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America and I | Introduction

Anzia Yezierska, known as the ‘‘Queen of the Ghetto’’ or ‘‘The Immigrant Cinderella,’’ became a literary sensation in 1920 after the publication of her first volume of short stories, Hungry Hearts. Despite this instant celebrity, her career was erratic: her work had fallen out of popular favor by the 1930s, but she had a resurgence in 1950, with publication of the autobiographical Red Ribbon on a White Horse. Almost thirty years after Yezierska’s death, Alice Kessler-Harris reintroduced her to the English- speaking public when she published The Open Cage: An Anzia Yezierska Collection.

‘‘America and I,’’ originally appearing in 1923 in Children of Loneliness, is one of three autobiographical articles in the book. While all of Yezierska’s work takes as its most important theme the immigrant’s creation of her place in America, in ‘‘America and I,’’ she addresses these issues in a more direct manner. Her difficulties are multifold: not only must she learn to communicate with Americans, she must convince them that she has something worthy to say. Yezierska’s experiences also take on a deeper, more universal meaning; in sharing the hard road to fulfillment of her creative goals, Yezierska chronicles the challenges that face all aspiring writers.

America and I Summary

In ‘‘America and I,’’ Yezierska recalls her experiences finding work that expresses her creativity and thus the America of her dreams. She comes to the United States with hopes of building a new life, the kind of life that she and her ancestors were unable to achieve in Russia. She believes that in America, freed from the need to work constantly just to survive, she will have time to voice her creative self-expression.

She soon discovers she is mistaken. Unable to speak English and with no job skills or training, she is forced to work as a maid for an Americanized Russian family. Although they will not tell her how much she will be paid, she works hard for the family, grateful to have the chance to live with Americans and start to learn English. She also looks forward to receiving her first month’s wages so she can buy new clothes and look like an American herself. The family, however, makes no move to pay her. When Yezierska asks them for her wages, they tell her that she should be paying them for the opportunities they are giving her; without knowing English, she is worthless. Yezierska leaves the family immediately, without a penny and having lost her trust for any... » Complete America and I Summary