatment towards him, Amsterdam starts to see Bill as a respected, almost fatherly figure that complicates his duty to his late father.

Although they fought a lot, Priest Vallon and Bill respected each other. Bill actually recognizes Priest Vallon as the, “best beating he’s ever received.” Bill’s respect for Vallon is demonstrated further in the first battle scene of the movie after he kills Vallon where he commands no one to touch the dead body. Every year, Bill commemorates the death of Priest Vallon by holding a celebration. In Bill’s own way, this is the highest respect he can give to a man other than himself. In fact, he doesn’t recognize someone that much until Amsterdam comes into his life.

When Amsterdam first meets Bill, he is immediately regarded for his bravery in saving his friend. The connection that they build is already established from the first encounter. Momentarily forgetting the hatred that he had towards Bill for killing his father, Amsterdam starts to see Bill as a second fatherly figure when he takes him as an apprentice. Bill trains the young boy in skinning and killing while looking after him in social settings. Amsterdam knows that what he is doing is wrong and is conflicted throughout the movie about betraying his father’s will to “never look away.” To express his confliction, he tries to justify how living, “under the wing of a dragon [is] warmer than you think.” It doesn’t help Amsterdam’s conflicted feelings when Bill treats him with such warmth like he would to a son. This relationship proves that the Irish versus nativist tensions were somewhat dying and paving a way for a better future.

Due to his confusing path of loyalty to either Priest Vallon or Bill, Amsterdam doesn’t take revenge on Bill at first. After getting to know him a bit, the young boy starts to see that Bill does really run the Five Points and even the Irish are either working for him or having somewhat civil relations with him. If Amsterdam were to kill him right away without establishing himself back into the community first, he would be disrupting a system that’s been in place for many years. After becoming Bill’s apprentice, Amsterdam sees the glamorous life that a man in power lives and gets pulled into the ring of the nativists. After living the lives of both an Irish immigrant and of a nativist, he breaks down in confusion and frustration of why there should be such sectional differences between the two divisions.

Due to Amsterdam being shown and invited into the world of the nativists, he starts to sympathize with Bill and even tries to save him from a bullet in one instance. Amsterdam starts to see Bill as a fatherly figure and asks for advice and even permission at times. His feelings about killing Bill gradually change from a genuine want to kill him to more of a necessity to kill him to get revenge for his father. According to the laws of the gang, it was only right and fair that Amsterdam kill Bill to set things straight.

After the Draft Riots ended and Bill was killed by Amsterdam, the Five Points became an area where everyone had more of an equal opportunity for power and money. There was no longer a ruler of a gang to lead the area and the future was near. Amsterdam made the future of Irish and nativist equality a reality by destroying the main person in power with the old ideas of inequality. Even though he may have lost a second fatherly figure in his life, he did what he had to do for the entire Irish race.

The ending of the movie Gangs of New York creates a montage of the growing New York City where everyone of any race or religion has an equal shot at happiness. The parallels between Priest Vallon and Bill demonstrate early on in the film that Irish and nativist respect can be achieved if one looks past one’s religion or differences. The similarities between the two confuse Amsterdam on whether to continue his revenge for his father or continue to build a relationship with Bill. Although many Irish shamed Amsterdam for going around with Bill, he couldn’t help but feel a deep respect for him. Throughout the whole movie Scorsese put hints of a changing society in it but it wasn’t until the end that the viewers truly see the change that has occurred.

Meaning of the title “Bread Giver”

Anzia Yezierska’s novel, Bread Givers, follows the life of Sara Smolinsky and her desire to truly be independent from her tyrannical Orthodox rabbi of a father. Every time her sisters are married off to men they don’t love, Sara more and more hates the restrained life of a Jewish woman in the 1920s.

While reading the book, I saw the words bread giver actually mentioned only a couple of times. Each time, the words were referring to Mashah’s husband, Moe Mirsky, as her bread giver and how she needed him for money. Although it is usually never explicitly said, the bread givers are chosen carefully throughout the whole story. In this book, bread giver translates to the person who brings home the income for the house. It’s very similar to the term many American’s use today, “Dough Maker.” In this case, bread means money for the survival of the family even though the actual bread giver may not be so willing to give away his “bread.”

