Bread Givers Response

           Bread Givers centers on the conflict between the old world of Russian Jewish rigidity and the new world of American ideals concerning success, love, happiness, and fulfillment.  Caught between a traditionalist father and the voice of the American models around them, the four Smolinsky daughters must decide whether they will adhere to the ways of the old country or the new.  Although each daughter has the opportunity to embrace the American ideal, only Sara is able to actually free herself from the customs of her severe father. She accomplishes this through hard work, a college education, and refusal to marry for any reason but love. 

            

          At the heart of the conflict is Reb Smolinsky and his strict devotion to the words of the Torah and his Russian Jewish heritage. This devotion causes him to study and pray constantly. He sees this as his work and refuses to take a job like other immigrants around him.  His wife and daughters are supposed to provide the family with means for survival.  This is the way life was in Russia and Reb Smolinsky expects life to continue the same way in the new country. 

           

          At first as I read Bread Givers, I was angered by the Reb Smolinsky’s behavior.  To my American perception, he is unjust in the way he treats his family.  I saw this mainly in the way he expects to receive the best portions of the food his wife and daughters work so hard to earn and marries Fania and Mashah to men he thinks will be able to provide his family with money.  In his mind, everything he does is right, even when he purchases and tries to unsuccessfully run a store. However as I continued reading, I realized that he does not act in this cruelty for the sake of hurting his family.  Rather, he genuinely believes that the Torah is to be obeyed in its description of men as the head of the household.  He believes that through his study, he is a light to those around him and protects his family by providing a way for them to also go to heaven.   

            

          In some ways, Reb Smolinsky is to be respected because of his unwillingness to compromise his faith. For instance, his anger was aroused when the Jewish landlady disrespected the Torah by stepping on it and he disapproved of Mashah’s piano player friend for practicing on the Sabbath.  Although he often approaches it in a legalistic and wrong way according to an American view, he is trying to live a set apart life in agreement with his beliefs.

As a Christian living in the ever-changing American culture, I also have this decision to make concerning how I live out my faith.  Certainly, Christianity is practiced differently by the millions of Christians in the country today.  Some would tend towards the legalistic approach of Reb Smolinsky, vehemently attacking culture when it goes against Scripture.  On the other end of the spectrum, others will try to adapt to what the culture teaches like Sara.  I believe that it is important to engage the culture by living a set apart life as a representative of Christ and sharing His love with those in the American culture. It is a balance between what might be considered the old ways of Christianity and the new. 

           

War Trash Response

War Trash Response

            War Trash is unlike most of the books I have read because the ending is anything but settled.  Yuan returns to mainland China to find that his mother has died and his fiancée cannot marry him.  All of his reasons for returning to mainland China are no longer there.  Also, he and the other POWs are treated badly by the Communist Party for allowing themselves to be taken prisoner.  No one can return to his former life since they are now viewed as “disgraced captives”.   Although Yuan has a better future than men who actually joined the Communist Party such as Commissar Pei, Ming, and Chaolin, he might have had better prospects had he gone to Taiwan or a third country rather than returned to China.  However, one cannot be absolutely sure whether Yuan’s future would have been better had he not repatriated.

One of the main struggles throughout War Trash is between the Communists, Pro-nationalists, and Americans as each group tries to prove that their beliefs are right.  In the process, they become suspicious of each other and anyone who does not identify with one specific group.  For instance, Yuan is told by Chaolin in chapter 14 to steal a pistol from an intoxicated American officer.  Yuan knows that other tests the Communists used for suspected POWs resulted in death, but cannot refuse because it would make him appear to be against the Communists.  The tension is also seen in the way the Pro-nationalists try to scare the POWs into joining them and going to Taiwan.  This results in the violence in chapter 9 when Liu Tai-an cuts the tattoos from prisoners and brutally kills a Communist who wants to repatriate.  The Americans are also guilty of unethical behavior as they send a woman to Commissar Pei to coax him to the “Free World”, trick Wanren into signing a paper clearing the Americans of the deaths of men in Compound 6, and needlessly shooting Wenfu.  Although each if the group has some merits, their conduct shows that no one group is completely without flaws.  Their loyalties blind them to the inhumanity of their actions. 

Yuan is trapped in the middle of the three groups because of his education and ability to speak English.  Both the Communist Party and the Pro-nationalists suspect him.  Since the Communists and others can only see the POWs in terms of their affiliations, they cannot understand his need to return home for personal reasons. This is why Yuan’s narrative is his story not “an ‘our story’” as he says at the close of the book.    

The messages in War Trash are relevant for today’s controversies because nations, political parties, and government leaders continue to label individuals based on affiliation, nationality, background or social class.  They can make assumptions which lead to hurtful generalizations, distrust and injustice.  Crimes are often committed in the name of self-protection.  War Trash speaks to the need for careful thought, open eyes, and deliberate action when faced with such weighty circumstances.    

In Class Assignment - Chapter 24 Synopsis and Analysis

   

The chapter opens a few days before October 1 when the POWs are told by the Communist leaders in the prison house to observe their National Day by raising their flag.  Using materials found in the compounds, the prisoners are able to make flags, flagpoles, and weapons.  Their plan is betrayed to the Americans by a prisoner in one of Yuan’s neighboring compounds, Compound 7, and the Americans confiscate all the weapons they find.  Yet on October 1, the POWs continue with their plan and raise the flag.  The consequences are disastrous as the GIs attack the poorly armed but defiant POWs in Compounds 7 and 5.  Many POWs are killed and wounded.  However, Chaolin, the leader in Compound 7, declares a victory and Commissar Pei congratulates the POWs.  This alarms Yuan in light of the loss of life.  

I agree with Yuan that the prisoners were being used during this chapter by the Communist leaders for their own motives and also found it odd that the leaders would respond to this tragedy with praise and declarations of victory.  For the leaders of group which valued fraternity, it seems hypocritical for Commissar Pei and Chaolin to treat the deaths and injuries of so many of their fellow countrymen so lightly.  I think it displays the human natural inclination toward self-interest rather than interest in others.