“What must I say to you” close reading
“There are two kinds if immigrants, I observe. One kind loves everything about america, is happy to throw off the ways of the old country, and thereafter looks back largely with contempt. The other kind dislikes, compares, regrets, awakens to welt and Ischmerz and feels the new life mainly as a loss of the old. Often, the two marry each other.”
This passage subliminally gives an idea and summarization of what relationships there is within this passage.Especially in regards to the religious dynamic between the couples. There is two, the one which Mrs.Cooper (the women who babysits the womans daughter) has with her husband and his religion. That which is later on explained that Mrs.Coopers husband (Mr.Cooper) seems to be pulling away from church and their native country while Mrs.Cooper is still very much attached.The other relationship is vice versa. The women who is having her children taken care of does not necessarily have an attached root to her religion, unlike her husband, who does. The relationship that of which the woman describes mainly fits the description of Mr. & Mrs.Cooper, one that loves everything about America (Mr.Cooper) and the other who dislikes and awakens to welt (Mrs.Cooper). Mr.Cooper “enjoys baseball, his factory job and union card” (Rosen, 208) as well as the opportunity America brought him with now disregard to the religion, contrary to his wife. The husband knows and understand his religion and what the traditions of being jewish is, while his wife does really dwell on the religious and necessarily miss the “old life” of religion. The constant difference amongst the couples is being brought up and discussed in the passage amongst the two women that ultimately end up bonding over their differences.
Prompt: What is the text we have read in this class that has interested and engaged you the most and why? Discuss.
In regards to texts, the one text I have found interesting and engaging is Call it sleep. The reason for me being that I resigned with it so much, and I found a little bit of my immigration story lined up with it. The experiences that David has speak volume and truly is a result of the formula that is his growing up situation. For instance the way that David is so quick to “leave” his religion behind for this new friend, leo that he seeks so much approval from is mainly because he was never taught growing up how to really appreciate and value his religion. Anyone looking from the outside in, that knows a thing or two about religion, knows that its not something that you pick and choose, instead its something you stick with. Another outcome we see is his lack of relationship with his father in the end, this never changed throughout the course of the book because there is always something going on. We speculate that there may be some resentment from the father on david because of the suspicion that he is not his and instead is a product of a relationship his mother had before meeting his father. However it is not really cleared up at the end and instead just leaves us there to wonder. The aspect of having trouble assimilating to new culture and grasping language, is something that is cool and weird to see from an outside perspective. Reading this book I was fully aware of what it felt to go through it, but watching it develop from the outside looking in is a while different feeling. This book has a lot of events, and issues within the family dynamic that truly keeps readers not only interested, but also engaged in the “what could happen next”.
