Bread Givers

Anzia Yezierska’s novel, Bread Givers, is about a young girl named Sara breaking the traditions about young women that her strict father tries to shape his four daughters into. Sara Smolinsky was the youngest of the four girls and she also had the strongest will. After her father married off her three older sisters to the worst men possible Sara decided that she would not fall prey to his matchmaking skills. She wanted to be a “person among people” and to become that she ran away from home to go to school and become a teacher. She fulfills her dream and eventually marries a man that she met after graduation and fell in love with. She helps take care of her father when he remarries, after her mother’s death, and his new wife only married him for money and kicks him out to the streets when he’s broke. Sara’s life is the embodiment of the American dream, and it also teaches that despite what family is like, you don’t always have to love them and it’s okay to become your own person.

Sara had dreamed ever since she was a little girl of running away as soon as she had the money, on page 22 she says “I was always saying to myself, if I ever had a quarter or a half dollar in my hand, I’d run away from home and never look on our dirty house again.” In my opinion Sara is one of the most motivated and inspiring characters I’ve ever read about. She sets her mind to something and then she follows through with it. She dreams and she achieves it. I admire her because I have always wanted that dedication. Until I got to college I was never able to pick something and stick with it. I have quit every single musical instrument I have tried to play and I’ve quit jobs and almost everything I’ve tried. But when I got to college and decided that I wanted to be a teacher I received that dedication and I’m ready to stick with it, just like Sara when she decided that she was going to make something of her life and go to school. Even when things got hard and she felt like giving up she still stuck with it and graduated and did what she set out to do.

Sara’s family was controlled by their overbearing, stupid father. He sat home and studied the Torah all day. And while that in and of itself is not a bad thing, what made it bad was that he refused to let them live their own lives. He wouldn’t work so he made his four daughters work until they bled in order to keep food on the table so he could eat. And when Bessie, the eldest and most productive worker, wanted to get married to someone she loved he denied her that right because he did not want to lose her wages. Everything the man did was because of a selfish desire. He eventually married two of his daughters off to terrible men in one day just so he could prove a point to his wife. Then, when it came time to give Bessie away before she really turned into an old maid, he chose someone for her that would benefit himself and give him money in order to invest it to make up for losing Bessie’s wages. Sara’s father was a terrible man and even worse father. When he wanted to marry Sara off and she refused he said to her: “Schlang! Toad! Wild animal! Thing of evil! How came you ever to be my child? I disown you, I curse you.” But Sara had the same strong will that he had. She had his determination, and when he meant to kill her spirit by saying these things to her, he just pushed her harder to become who she wanted to become. She overcame her adversity and ended up a strong woman who didn’t need a man to dictate her life. And even though her father was like that, she still returned to help him out once she graduated college and became a teacher .She overcame her adversity and became an even better person than she was before because she returned and helped her father out. No one would have expected her to do that for the way he treated her family, but she knew it was her responsibility and she did it because no matter what he was her father and she was responsible for him.

Sara’s story is truly inspiring to me, not just because I’ve always desired her dedication, but because she shows people how to overcome struggles and trials and to come out on top even when everyone around you thinks it’s impossible. She did so much when people thought she could do nothing. This story is about more than just a woman making her way out of the poverty she grew up in, it’s about a strong woman pushing the boundaries of what was expected of her and paving her own way in the world. It’s about overcoming the trials that are placed in our lives and never giving up despite what people are saying to us. That’s the message that I got out of this book, never give up: no matter what.

A Response...

Ha Jin’s novel, War Trash, is an excellent book written to enlighten and entertain us with knowledge of things that occurred in the prison camps during the Korean War. Jin follows the life of Chinese soldier Yu Yuan through these prison camps and the struggles he endures. Yu Yuan is a dedicated son and fiancée throughout the novel and his only desire is to return home to take care of his sickly mother and marry the woman he loves. This overwhelming desire will lead him to make many conflicting decisions in regards to the Communist army and the pro-nationalist group. Yuan appears to be indecisive and has no strong desire to be with either group. Eventually Yuan makes a string of decisions to leave the Communists and then returns to them in order to get back to China. When he returns he finds that his mother has died and his fiancée has dumped him because he had brought dishonor to the country by allowing himself to be captured and not sacrificing his life.

                War Trash is a very well written book and before reading it I had no idea that things like what was described could ever happen. For example, in chapter 9, labeled Before the Screening, a man named Liu Tai-an terrorized the Communist camp in order to get them to side with the pro-nationalists. Liu Tai-an took a man up on the stage and asked him where he wanted to go when the screening occurred the next day. The man responded that he wanted to return to the homeland and Liu Tai-an then cut the man open and tore out his heart in front of everyone in the compound. This kind of brutality was something I never thought could have occurred, even in a prison camp.

