Category: Uncategorized

The second most popular immigrant group to enter New York City in the late 19^th century was the Italians. If one looks back to the number of Italian immigrants in 1850, they would find less than 1,000 according to the city’s official count. Then, when immigration for Italians was at its peak in between 1880 and 1914, over 250,000 Italians stepped into the city. By 1920, 391,000 foreign-born Italians inhabited the city, equaling more than the Irish and German combined. Unlike Jews, it was rare for Italian families to come all at once. Most of the time, men came alone with aspirations to make enough money to head back to their home in Italy, and by agricultural land. At some points, the number of Italians who returned to Italy was upwards of 50 percent. Other times, the men found solace in the growing city, and sought to make enough to migrate their families over into America.

The most well-known consolidation of Italians was of course Little Italy in Lower Manhattan. However, due the sharp rise in Italian population, there were several wards that consisted primarily of foreign-born Italians. Although most of them identified as such, it became clear that they normally stuck with what they knew – meaning they grouped with individuals from their specific region of Italy. For example, Greenwich Village was overflowing with Italians mainly from Northern Italy – cities like Genoa, Piedmont, and Tuscany. An author located 25 separate areas that were made up of 2,000 to 100,000 Italians each.

The location of these areas were crucial in the immigrants finding labor. One of the first Italian districts in Brooklyn was lined near the pier. In the beginning of this period, the padroni also assisted in where Italians were to settle, since they helped these immigrants find work. However, their practice of harshly working their clients and taking a portion of their salaries was outlawed by the turn of the century. Most found work in construction, on peers, and in garment factories. The fortunate ones found work doing municipal work, such as sanitation.

When it was time to head to home at the end of a work day, most found themselves in cruel living conditions. Abandoned by Germans and Irish, many tenements were falling apart and were infested with rodents. Italians utilized these quarters and stuffed them with their families. There were points, according to Jacob Riis, that families were forced to live in dark cellars and children had to live in the street. On top of that, these buildings usually had a foul smell and were not safe in general. Their neighbors in America began to believe Italians were plagued with bad lives and began associating them with criminal activity too. Especially the Sicilians, Italians were then looked at as people of the Mafia – creating “Black Hand” letters that forced business owners to pay dues in return for their protection. Negative public opinion climaxed when a police lieutenant investigating such activities was murdered. However, these thoughts quickly faded, and even some argued the value of having Italians as residents and workers. It even allowed for an Italian to be elected into the House of Representatives, which was unquestionably unrealistic before World War I.

The argument that persuaded people to believe Italians were hard-working led many of them to jobs in the garment industry, where they were met with a unionized struggle Jews were facing at the time. Surprisingly, many of the immigrants joined the union. Others became “scabs” – or people who took the position of workers who went on strike to scare them. Although Italian men, women, and children were all expected to work in a household, it was rare to find a woman who traveled from Europe by herself. Married women were depicted in these working environments, although children bound them to their homes, where they managed to continue working through an idea called “homework.” This idea prospered for struggling families, and even made it feasible for very young kids to work as well.

Although many would expect children to be in a school setting, there were several factors preventing that. For starters, they were needed to work simply because of the low economical standard that came with being an immigrant. The second is many Italians didn’t believe in the schooling system, in the sense that it wouldn’t benefit their children in the long run. And if they were to choose, most Italian families sent their sons, and only to public schools. Italians were predominantly Catholic. Regardless of the growing Italian-Catholic diocese which formed schools, the Italians could hardly afford it and didn’t feel comfortable with the Irish nuns. This was a result of the Irish believing Italians were false Catholics because they didn’t attend mass or followed prayer as often as they should.

However, there were some well-respected parishes. Our Lady of Pompeii, located in Greenwich Village, was led by Father Antonio Demo until the Great Depression. He was a well-known confidant and encouraged involvement within charity outside of those ran by strictly Catholics. With such parishes came the festa, which were celebrations focused on a particular religion event, usually that of a saint. With this growing likeness towards the Roman Catholics, Italians began to identify more just as Italians or Italian-Americans as World War I approached. It took a long time for many to detach themselves from ethnic influence, but overall, many began to feel half patriotic and half italiano.

The Bloody Streets of New York

The 2002 film, Gangs of New York, directed by Martin Scorsese, presents a somewhat accurate description of New York City during the 1860’s through the eyes of two rival gangs in the Five Points area. The events in the film take place in the midst of political corruption and the American Civil War between the Northern and Southern states. Bill Cutting and Priest Vallon lead two rival gangs who both want to control the Five Points. Priest Vallon is killed by Bill, and the Priest’s son, Amsterdam, is sent away to an orphanage. Many years after, Amsterdam arrives in the Five Points thirsty for revenge. Amsterdam’s developing relationship with Bill Cutting and his experiences with the bitter ethnic feud between the Irish Catholic immigrants and Protestant natives in the film, explore the development of American identity in the mid-19th century.

