Essay Draft One

Chenny Qian
May 6, 2007
Draft One

At the turn into the twentieth century, it was hard for Jewish immigrants to survive and establish a reputation in America. In order to escape religious persecution, they fled their familiar ghettos of Russia to the totally strange ghettos of New York only to receive unfriendly disgust and indifferent glances. As a result, many of these Russian Jews decided to be Americanized by wearing and behaving in the American way, some of them even abandoned their own religion and custom. However, others may not. While struggling to earn a living and win local people’s respect, these people still cling to their deep-rooted beliefs and values.

The hero of “The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen” by Bruno Lessing is such an example. As a newly landed Russian Jew, Shadrach Cohen experienced strong cultural shock and intense disagreements on being Americanized with his two sons, Abel and Gottlieb. With great effort, Shadrach Cohen adapted to the American culture and succeeded in his business while sticking to his long-held beliefs and customs, which contrasted greatly with that of his two sons who thoroughly changed to look like Americans but made comparatively less progress. Isn’t it better to retain traditional beliefs and values when living in America as an immigrant? The characters in this story have given us a positive answer.

At the beginning of Shadrach Cohen’s American life, his appearance of a perfect Jewish immigrant contrasted greatly with that of his two sons, who wore flaring clothes just like Americans. Their differences remind me of the recent debate on American cultural identity. While the two sons can be well representatives of the Melting Pot metaphor which indicates that the highest qualities of intellect and physical strength fused into a new race of man in America, Shadrach Cohen is the symbol of the Salad Bowl in which every race can be easily recognizable and is distinctive of its traditional way of living although they mix together in the same country.

From the view point of Melting Pot believers, the two sons believe that Americanization means to look like Americans, so they wear flaring suits and trimmed their beard just as Americans do. They were ashamed of their father’s looking like a newly landed Russian Jew and asked him to change, but Shadrach Cohen insisted on keeping his beard and wearing baglike garment which is a symbol of traditional Jews. Furthermore, Abel and Gottlieb no longer pay attention to the grace after meals because it is not the American way and suggested their father not to do so, which provoked their father who said that “It is wrong to omit the prayer after meals. It is part of your religion. I do not know anything about this America or its customs.”(P: 47) As a matter of fact, the two sons lost their symbol of the descent, melted their personalities into the so-called fashion and thought they were Americanized. On the other hand, however, “after a few months, their father was clinging to the habits and customs of his old life” and “The more they urged him to abandon his ways the more eager he seemed to become to cling to them.” (P: 47) Shadrach Cohen’s love to his country and his faith to the religion present us with an image of a piece of lettuces in a Salad Bowl rather than a drop of molten steel in a Melting Pot. His clinging to his values and customs finally worked wonder. He became much more successful than his two sons.

After taking over his sons’ business, he “became broader-minded, more tolerant, and, above all, more flexible in his tenets.”(P: 50). These elements along with the faculty of adaptability and sense of business led to Shadrach Cohen’s thriving business and “even the sons saw vistas of prosperity beyond their wildest dreams” (P: 50). For Abel and Gottlieb, “Slowly it dawned upon them that in the mercantile realm they were as children compared with their father.” (P：49) And as they “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 toward the sons, their admiration for their father increased.” (P: 50) By reading this, I cannot help admiring Shadrach Cohen, by whose effort, he established himself as a good businessman worth respecting and, the most important, a model of strict but amiable father merit sons’ love and trust.

Shadrach Cohen succeeded. Not only in business, but also in teaching his two sons and winning back their respect. “And he taught them. And with the lesson they learned many things; learned the value of discipline, learned the beauty of filial reverence, learned the severe joy of the earnest life.” (P: 50) It was Shadrach Cohen’s power of model and great love of father that influenced his sons to retain their culture and religion. When we see the last sentence of the story that Gottlieb responded to his father’s prayer that “Blessed be He!”, we can feel strongly the father’s strength and ability.

Moreover, Shadrach Cohen’s success spread across the realm of business and generation gap, it also wins American girl’s admiration. When Gottlieb’s girl-friend came to their home and was moved by “a pair of grey eyes bent keenly upon her ---eyes of shrewdness, but soft and tender as a woman’s---the eyes of a strong man with a kind heart.” (P: 51) and impulsively ran toward Shadrach Cohen to ask his blessing, we have good reason to believe that Shadrach Cohen’s being who he is overweight his change, and his retaining traditional beliefs and values made him a unique and confident man the virtue of whom played an important role in his being successful.

Just as the author says, “And yet it was the same Shadrach Cohen” (P: 50) He still wears “a long, straggling beard, and ringlets of hair falling over the ears, and clad in the long gabardine of the Russian Ghettos”. In addition, he still insisted upon a strict observance of every tenet of his religion, upon which point he was stern and unyielding. Isn’t he a good example of being a piece of lettuces in a Salad Bowl?

Shadrach Cohen’s story impresses me a lot and taught me a lot. What role to play when living in America as an immigrant? I think he has answered the question clearly. Be yourself, retaining traditional beliefs and values while adapting to the new environment confidently and smartly. Shadrach Cohen’s so-called Americanization tells us that being Americanized does not mean to yield to American culture, or to melt your own belief into vapor just like the two sons, but mean to compromise a little, to adapt to the liberty and democracy, to become broader-minded and more flexible in your tenets. And it will work wonder!

Some people may argue that “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” strategy, or the Melting Pot strategy, may be more effective because it is more friendly and directly, but look at Abel and Gottlieb. Their achievements seem to be in shadow compared with that of their father’s. As is mentioned in the story, Americans are more liberal and democratic, I believe they prefer uniqueness and independent personalities. Sometimes distance can produce beauty. Shadrach Cohen’s insisting on being who he is also shows a kind of respect towards both American and traditional culture. To respect, not to yield; to compromise, not to give up is a lesson Shadrach Cohen teaches us. Sometimes we will be foreigners in America and if we want to be successful, or at least, to be respectable, we should remember to retain our own traditional beliefs and values and earn our life by our wisdom and multicultural background.