In the book, the bread giver may not always be one man. For the Smolinskys, the bread givers are the daughters of Reb Smolinsky as he brings no revenue home from being a rabbi. The eldest daughter, Bessie, actually makes the biggest wages out of all the daughters towards the middle of the story. Reb relies on Bessie’s wages to primarily keep up his religious lifestyle and to secondarily feed himself and the rest of the family. When Berel Berenstein wants to marry Bessie for no dowry, Reb is selfish to choose Bessie’s valuable wages over her happiness and declines Berel’s offer.

When the older daughters are married off to men of Reb’s choosing, their bread givers become their husbands. For Bessie, her worries and stress continue from her younger life into her married life as she switches from a bread giver to a mother of multiple step children. Her only happiness is from caring for her youngest stepson, Benny. Zalmon the fish peddler becomes her bread giver and provides for her in exchange for cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children. Mashah’s bread giver, Moe Mirsky, deceived her and Reb before they got married by saying he was a rich diamond store owner when in fact he was just a worker for a diamond store. He spends most of his wages on fancy clothes for himself while Mashah can’t even pay for the milk bill. Her beauty which was once the most important thing to her has now been replaced with taking care of her children and keeping her small house clean and decorated. For Fania, her bread giver is the wealthiest out of all the daughters. Abe Schmukler showers Fania with fancy clothes and jewelry only to show the world how wealthy he is. Sara becomes her own bread giver when she runs away from her and sees how hard it is to manage money by yourself.

All of the daughters are unhappy in their lives mostly due to the effects of their father. Like most immigrants at that time, bread giving becomes the most important thing to them whether it be from their husbands or made by themselves. Yezierska picked a fitting name for this book since it is all about finding who can give or make the most “bread.”

Burning House Scene Analysis

Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York tells the story of a young Irish immigrant in the 1860s named Amsterdam Vallon who returns to the Five Points seeking revenge against the man who killed his father, William Cutting, who is also known as Bill the Butcher. In order to get his revenge, Amsterdam infiltrates the Butcher’s inner circle. Throughout the movie, the audience further learns the true struggle for the Irish people during this time.

Scorsese uses various film techniques and elements in order to advance the narrative and demonstrate characterization. During the scene where the house is on fire in the Five Points and multiple different fire fighter gangs come to put it out, the story is further deepened through various actions of the characters. In this scene, the viewer watches as the citizens of the Five Points get enjoyment out of the disaster. Various dialogue occurs between the people including the fire fighters as they nonchalantly watch the house burn down. The music is of an upbeat folk song that never stops throughout the whole scene and some people even risk their lives to loot the house of its valuables while they can. The camera pans in from an aerial view as the audience sees the top of the violence that is occurring below them. The elements of background music and camera technique help characterize the nature of the Five Points.

Throughout this scene, we learn more about the different characters. When Amsterdam’s friend Johnny sees the burning house, he takes the opportunity to go loot it because his friend was getting hungry. This exposes the caring side of the Irish people and questions the typical stereotype placed on the Irish during this time. We see Johnny running into the burning house from the point of view of Amsterdam and are transported from the dark street to the bright house engulfed in fire. Immediately, the two look for any valuables they could find. In the house, Amsterdam finds some expensive watches while Johnny finds a beautiful music box. When a beam falls and traps him in the fire, Johnny calls for Amsterdam’s help. Instead of leaving his friend behind to die in the fire, he jumps over the beam and saves Johnny. This adds to Amsterdam’s character as it shows his courage and love for his friend over money. At this point in the scene, the music is at it’s highest point with a harmonica solo blaring. When Bill the Butcher comes in riding a train, he automatically assumes the leading role of all the fire fighters and commands them to stop trying to put the fire out. He sits on a single luxurious chair amidst all the chaos around him which tells the viewers that he is the boss around those parts and no one can best him. When Amsterdam comes out of the burning house, Bill eyes him skeptically foreshadowing later events in the movie. This all furthers the characterization of Bill.

Overall, this scene helps characterize the characters and furthers the narrative early on in the movie so the audience can understand the growth of the characters and of the Five Point area.

Informative Summary of “The First Alien Wave”

For many Americans during the 1800s, religious hatred against the Irish Catholics was on par with the racist feelings towards the African Americans. Poor Irish Catholics, also known as Celts, who immigrated to America were seen as racially different from Protestant white Americans or Anglo-Saxon English enough so to be oppressed and even compared to apes.