To Bill Cutting and Priest Vallon, America, and what it means to be an American means something different. For Bill Cutting, an American is a man who is a native-born Protestant. Bill thinks of himself as American because his father is a White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant (WASP) who fought for America in the War of 1812. He sees Priest Vallon and his men as invaders. On the other hand, Priest Vallon sees America as inclusive of all peoples — native and foreign, Catholic and Protestant. Priest sees being an American as something that is beyond blood heritage. These two men clash at the Five Points to fight for their own version of America.

Due to polarization between their two groups and the circumstances at the time, Bill and Priest simply couldn’t coexist. The only option was to die fighting for an America they each believed in. Priest Vallon leads his gang of Roman Catholic Irishmen against Bill Cutting and his gang of Protestant Americans. Even though Bill acknowledges the similarities between himself and Priest when he says, “The Priest and me, we lived by the same principles, it was only faith divided us,” it is not enough to unite them. Both Bill and Priest are seen as honorable men in their respective street-cultured groups and they both trust in God — whoever that God may be — to deliver justice; but they are too headstrong in their beliefs to even consider reconciliation. Just as America is in a violent war between the North and South, and whites and blacks, Bill and Priest are in a violent battle with each other. America is divided and the director makes this clear by including scenes that show the effects of the American Civil War, draft riots, racial lynching, and corrupt politicians that converge on the Five Points.

For Bill and Priest, there is no room for compromise. Still, the role both of these men play as father figures for Amsterdam suggests that there is hope for a better future. After Priest dies, Bill plays a large role in shaping the American-born, Irish-blooded, Amsterdam. Amsterdam finds himself under the “wings” of Bill when Bill takes him in as an apprentice. In time, Amsterdam adapts and changes to dress like Bill and interact with Bill’s crowd. Despite his Irish roots, he could pass as an “American.” Bill begins to play Priest’s fatherly role in guiding and protecting Amsterdam. He even teaches Amsterdam how to use a knife properly, an important part of the street culture. At the very beginning of the film, when Amsterdam tells Priest Vallon what Saint Michael did, Priest replies, “Good boy!” This is equivalent to the scene in the film where Amsterdam demands no pistols and Bill replies, “Good boy.” Both of these men, seemingly different, are able to contribute somewhat to a common goal of raising and protecting Amsterdam. Priest gives Amsterdam his religion and Bill gives Amsterdam the skills he needs to survive on the streets of the Five Points. Both men are able to benefit from raising Amsterdam. Priest is able to carry on his legacy and Bill gets to feel what it’s like to have a son.

They both influence Amsterdam. As a result, Amsterdam is conflicted about what he should do. Throughout the film, Amsterdam cries for Priest and for Bill, telling the audience that he sympathizes with Bill and considers him to be like a second father but feels a blood obligation to kill Bill and avenge Priest. In the end, Amsterdam avenges Priest’s death but cries as the dying Bill holds his hand. Although Bill and Priest were unable to see eye to eye, Amsterdam symbolizes the possibility of unity in the future because he was touched by both sides. This is shown when Amsterdam buries Priest Vallon and Bill Cutting next to each other and buries the blade Priest gave him in between their bodies. In the movie, Amsterdam represents the possibility of a new era because he was able to witness the tragedy, and feel the losses that resulted from the ethnic battles of the Five Points. Behind Bill and Priest’s graves is a dark view with smoke rising out of New York City which is cinematically symbolic. The collapsing of the graves, and the fading in of bright skies and skyscrapers in the film, shows that from the death of these two men grew the religiously and ethnically diverse America seen today.

According to the film, America is diverse in many ways, but it is not these differences that matter. The director makes it clear that it is the ability to live in commonality that is truly American. In the United States of America, to be an American is to believe in a united America and to fight for America, not within America, against each other. In the end, the blood spilled is all American blood. The director makes this clear by emphasizing the tragic effects of the American Civil War, racial lynching, draft riots and ethnic conflict. This idea is shown symbolically in the bird’s-eye view shots of blood staining the streets when the Irish and nativists clash in the beginning of the film and the shots of the splashing pools of blood, symbolizing the destructive result of the people’s escalated hatred and violence, when several opposing groups converged and the end of the film. It is also shown in the slow pan shots throughout the movie of the coffins lining the harbor as a result of the American Civil War and the dead bodies lining the streets as a result of the converging of all the different groups (opposers of the draft, enforcers of the draft, the rich, the poor, the Irish, and the nativists) on the streets of the city to fight. Looking at the chaotic scenes, one cannot separate the blood of one person from that of another. Amsterdam says, “Friend or foe, didn’t make no difference now.”

