Identity Dilemma in Children of Loneliness

【Abstract】Anzia Yezierska in her short novel Children of Loneliness， depicts her heroine， Rachel， a college graduate， who wanted to leave behind her Lower East Side tenements and was aspired to be a real America， arguing with her Jewish parents on her insistent of using fork and knife. This paper intends to explore in detail the identity dilemma Rachel faced in Children of Loneliness and means to advance suggestions on the identity problems for the immigrants. First， the author of this paper will give a brief introduction to Anzia Yezierska and Children of Loneliness. Then， a detail analysis of the identity dilemma of Rachel will be presented， of how she was entangled between the “old” and “new” worlds， of what cultural strategies had she taken to confront the dilemma. Finally， the author of this paper intends to suggest that the cultural strategy of symbiosis is a proper measure to encounter the immigrants identity problem.

【Key words】assimilation； dilemma； symbiosis

【作者簡介】劉細(xì)容，上海外國語大學(xué)。

I. Introduction to Anzia Yezierska and Children of Loneliness

Anzia Yezierska （1880 - 1970） was a Polish-American novelist born in Maly Plock， Poland. Yezierska had only two years of elementary school before she went to work in sweatshops and factories and as a domestic. Yezierska turned to writing around 1912. Turmoil in her personal life prompted her to write stories focused on problems faced by wives. The success of Anzia Yezierskas early short stories led to a brief， but significant， relationship between the author and Hollywood movie producer Samuel Goldwyn. Goldwyn， recognizing the popularity of Yezierskas stories， gave Yezierska a $100，000 contract to write screenplays. In California， Yezierskas sudden rise to fame prompted publicists to label her “the sweatshop Cinderella.” Although Yezierskas own semi-autobiographical work had contributed to this rags-to-riches image， she found herself uncomfortable with being touted as an example of the American Dream. Frustrated by the shallowness of Hollywood and by her own alienation from her roots， Yezierska returned to New York in the mid-1920s and continued publishing novels and stories about immigrant women struggling to establish their identities in America. In her fifty year writing career， the main theme running throughout her works is the cost of acculturation and assimilation among immigrants. Her stories provide insight into the meaning of liberation for immigrants—particularly Jewish immigrant women.

Yezierska wrote her Children of Loneliness in 1923， depicting her heroine Rachel， a college graduate， who wanted to leave behind her Lower East Side tenements and was aspired to be a real America， arguing with her Jewish parents on her insistent of using fork and knife， the argue leaded to Rachels run away from home to seek comfort and hope from her Gentile American college beau college Frank Baker， but her dream with Frank was disillusioned and she found herself become one of the children of loneliness. The story is divided into three acts. At the very beginning of Act I， Yezierska presents the readers the confrontation between Rachel and her parents with her insistence of her parents using fork and knife. On the brink of her fathers anger when her father “threw the half-gnawed bone upon the table with such vehemence that a plate broke into fragments”， Rachels mother， Mrs. Ravinsky stopped them from further hurting by reminding Mr. Ravinsky it was time to pray. However， after the prayer， when Mrs. Ravinsky asked Rachel to eat the lotkes she specially prepared for her， Rachel answered “I cant stand your fried greasy stuff”. The anger and fury welled-up in her fathers heart and the father and daughter began to curse each other. Then， the Act I ends with Rachels slap of the door and ran away from home. The second act happened after two weeks of Rachels runaway. This part deals much with the Rachels active psychological movements of whether going back to her parents or not. When she heard her fathers old lyric and saw her mother busy out and in the house， she felt nostalgic to come back to them. However， when she saw her father swallowing and licking his lips， she again ran away. And Act III takes place in a fashionable restaurant. Rachel met there with Frank Baker whom she had been dreaming a happy future with. During the conversation， Frank kept talking about the fascination of the lower east side life was to him and how helpful it will be for his social study and called the people in the lower east side another social type. Their talking proved Rachel that Frank concerned only himself and she could not stand him any longer， therefore， it ends with her escape from Frank and wander in the street and her realization that she was one of the children of loneliness.

II. Identity Dilemma in Children of Loneliness

Rachel， in a sense， stands for all the younger and newer generation of immigrants who encounter an identity dilemma. On one hand， being educated and immersed in America culture， Rachel wanted to be assimilated in American mainstream culture and yearned for a rise in American society， however， her parents reluctance to discard the old tradition and their seemingly uncivilized table manners hindered her from realizing her ambition. Though， she tried to run away from her parents， from the old， the nostalgia for home and parents constantly kept calling her back. Just when she decided to leave all her ethnic identity away and dreamt a happy life with a young American man， she found she could not really be assimilated into the main-stream world. Therefore， she couldnt go back to her parents world neither could she be really accepted by the mainstream society， she became one of the children of loneliness.