Anti-Catholic feelings started in England during the reigns of protestants Henry VIII in the mid-sixteenth century and Oliver Cromwell during the mid-seventeenth century English Civil War against Charles I. The British believed that the Irish had been set up for failure ever since their beginnings and were unfit for self-government. The anti-Catholic rulings that had been put forth in England were transported to the American colonies making it illegal to practice the Roman Catholic religion. After America was freed from the rulings of England, states like New York still wouldn’t allow, “citizenship to Catholics unless they renounced allegiance to the pope in all matters, political or religious” (133).

During the 1830s and 1840s, Ireland’s potato famine became a “perverse tourist attraction” (133) where intellectuals like Alexis de Tocqueville, Gustave de Beaumont, and Thomas Carlyle went to see the true horrors of it all. After Beaumont’s visit, he found that, “the history of the poor is the history of Ireland” (134). Carlyle concluded that the Celts and the African Americans, “lacked the vision as well as the spunk needed to add value to the world” (135). The poor Irish were seen as so low that intermarriage between a Saxon and a Celt would be against natural law.

Due to rising crisis in Ireland, many Irish immigrated to America. In fact, the U.S. census of 1850 deemed that 961,719 immigrants came from Ireland. Protestant Americans were so appalled by the influx of Irish Catholic immigrants to America that they accused Europeans of purposely sending the Catholics over to corrupt the Protestant virtues of American democracy. Anti-Catholic hatred soared with more than 270 books, 25 newspapers, and 13 magazines being published between the years 1830 and 1860.

Racism against the Irish was personified by the character “Paddy.” Paddy was a drunk, violent, lazy, poor, and ugly person that most Americans saw the Irish as. The Paddy stereotype was frequently drawn in political cartoons in a bad light by famous artists such as Thomas Nast. The hatred for the Irish Catholics didn’t stop there. Even though the Irish are definitely white, they were completely expelled from the Caucasian race by some and seen as being just a different from white people as the Africans were seen as at the time.

Many abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass and Catholic emancipationists like Daniel O’Connell, “saw the needs of the starving Irish and enslaved blacks as analogous” (143). Both groups agreed that, “the tragedy of both peoples lay in oppression. Neither horror stemmed from weakness rooted in race” (143).  Although sympathies for black and Irish people were alike, the Irish in the United States rejected the similarity. In hopes to become a higher status on the white side, the Irish voted for the proslavery Democratic Party and even attacked African Americans during the 1863 draft riots.

Rising nativism in America spurred the nativists to start the Know-Nothing Party. They burned Catholic churches and created voter literacy tests to lower immigrant Democratic voting power. In addition to hating Catholics, they also opposed liquor consumption and political corruption. During the fall elections of 1854, many Know-Nothing members were voted into office. Soon after, a bill was introduced banning people not born in the United States from holding political office and to extend the waiting period for naturalization to twenty-one years. Luckily, this bill failed to become a law and the working class was still able to vote.

With the election of Grover Cleveland in 1884, violent anti-Catholic acts were slowly coming to an end but poor Irish Catholics still remained one of the inferior races in America. As the first alien immigrant wave to America, the Irish carved the path for change to the outdated idea that the American was the Saxon.

 

 

In Search of the Banished Children

In the short story, In Search of the Banished Children, the author Peter Quinn compares the Irish famine emigration into America to the slave trade and the boxcars of the Holocaust early in the essay. The author uses a quote by Robert James Scally to describe that the shear volume of the passage as well as its nature being similar to the tragedies of the Holocaust and the slave trade in that the, “spectacles of civilian suffering in nineteenth-century Europe…drove most of them to leave” (48). Shortly after, he rejects that comparison. Unlike the survivors of the Holocaust and the slave trade, the Irish famine emigration survivors rarely talked about their past history or the events that they endured. In fact, many descendants of the Irish famine emigration at that time were unable to trace back to their ancestors to understand the hardships they went through, for, “They had been swallowed by the anti-romance of history, immigrant ships, cholera sheds, [and] tenement houses” (55). Going beyond the fact that the survivors of the Holocaust had more memoirs written, Quinn makes a point that they, “are very different events and should not be confused or equated” (53). He does this because even though the Irish Famine was a disastrous event, the Holocaust was a death sentence against every Jewish person under German rule. The Famine was not such a targeted event in that sense. This short story is all about the lack of remembrance of the Irish famine emigration and Quinn compares it to other disastrous events in history to detail the tragedy of the lost memories of the Irish.