The idea of what makes an American — religion, origin, history, ethnicity or shared values — is addressed from the beginning to the end of the film through the character relationships and the emphasis on cinematic symbols. Bill and Priest, like many other people in opposing groups in the film, could not coexist. The director makes a statement that a more diverse and tolerant American was born from the violent interactions between individuals, gangs, and the state militia in the mid-19th century. He does this by showing the tragic effects of a divided America. Hope for a better, more united future is presented by the director, through Amsterdam, who buries his father’s blade and walks away.

Henry Burby

MHC 10201

3/5/16

The Gods of New York

The characters of Gangs of New York represent many different worlds. In the film, rich and poor, young and old, white and black, and native and foreign all coexist and struggle with each other. each other, as dictated by their backgrounds, circumstances, and worldviews. A person’s traits are often reflected in their personal philosophies, which can be channeled into their religions. By comparing the character’s religions, perspective can be gained on the thoughts and motivations of Amsterdam Vallon, Bill the Butcher, and the philanthropist Schermerhorn. The scene in which the three men pray before the draft riots intercuts and compares their religious perspectives. In this scene, the character’s relationships to the world are indicated by their relationships to God.

Bill the Butcher barely mentions his religious beliefs in the rest of the film. When he does, it is to juxtapose his “Christian Lord” with the “Roman popery” of the Irish. Like most American protestants of the time, his anti-Catholic vitriol is directed more at their culture than at their religion. Bill attacks Catholicism for promoting poverty, corruption, and ignorance, not for its religious doctrine. This doesn’t make him a nonbeliever. He objects to the Irish as a nation, not for their religion, but because he believes in a national God. Bill is an American before all else, and his religion reflects that loyalty. Bill worships a God that, at least, heavily supports America, and at most, personifies his view of America’s essential spirit.[i] Nowhere is this clearer then in his use of an American flag as an altar cloth. His is the God of American exceptionalism, manifest destiny, and white supremacy, an inescapable protector and avenger of the American way. This “God of retribution” supports white, protestant, America, and will vengefully put down any threat to its favored nation. For Bill, national dedication is interchangeable with religious devotion. In one scene, he wraps a flag around his shoulders at night for protection and comfort, benefits often supplied by religion. When used this way, the flag fills the same niche as the Pope’s “pointy hat.” He uses a glass eye with an eagle for a pupil, so he is symbolically half blinded by a twisted vision of America. He sees himself as an agent of his American God, able to ignore the official corruption, law, and morality, to protect the spirit of his country from foreign invaders. God is “The dagger in… [his] hand” in that, by working on behalf of God, he is empowered and justified.

Like Bill, Amsterdam is not obviously religious. Because his life experience has been  different, he sees God differently then Bill does. To Amsterdam, God is not personally vengeful, but neutrally just. Unlike the other characters, Amsterdam prays silently, inside his head. This may point to a very strong, personal belief in the existence and power of God, though though Amsterdam usually keeps his distance from this power. As seen when he throws his bible and its protestant ideas into the river, Amsterdam doesn’t think God can be found in the pages of a book. Instead God is a tangible force in the world. Amsterdam’s enemies have wronged him and he plans to take revenge. He is confident that God will crush them because they have done evil, not because they are protestant, or American. However, Amsterdam is clear that he is fighting his enemies for his own reasons, not God’s, and that his sword is his own. He is not following God, but proposing an alliance, of sorts, in which he will use God’s support to kill their mutual enemies. Instead of vowing to be God’s agent, he asks that God to be just. He is asking more to get God’s attention then because he owes him anything.[ii]

Schermerhorn’s religion is strongly influenced by the new testament, making it the most moderate of the three, and the closest to modern day Christianity. He believes in a universally loving God, who both gives and forgives. His wealth and good fortune seem to give him reason to feel this way. In his prayer, he gives thanks to a huge table of food, which he assumes God has provided. God has always provided for him, and he has never had to question that God is on his side. He refers to God in the third person, and speaks directly to a group of other people, because he is not personally connected to God. Schermerhorn sees the Almighty as a reliable, predictable, force of goodness in the universe. To him, self defense and promotion are not God’s will. That is a realm of earthly action, in which the divine has no place. Plus, he has never needed to do so over a long term. Instead, he defends others from oppression, through philanthropy. He intends to lift others up, away from the starvation and squalor which makes them kill each other. Successful or not, these efforts are Schermerhorn’s way of carrying out God’s will on earth.

