Author: Weronika Patycka

New York City Dreaming

The novel Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska revolves around the motif of the American Dream and how Sara, her father, and her sisters perceive it. To Sara, the American Dream primarily consists of making herself into a person, meaning that she wants to be successful by herself rather than relying on a man. Throughout the novel, Sara constantly tries to prove her worth to herself. She starts off by selling herring to help the family, moving away from her family, and taking night classes. To her, the American Dream is building herself up from the poverty she grew up in to attain stability. Also, through the process of attaining the American Dream, Sara wants to maintain her spirit and not let anyone sway her.

For Sara’s sisters, the American Dream revolves around escaping their father and their home. In the novel, all three girls fall for men who are almost opposites of their father. These men are less devout and try to make a living off of themselves rather than relying on someone else to carry their burden. The American Dream for the girls also consists actually falling in love and being loved rather than having someone picked out for them. The girls all fall for men who admire them but are looked down upon by their father.

For Sara’s father, the American Dream relies on being successful, maintaining his religion, and marrying off his daughters. For Sara’s father, he predominantly spends his days reading the Torah and relies solely on his wife and daughters to provide for him. Without his wife and daughters, Sara’s father would not service since he has never worked and refuses to carry his own burden. To an extent, Sara’s father’s American Dream revolves around the customs of the Old World, while allowing himself to become famous in his community. Sara’s father wants to be successful by marrying off his daughters and helping them become religiously sound. While he acts so stubborn towards his family, he does want his family to prosper and tries to do that by buying the store, while also trying to marry his daughters off to devout men with jobs.

To all of the characters in Bread Givers, the concept of the American Dream does not solely reflect a material object. Instead, all of the characters want to achieve the American Dream in a more emotional way. They all want to better themselves as people whether it be to get an education, fall in love, or strengthen religious beliefs. This spiritual form of the American Dream is as a result more difficult to obtain, since one can either stay with one’s beliefs and achieve it slightly, or focus on it head-on while losing a part of one’s identity.

Bible in the Water

Gangs of New York starts off with a battle scene between the Natives and the Dead Rabbits. In this scene, Priest Vallon, the leader of the Dead Rabbits, is killed and leaves behind his son Amsterdam as his legacy. Shortly after this scene, the film jumps sixteen years forward and shows a grown Amsterdam in what seems to be a church. In this scene, a priest gives Amsterdam a Bible, which he soon throws over the bridge and into the water.

The scene is shot to look like a conversation, however, instead of using a two-shot point of view, the shot is focused on Amsterdam and only the hand of the priest is shown as he gives Amsterdam the Bible. Also, this camera angle focuses on the cross hanging on the damaged wall in the back of the church. Using this camera angle allows the viewer to see how important religion was to the Catholic Irish immigrants while also causing them to see how their religion prevented the Irish from being treated equally. Focusing the camera on a single character rather than going back and forth establishes Amsterdam as the main character of the story. This shot serves to show how religion is not Amsterdam’s primary concern.

After the church scene, the camera focuses on a sign which says, “THE WAY OF THE TRANSGRESSOR IS HARD”. The camera then moves downward and shifts to Amsterdam hugging the reverend and departing. This camera transition works as an arrow to foreshadow how Amsterdam will become the transgressor, or sinner, to avenge his father’s death. After the hug, Amsterdam leaves the church to later walk over a bridge. This scene is a walking shot that zooms in on Amsterdam while a voiceover is playing. Soon the shot switches to a sign saying “HELLGATE HOUSE OF REFORM,” which establishes Amsterdam’s setting. In this instance, the viewer realizes that Amsterdam has not been inside a church, but rather he finished his sentence at a house of reforms, which seems to be an old version of a jail.

The next shot consists of Amsterdam walking over a bridge where he throws his new Bible into the water. The camera angle, in this instance, is upward which shows how Amsterdam thinks that his religion is beneath him. Once Amsterdam throws the Bible into the water, the image focuses on the Bible sinking. The sinking of the Bible shows how his time at the house of reforms has ended and that his forgiveness was only superficial. The colors of the scene are also brighter showing how Amsterdam’s departure is the start of his new life and freedom. However, throughout the entire shot, the brown undertones are present reminding the viewer that though Amsterdam is an adult now, he is still living in his past. In short, the inclusion of the scene was to show how Amsterdam has never really forgiven Bill Cutting for his father’s death. Instead, Amsterdam must trick the people, like he tricked the priest, in order to avenge his father.

“But at least the Celts had their whiteness” : A Summary of “The First Alien Wave”

The idea blackness, which does not always pertain to the color of skin, but rather being inferior or oppressed, still plays a major role in race thinking. This idea was prominent as Irish Catholics began immigrating to America due to the 19th-century Irish famine. As more Irish Catholic immigrants arrived in America, the opposition against them and their religion increased.

