Anzia Yezierska's "Bread Givers" is a story about an immigrant family living in New York in the 1930's; Richard Wright's Native Son is a story about an African American man, in his 20's, who lives in Chicago. Both set in heavily populated, low-income neighborhoods. The protagonists of both stories, Bigger in Native Son and Sara in Bread Givers, struggle to find their way in a harsh ethnically segregated society. In comparison of the general plot, the analysis of the novel's origin, and in the examination of the character's actions, Yezierska's Bread Givers can be read as a similar journey through a more civilized path as Wright's Native Son.
Bread Givers is the story of a young immigrant woman living under the roof of her tyrannical father. The protagonist, Sara, battles her father and the social norms to escape from home and live a normal life as an immigrant. Bread Givers conflict is essentially Sara versus her father. This conflict is supported by Sara's father trying to control everything she did, even though her father is a complete failure. Native Son is the story of a young black man growing up during a time of legal racial segregation. Native Son is told in chronological order. As the plot develops; the novel features foreshadowing. There are several scenes in the novel that exhibit his overall outcome. The protagonist, Bigger, falls into a life of crime, murder and running. The conflict is primarily Bigger versus himself. The conflict is supported by Bigger's difficulty to be happy with who he is.
In Bread Givers, Sara's journey to becoming an American was difficult. Being an immigrant surrounded by no one but other immigrants, it is understandable why she found it so hard. Sara never got the opportunity to be surrounded by American culture. She was forced into a community of many different cultures, but none were American. None of the other immigrants in her community fit Sara's definition of being an American.
