Insight into the Immigrant Mindset

For me, the most difficult aspect of reading this work was really
trying to identify with the mindset of the immigrant cast of characters
portrayed in the book. Although David gives a first-person account of
his own life, I imagine that his circumstances differed greatly from
those of his fellow immigrants. His choice to leave was not really
borne out of necessity, like those who had experienced pogroms. Though
he did experience persecution in his earlier years, it did not seem to
be a direct driving force behind his departure from Antomir.
Because he left more out of choice than necessity, I couldn’t help
feeling that David’s relatively rapid abandonment of his culture
was particularly wrong, and I found it grating that he was so deeply
concerned with shedding his “greenhorn” status, even as time passed and
he became a successful businessman in his own right. The majority of
Jewish immigrants who left their homes at this time were doing so to
preserve their lives, having been targeted because of their religion.
Their attempts to fit into the new society were borne of equal parts
fear of the hardships they had once faced, and desire to cement their
place in a country, because for once, they finally could.
On some level, however, Cahan made a smart move in having made
Levinsky leave more out of choice than necessity, because this serves
to emphasize the immense pull that American culture could have on an
immigrant. Levinsky becomes so consumed with making a living and
fitting in that it completely takes him over. If this is the case for
an immigrant who simply went to America on a whim and did not really
leave very much behind, how much more strongly would immigrants who
were forced to flee for their lives and, perhaps, cut themselves off
from families (whom they may have hoped to bring over at some point)
want to become successful in America and ingratiate themselves into the
culture?