Prior to the arrival of Irish Catholics, Irish Protestants assimilated easily into the American society. However, soon nativists pushed the Irish Protestants into calling themselves “Scotch Irish” to emphasize their Protestant religion. In the British colonies, anti-Catholic legislation was prevalent since British settlers took away Catholic lands causing Catholics to be deprived of ownership and live in poverty. Besides being discriminated based on their religion, the Irish were discriminated based on their race, since they were Celts and not Anglo-Saxons. The Irish were often compared to animals, and marriages between an English settler and an Irish Catholic were viewed as “unnatural.”

Immigrating to America did not allow Irish Catholics to escape discrimination they faced in Ireland; some states refused to allow Catholics citizenship while others refused to fund Catholic churches. Upon the arrival of the Irish in the 1840s, anti-Catholic journals and organizations began to develop in the Northeast, and upper-class Americans began publishing works denouncing Catholicism. One of the most controversial works was Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk: The Hidden Secrets of a Nun’s Life in a Convent Exposed, which painted Catholics as immoral since they had sex, partied on Sabbath, and drank. Ultimately, the Catholic opposition led to the development of “some 270 books, 25 newspapers, 13 magazines, and a slew of ephemeral publications.” Besides anti-Catholic writings, anti-Catholic sermons resulted in a wave of church burnings in the Midwest and New England. The Bloodstained Order of United Americans and the voter literacy tests for immigrant Democrats were also meant to diminish the power of the Catholic Irish.

The Irish immigrants soon obtained a stereotype called “Paddy,” who was often depicted in cartoons as a poor, ape-like, and drunk, while often comparing the Irish people to slaves. Though the only remnants of the “Paddy” stereotype today are “paddy wagon,” some of the Paddy phrases included “Paddy Doyle,” for a jail cell, and “Paddyland,” for Ireland. However, soon to elevate themselves, the Irish realized that they would have to use the American color line, which caused them to become Democrats, who were the pro-slavery party during the Civil War. This proslavery mindset led to riots where the Irish Americans attacked African Americans to affirm that they should not be compared to each other. The discrimination of the Irish caused them to not be even considered part of the Caucasian race. The English would portray themselves as modern descendants of Medieval Saxons; on the other hand, Irish nationalists would fabricate their lineage in order to not be descendants from their Celtic ancestors.

Early anti-Catholic violence was poorly organized and predominantly driven by the fear that the Irish immigrants would cause more crime or decrease wages. However, soon nativism lead to the development of the “Know-Nothing” Party which consisted of native-born sons of native born parents who were not married to Catholics. This party strongly opposed Catholics, liquor, and political corruption. Due to constant mob violence, the “Know-Nothing” Party was known for its riots against voters of other parties, Catholics, and Irish. The hatred towards Catholics allowed for the Know-Nothings to seize power in government. Since Catholics were still their targets, the Know-Nothings tried to enact laws, such as a bill preventing foreign born people from holding political office or extending the naturalization waiting period to twenty-one years.

Eventually, Americans became more tolerant towards the Irish Catholics, thus causing violence to stop. However, the Irish were still considered a separate race from the rest of the Americans. While the Irish were constantly discriminated, unlike African Americans, 90% of them were not enslaved or abused as the inferior race. African Americans were also rarely viewed as Americans. While the Irish constantly faced oppression due to their wealth and religion, their skin tone helped them assimilate and relate to the identity of the American.

“Memory is unique to each of us,…”

Peter Quinn begins his essay “In Search of Banished Children” by describing how memories are one of a kind to every single person since they shape us differently.  In the essay, Quinn mentions how “the event that first bought [his] family to America [was] the Great Famine of the 1840s” (43). Quinn is aware of how his family came to the United States since he knows the broad history and shares the same reasoning as many other Irish immigrants; however, he can not relate to the event based on memory because he has not experienced it himself, therefore it does not shape him emotionally. The memories of immigration to Quinn are “an intravenous inheritance” (42) rather than something he has actually experienced firsthand.

Quinn also mentions his father’s recounting of how Quinn’s great-grandfather and great-uncle almost reunited during the Civil War (45). However, upon hearing the story, Quinn realizes that though the story may be true, but he believes it as more of a “romantic embellishment” (45) in his relatives’ lives. Though besides some stories being more embellished than others, there are stories that have not been told because they do not want to be recalled. For example, Quinn notes how even if there was an opportunity for a survivor of the Irish Famine to tell his accounting, it is unsure where many would (47). To some, the Irish Famine does not need to be recalled because of how it forced people to emigrate to the United States because there was no food. To most of the Irish immigrants of the time, living through the Famine was communal –everyone experienced it. There was no need to recall it because the community suffered together. Unlike history, rather than symphatizing with each other, the people shared the fear and health conditions.

Memory unlike history recalls memories that are unique to each person which include all the five senses and emotions. History, on the other hand, is more like a line rather than a ring, meaning that history describes an event in the most straight, general way, whereas memories try to see and link everything about an event together. Quinn started the essay by talking about memories because he wanted to emphasize how difference between memory and history and how much stronger it is than history. Memories do not romanticize emotions, instead they are much more raw. Though, history allows you to be aware of the time period, it will not let you imagine life as a person in the time period, but rather as an onlooker.