“SOAP AND WATER” ANZIA YEZIERSKA.ppt

“Soap and Water”Anzia Yezierska DISCUSSION What is the relationship between the people and the buildings? How is the crowd portrayed? How the work convey a sense of movement? What does this sense of movement suggest? How does Bellows’s use lighting in New York? What is Bellows’s judgment of the city? What does this image suggest about the scale and scope of the city? FRAMING QUESTIONS How was the American cultural mainstream defined at this time? What messages and strategies of socialization did the government and other culture brokers extend to immigrants, African Americans, and Native Americans during this period? FRAMING QUESTIONS Why did people come to America in the late 18th and early 19th centuries? Why do they come today? Female immigrant employment Housing Schools Life QUESTIONS What benefits and costs for these groups were associated with a strategy of assimilation? How did the city function as a site of assimilation? WORDS Frustration Prejudice Empathy Inspiration Closed Doors Privileged Appearance Limitations Recognition Self-worth Judgment Power Shame Intelligence Aspiration “Two steps forward, three steps back” “Soap and Water”Anzia Yezierska Read the story. Pay particular attention to what white represents (symbolism) and to the irony present in the piece. “Soap and Water”Anzia Yezierska What was the narrator’s initial perception of America? What motivated her? What challenges made it difficult for the narrator to achieve her American dream? “Soap and Water”Anzia Yezierska Could the narrator have done anything differently that would have helped her to achieve her dream faster? How does the irony of the title help us to get at the meaning of this story? “Soap and Water”Anzia Yezierska To what extent is this story still a reflection of the immigrant experience in America? Has it improved? Why or why not? * * The Immigrant Experience New York City George Bellows, New York, 1911—Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (1986.72.1) “Keep, an