Clashing Values in a Society: Conflicts within Reb Smolinsky in Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers Values and status are linked together in every society. Status is given to the persons who embody the values of that social construct. The values of the Old Country, Russia, were those of spiritual and religious piousness and learning. Therefore those who studied religion, like Reb Smolinsky, were among those who held the highest status. However, in America, these values …showed first 75 words of 2988 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2988 total…Smolinsky’s clashing values negatively affected him, and he fails to achieve on his own his acclimation of status, his ideals consequently help his daughter to achieve that which he was unable to. The novel ends with Sara Smolinsky, who has succeeded in balancing her value for knowledge with the need to acquire wealth in America, as a settled individual and she picks up her Father, now defeated, and helps him continue on his way.