When comparing the three men by their religions, it is tempting to lump Bill and Amsterdam together, against Schermerhorn. Bill and Amsterdam are men of violent action, calling for support in a battle. Neither are traditionally religious, but their dedication and proximity to their ideals make the men more likely to follow them. Their Gods are brutal, and the actions taken in their names are cruel. However, Amsterdam and Bill are not hypocritical. Schermerhorn doesn’t follow his religion completely in the real world. He claims to represent a merciful, loving God as long as the world is following order.  However, to maintain that order, he suggests that one half of the poor can always be hired to kill the other.[iii]  On the contrary, Bill and Amsterdam never claim to be anything other than they are, and follow their religious codes, such as they are, to the letter. Bill practices his nationalist religion every day, and Amsterdam follows his belief that God is just.

Though Bill and Amsterdam share many qualities, especially when compared to Schermerhorn, they still have several religious differences. To name one, the two men disagree on the natures of their deities. Neither Bill or his God are interested in right or wrong. Bill exists only to promote himself, and the interests of his tribe, white protestant America, in accordance with God’s wishes. On the other hand, Amsterdam’s God is impartial, sees only right and wrong, and is ready to enact justice on the wicked. Amsterdam and his people have suffered so much that he cannot assume that god is on one side or another. His God is not concerned with earthly bickering, and cares only for ideals.

Despite their differences, all three men are bound by a key characteristic. Their prayers show their faith in a traditional system of order in the world. They are so caught up in old ideals that when the real, messy world intrudes, in the form of the draft riot, they are taken completely by surprise. Schermerhorn knows of the warning signs, but because he is used to a world of order and mercy, he ignores them. Bill and Amsterdam are preoccupied with their struggle of ideals, and don’t know about the riot at all until to late. The film may be suggesting that all three men are wrong. In the riot, there is no ultimate power to provide support, justice, or love. There is only a chaotic force, fueled by rage and self defense, which is put down by another simply because the second is better armed and organised. The beliefs of the three men are drowned out by the chaos around them, and proved wrong. Bill loses his cause, is mortally wounded randomly by the forces of the country he idolizes, and his cause dies with him, a footnote in the dust. Amsterdam gets his revenge, but only after seeing all the friends and enemies he knows cut down arbitrarily. Schermerhorn shows no mercy when defending his house against its wild attackers. The forces of the establishment regain order, and effect the change he never could in the Five Points by leveling them.

 

[i] Personifications of America are nothing new. Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam are good examples, though Columbia is closer to what Bill worships.

[ii] Another interpretation is that Amsterdam’s God is tied to his father, who used to own the medallion. He only mentions God by name in his last line of prayer, and only in the third person. Therefor, he could easily be talking to his father’s spirit, in preparation for his revenge against his father’s killer.

[iii] John Stewart Mill squares theoretical devotion with practical inaction by explaining that Schermerhorn believes his religion too strongly, without ever questioning it. its ideals survive as truisms, which can be both bellied and ignored at once. The same can be said of Bill, if he claims to represent the Christian lord, but he gives no indication that he adopts the teachings of Christ into his religion, so this doesn’t make him hypocritical.

 

Sources Cited:

Gangs of New York. Dir. Marten Scorsese. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Camron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Henry Thomas, and Liam Neeson. Miramax, 2003. Film.

 

Sara and her father have many clashes throughout the novel. Sara, visibly, does not appreciate the way her father commands her family. She despises how he ruins her sisters’ lives, yet still believes in his stubborn in his ways. Even with all her resentment towards him, she continues to live under him, until he buys an unsuccessful business. This is when she decides to leave her home. However, even though Sara feels so much resentment towards her father, there are a few similarities in her and her father’s personalities.

The biggest similarity between the Sarah and her father is their strong will and devotion. Reb Smolinsky is fully dedicated to religion. He does not see much other than the words of the Book he follows. In his devotion to religion, Smolinsky pays little attention to the problems in his home and leaves financial burdens on his wife and daughters. Just as her father is devoted to religion, Sara feels a longing to be independent and educated. Even with all the hardships that come her way, she has does not back down from her goal. While her father goes to the extent of disowning her because of her ambitions, Sara does not back down. Because of her strong will, Sara is called “blood and iron” by her father.