Rachels desire of being assimilated into the American society can be testified by her agreement with the American way of life， the American ideals of freedom， individualism and that one can be successful as long as play fair and work hard. Rachels desire of being assimilated can be evidenced first by her insistence of her parents using fork and knife which she regarded as an American way of life. When her parents refused to use fork and knife， she jumped up from the table in disgust and said： “Ill never be able to stand it here with your people”. Rachels wish of being assimilated was also reflected by her agreement with the American ideals of freedom， individualism， equality and that one can be successful as long as play fair and work hard. When her parents refused to change， she threatened that “If you people wont change. I shall have to move and live by myself”. Thus， we can see Rachels wish for freedom and individuality. She was also aspired a dream to rise to the world. She dreamt herself marching side by side with Frank and to begin a new world.

However， her dream to be assimilated was hampered by her parents reluctance to give up the old traditions， her nostalgic for home and parents constantly kept calling her back and her dream with Frank proved to be disillusioned. While Rachel was trying to assimilate into the American mainstream society， her parents still clung to the old Jew tradition and refused to change. Mr. Rovinsky was a pious Jew who would stop to pray God when he was in quarrel with his daughter and when he prayed “His voice mellowed， the rigid wrinkles of his face softened.” Mrs. Rovinsky was a traditional Jewish housewife cook for the family and who “had always taken the smallest portion of everything for herself. ” They both adhered to the old practice of Jewish tradition and refuse to use fork and knife. In face of these obstacles from her parents， Rachel tried to persuade them， argue with them， to threaten them， by ended in futile. What she did was to run away？ However， she couldnt really shun away from her parents， the old tradition， and her past. She was in nostalgia and loneliness to come back to her parents. After two weeks away from home， she secretly came back to her home and observed her parents from afar. When she heard her fathers chanting an old familiar Hebrew psalm of “The Race of sorrow”. She felt that “thousands of years of exile， thousands of years of hunger， loneliness， and want swept over her as she listened to her fathers voice”. She was filled with her passionate sympathy for her parents. But when she saw the sickening disorder of her old home， dirty dishes stacked high in the sink， remains of the last meal held on the table， clothes strewn about the chairs， she just couldnt endure it. She thought “It would be worse than death to go back to them.” But when she noticed the grooved tracing of withering age knotted on her fathers face and the growing hump on her mothers back， she accused herself being selfish. But the pity soon returned to herself and she thought to herself that “if I havent the strength to tear free from the old， I can never conquer the new.”With a sudden tension of all her nerves she pulled herself together and stumbled blindly downstairs and out of the house. Trying to run away from her parents again， Rachel now pinned all her hope and dream on Frank Baker. However， her meeting with Frank only proved their difference. Frank was talking about the fascination the Lower East Side cast upon him and how helpful it would be to his study. He was in fact not understanding the Jew who he called “a social type”. Therefore， she returned home， stunned， bewildered， blinded with her disillusion.

With her dream disillusioned， Rachel found herself in an identity dilemma as she thought： “I cant live with the old world， and Im yet too green for the new.”However， despite her weariness， a mad longing for life filled her veins as the night melting away like a fog and the first light of dawn were appearing. She felt she must struggle against her loneliness and weariness and she thought： “I have broken away from the old world； Im through with it. Its already behind me. I must face this loneliness till I get to the new world. Frank Baker cant help me； I must hope for no help from the outside. ”

III. Conclusion

In his essay Unum and Pluribus： Ideological Underpinnings of Interethnic Communication in the United States （1990）， Young Yun Kim， a teacher in the University of Oklahoma proposes four types of Cultural Strategies in Multicultural Communication， namely， assimilation， pluralism， reconciliation and extremism. Assimilationists project a societal vision in which immigrants are mainstreamed into the normative culture and institutions by employing such metaphors as “melting pot” and “color-blind society”. They emphasize on individualism， freedom and equality. Pluralism upholds group identity as a vital and advocate status equality—a demand for equal results in the interests of “emancipation” of specific groups by emphasizing the sanctity of the group with the metaphor of “mosaic” “quilt” and “salad bowl”. Straddled between the ideological poles of assimilation and pluralism are the voices of reconciliation， which the author of this paper refer as symbiosis. The message of reconciliation reflects the struggle of Americans seeking moderation， integration， and balance. Last， the extremist messages often express a preference for a maximum in-group and out-group separation， or racial purism.

In Children of Loneliness， the cultural Rachel adopted was assimilation. However， it proved that complete assimilation was impossible， the immigrant couldnt totally forget their past and tradition. Therefore， the author of this paper suggest that the immigrants should adopt symbiosis strategy， namely， try to preserve the beneficial and useful part of the tradition， discard the wrong and out-dated old concept and at the same time to try to learn and absorb the good point of the American values such as freedom， individualism and the belief that one can be successful as long as he or she play fair and work hard. And the cultural strategy of symbiosis is of much value in this multi-cultured society where many people are held not in a “between worlds” but between “many worlds”.

References：

[1]Kim，Elaine H.Asian American Literature，An Introduction to the Writings and Their Social Context.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Press&Temple; University Press.

[2]Kim Young Yun.Unum and Pluribus：Ideological Underpinnings of Interethnic Communication in the United States.In：Samovar，Larry A.&Richard; E Porter eds.Intercultural Communication a Reader.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Press.

[3]Qiao Guoqiang.An Anthropology of American Jewish Literature.Shanghai：Unpublished.

[4]Net：http：//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzia_Yezierska on January 5， 2012.