                One thing that I thought was interesting about the novel was all the different stereotypes found within it. For instance, the one that stuck out the most to me was when Yuan says “I was shuddering all over, never having thought that an educated man like Mei Lufu could be as vicious as Liu Tai-an.” (Pg. 109). Because Yuan himself was an educated man and he was not aggressive he thought that all educated men must understand the importance of the human life and would never be so ready and willing to destroy one. This was also addressed previously on page 68 when Yuan writes “I noticed that the illiterate ones among us were particularly quick-tempered at mealtimes.” Yuan seems to associate aggressiveness with being illiterate and when someone breaks that association he is thoroughly frightened and surprised.

Another stereotype that is addressed in the book is that of Americans being timid and big “pussycats.” The Chinese soldiers were taught that the Americans were spoiled with cars and an abundance of supplies, that when faced they would just give up because they were not as prepared for war as the Chinese were. Although the Chinese soldiers knew that the Americans had more advanced weapons they still believed that they could beat the Americans because they were not used to such harsh conditions. Yuan realizes that this isn’t the truth once he is in the camps because the Americans, despite being spoiled, were still very adapt to wars and they should not be taken lightly.

Overall I thought the book was very good. I didn’t like that Yuan was so back and forth with all of his decisions. Once he thought he had decided something he would change his decision another three times. And another thing that seemed a little odd is that the thought never crossed his mind that his mother could possibly have died while he was away, or that his girlfriend didn’t want anything to do with him because he was captured. They were his sole reason for wanting to go back to China. And yet, when he was in the pro-nationalists compound he enjoyed it and liked the people but he still chose to go back to China because he believed his two reasons for going back would still be there after two years apart. Yuan was a smart man, but I was surprised he never thought about this possibility. 

Chapter 25: Another Sacrificed Life

A Summary of Chapter 25 of Ha Jin's novel War Trash.

Chapter 25 begins by Yu Yuan figuring out why the Communist Party considered the latest massacre in Compound 7, where 59 men were killed and 109 men seriously injured, a victory. Yuan comes to the conclusion that despite the lives lost in the battle his leaders believed the event to be a victory because it was newsworthy. At this point Yuan is torn between what he feels towards the Communists. He is friends with many of them and for that reason he accepts what they believe but at the same time it enrages him how little they care for human life.

Yuan's leader in the camp, Commissar Pei, hopes to generate a response from the Chinese government with the result of the battle. However, the POWs wait weeks without any news their battle had gained national attention. The silence from the mainland was leaving the men feeling lonesome and deserted by the country they so desperately sought to defend. Yu Yuan starts to realize he is becoming familiar with the solitary he faced within the camp. That is very surprising to him because earlier in the novel he states that Chinese men have an overwhelming need to be among their own people. They feel more comfortable in groups than they do by themselves.

Because of the battle on October 1 the Americans had begun stepping up their security throughout the camp. The compound Yuan is located in still has the flag they raised in the previous chapter hidden within their compound. One day the GI's burst in and searched for it, finding it in a wall somewhere the GI's were prancing around, very proud of themselves. A young man, Shenning, was pressured into retrieving the flag and a chase ensued with which a few other Chinese men helped Shenning destroy the flag before the GI's could take it back to their superiors. Because of this act of rebellion, the men involved in the chase were thrown into a pit to be punished. One of the men was murdered that night and Yuan contemplated whether or not a piece of nylon cloth was worth the extra life that was sacrificed.

Analysis:

Through this chapter Yuan is dealing with his love/hate relationship with his homeland and their now communist beliefs. He wants to believe that China has not forgotten about their POWs, however they have received no evidence that they still cared whether or not the POWs were alive. This lack of respect for human lives is one of the things that causes Yuan to dislike the Communists. After the massacre in Compound 7 Yuan realized just how dedicated the Communists were to protecting their country, even if it came at a huge cost. To the Communists lives were dispensable. He does, however, commend the men who were willing to sacrifice their lives to the cause because of their passion and bravery for their country. He says on page 250 "I had noticed that there was a kind of religious fervor in some of these men, who were capable of laying down their lives for an idea. However silly the idea might be, the act of self-sacrifice made them truly remarkable." He respects these men for being willing to lay down their lives for the idea of Communism, but at the same time he finds it ridiculous and not worth the cost.