May9th,2007
Title
The beginning of 20th Century witnessed a huge flow of immigration into the American society. Those immigrants might hold religious believes and viewpoints totally different from those in the American society. But in order to adjust to the new environment, they each developed their own way of getting Americanized.
The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen was composed by Bruno Lessing in such a time period. The story took place in a newly-immigrated Jewish family. Shadrach Cohen arrived in New York five years later than his two sons. When the family first lived together, they experienced quite a lot of conflicts. The family relation crisis was eventually solved by the “Americanization” of Shadrach Cohen.
Though many people argue that Shadrach Cohen’s success in regaining his family’s respect results from his maintaining his own Jewish culture, I believe it is actually the Americanization that helped solve all the family problems. Shadrach understood Americanization differently from his sons and he got Americanized differently.
When Shadrach first got down the ship, he was met by “two dapper looking young men, each of whom wore a flaring necktie with a diamond in it”.(Page 46 Line10-11) Seeing their father’s old fashioned dressing, Abel and Gottlieb “looked at each other in dismay.” (Page 46 Line14) Apparently, the newly-immigrated look of Shadrach did not impress his two sons. They did not regard it American enough.
Another detail that may reveal a lot to us about the value of Gottlieb and Abel is in the dialogue between the father and the sons. “Come, father,” they said. “Let us go to a barber, who will trim your beard and make you more like an American.” (Page 46 Line21-22) Those two young men thought dressing like an American was what Americanization meant.
In the following time, the conflicts went on. Abel and Gottlieb wanted their father to get rid of the old Jewish religious practice as they had done. “We-er-have grown out of-er-done away with-er-sort of fallen into the habit, don’t you know, of leaving out the prayer at meals. It’s not quite American!” (Page 47 Line4-6) And Gottlieb even feared that his father’s old Jewish ways would scare away his American fiancée.
All the above behaviors of the two young men showed us their view of Americanization. They wanted to get Americanized by behaving exactly like the Americans. Through this, they hoped to win the acceptance of the major society. In their mind, they were afraid that they would be ridiculed and despised had they dressed and lived differently. That was the reason why Gottlieb prevented his father from meeting his fiancée and that was the reason why when Abel and Gottlieb first met their father, they thought Shadrach “a perfect type of the immigrant whose appearance they had so frequently ridiculed”. (Page 46 Line18-19)
Now let’s see the Americanization of Shadrach Cohen. Shadrach declared the beginning of his Americanization after his major conflict with Gottlieb. “Marta,” he said, “to-morrow we become Americanized, you and I.” (Page 48 Line24) Yet after that, Shadrach did not change his dressing as his two children. When Miriam came to visit his father-in-law, she looked in surprise at the venerable figure that stood before her, “a picture of a patriarch from the Pentateuch, with a long, straggling beard, and ringlets of hair falling over the ears, and clad in the long gabardine of the Russian Ghettos.” (Page 51 Line2-6) From this passage, we can see that Shadrach maintained his Russian Jewish dressin. Then what is different?
Instead of showing no interest towards the shop Abel and Gottlieb opened, Shadrach took the business back into his own hands after he decided to get Americanized. He fired the impolite clerk in the shop and made Abel and Gottlieb work longer hours. He worked earnestly and used his money-making spirit to make insightful decisions for the shop. He led the shop towards the kind of prosperity beyond his two sons’ imagination. Shadrach’s Americanization embraced the idea of American dream. He got Americanized through getting a successful business. He won the acceptance of the American society through showing his business ability and wit.
“As his sons began to perceive that all these business men whom, in former days, they had looked upon with feelings akin to reverence, seemed to show to their father an amount of deference and respect which they had never evinced towards the sons, their admiration for their father increased.” (Page 50 Line18-21) Abel and Gottlieb spent five years trying to be respected members of the society. When they saw that all their efforts were not as half effective as their father’s Americanization, the prejudice and conflicts within the household were naturally solved. Had Shadrach only insisted on preserving the old way, he would not have regained his sons’ respect. Had Shadrach not got the deference from the society, his sons would not see the flaw in their understanding of Americanization. This is why I said in Shadrach’s case, Americanization play a more important role than maintaining old practice.
Throughout the story, we may vividly see the struggling and conflicts going on in this newly-immigrated household. Through the gradual changes in Abel and Gottlieb’s attitudes towards their father, we explore the true meaningful way of Americanization. We are reminded that superficial things might disguise one’s difference, yet respect can only be gained through wit and spirit. In today’s society, the population of immigration is still very large. The experience of Shadrach Cohen and his family members is a good inspiration for us.