At times, their strong wills do translate to useless stubbornness and selfishness. Smolinsky’s stubbornness is shown in his insistence that he runs the house. He insists upon making all the decisions in the house even though he often makes costly mistakes. Sara’s stubbornness shows when she leaves her home. She does not want to put up with her father and decides that she will not do so. Even though she has no other definite residence and lives in an incredibly patriarchal society, her decision is final. Sara’s action was also a bit selfish. While many may think she was doing what was necessary for her freedom, Sara does end up leaving her poor mother alone to carry financial burdens and to deal with Smolinsky.

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.

With deeper reading, the title of Yezierska’s novel becomes more and more indicative of the vital role and central focus on the Smolinsky daughters, most notably Sara, in the story. With their meager wages, the Smolinsky girls provide the bread for their family, both literally and in the more general, figurative sense (money).

This title highlights the inherently sad, unfair nature of these girls’ lives as members of a poor Jewish American family. As daughters and, more importantly, as women, they must live to work for money that will always go to their father, a man, who by nature is owed this money for his innate male closeness to God. Bessie, Mashah, Fania, and Sara must continue to give all of their hard earnings to their father for his use if they are to have any hope for the next world, to be protected and loved by God. It is only through their bread-giving, their service to a man, that they may reach Heaven, where they will continue to serve their men.

Sadly, Reb Smolinsky only views his daughters as bread-givers, his own personal money-makers and life-sustainers. He makes it abundantly clear how he views his flesh and blood when Berel Bernstein asked to marry Bessie, and the threat of her leaving the house posed itself. “[I]f you marry her, you’re as good as taking away from me my living–tearing the bread from my mouth.”

Briefly define the American Dream for Sara, her father, and one of her sisters.

In the novel Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska, a young girl named Sara shares her experiences living in America as a Russian-Jewish immigrant. Her family is of very low economic status in America, which is the basis of her American Dream. Because of the poverty she and her family experience, working is of high value in the family. Although she is only 10 years old, Sara feels the responsibility of having to find work and make money somehow. When she starts peddling herring and making profit off of it, she realized that she enjoys the feeling of independence that making her own money brings. For Sara, the American Dream is taking what you have and working your way up to the point where you are the source of your own income and happiness. She doesn’t like having to depend on her sisters getting jobs or store owners letting them take goods to pay them back later; holding the 25 cents of profit she made the first time she peddled herring made her realize that that’s what she wants- to be independent.

Her family members have quite different ideas of what the American Dream is. After leaving Russia because of a Tzar that wanted to persecute Jews, Sara’s father, Reb Smolinsky, sought religious freedom. He does not work; he reads the Torah and prays. To him, the rewards he believes await him in heaven outweigh any suffering he may do on the Earth. His wife says at one point, “You’re so busy working for Heaven that I have to suffer here such bitter hell.” For Reb, the ability to practice his religion in peace in order to get to Heaven is part of the American Dream.

Mashah, Sara’s sister, seems to have the opposite view as her father on the American Dream. She is shown as quite selfish right from the beginning, buying only herself a towel and toothbrush and getting only herself food, not thinking about the hunger her family is experiencing. It seems that she believes that the American Dream is about enjoying the freedom of consumerism. The part that is most opposite to her father’s point of view is that she seems to believe that one must enjoy every possible thing while on Earth; if one day without a meal means new flowers for her hat, she is okay with giving it up. She sees the world through a sense of superficial beauty and material things. Her American Dream is to have enough money, to buy what she needs and wants to enjoy her life on Earth as much as possible.

Lucia Lopez

Despite the obvious and stark differences between Sara and her father, the quality of life Sara seeks after running away from home parallels that of her father’s. The light and spiritual elevation Rabbi Smolinsky finds in learning Torah, Sara finds in studying to become a teacher. Both Sara and her father’s determination in seeking salvation, economically and socially for Sarah and religiously for her father, lead them to isolate themselves from their neighbors and peers. Isolation is essential for learning, but equally selfish.

When Rabbi Smolinsky isolated himself in his lone room on Hester Street, he selfishly proclaimed a room for his books despite the fact that his family was bordering starvation. Sara similarly isolates herself in filthy, darkness to independently work on her studies which keeps her from her mother, who is burdened with the man Sara ran away from.

Sara and her father’s behavior is, perhaps, better described as zealous rather than selfish because what each is trying to do in essence is better the world. Rabbi Smolinsky believes he is “living for…[the] people” and is a small representation of God’s Light shining on Hester Street (90). Sara’s studies, on the other hand, are toward a degree in education which would allow her to help the girls she once resembled.