A Ghetto Wedding vs. The American Scene

City, also known as the Yiddish Quarter. This was the same neighborhood depicted in such stories as “The Rise of David Levinsky”, “Bread Givers“,

“The American Scene” and the movie “Hester Street”. I found that there are several similar themes that flow through these writings, such as the immigrant’s determination to succeed in this new world, the pride with which some upheld their religious beliefs and traditions, and the cost of assimilation. The prevailing theme, however, that I felt was most common to Cahan’s “A Ghetto Wedding” and Henry James’ “The American Scene” is that of poverty.

Between 1880 and 1924, over 20 million Eastern Europeans emigrated

to America with the hopes of escaping political persecution and to pursue a

more prosperous future. What they found upon arrival at Ellis Island was difficult times; a time when the Yiddish Quarter was going through what Cahan describes as “…a long season of enforced idleness and distress” (90). This

was a season that filled the people with a sense of desperation and shame.

Some topics in this essay:
Grand Street, Nathan Goldy, Reb Slominsky’s, Ghetto Wedding”, American Scene”, Reb Slominsky, Quarter Cahan, Eastern Europeans, David Levinsky“, Cahan James, ghetto wedding”, “a ghetto wedding”, “a ghetto, “the rise david, “the american, “the rise, describes “…a, yiddish quarter, rise david, “bread givers”, “the american scene”, cahan describes, american scene”,