Coming to America
- As Prell writes, “the children of Jewish immigrants were committed to creating identities in which their Jewishness, their membership in the middle class, and their Americanness were closely braided together.” Their goals weren't just survival and acculturation, but integration and progression. Particularly for early 20th century Jewish women, finding Jewish husbands and raising Jewish families was interwoven with the pursuit of economic mobility and the "American dream." She navigated conflicting "Old World" and "New World" values and generational conflict with her parents. Jewish women were portrayed in literature, film, and song as mediating excess and success - they were a symbol of Americanization gone awry and a manifestation of anxiety about losing traditional Jewish identities. She was vilified for lacking ambition and autonomy, but vilified more for turning her back on her community.