Read the story \"The Son From America\" (see below) and answer ONE of the follow
ID: 110023 • Letter: R
Question
Read the story "The Son From America" (see below) and answer ONE of the following questions. Your paper should be at least 500 words long and be supported by at least one outside source documented using MLA (See Blackboard and Rules for Writers) What does the story reveal about a clash of values? How has the son changed from living in America? What does this reveal about the immigrant experience? What does the son mean when he tells his mother that she is already "wealthy"? What is Singer telling us about what it means to be rich or happy? Is he questioning the American Dream? The village of Lentshin was tiny. It was surrounded by little huts with thatched roofs or shingles green with moss. The chimneys looked like pots. Between the huts there were fields, where the owners planted vegetables or pastured their goats. In the smallest of these huts lived old Berl, a man in his eighties and his wife Berlcha. He was short, broad-shouldered and had a small white beard. In summer and winter he wore a sheepskin hat, a padded cotton jacket and stout boots. He had half an acre of field, a cow, a goat and chickens. The couple had a son, Samuel, who had gone to America forty years ago. It was said in Lentshin that he became a millionaire there. Every month, the Lentshin letterExplanation / Answer
What does the story reveal about a clash of values?
"The Son from America" is a short story written by Isaac Bashevis Singer. The story starts like this:
"The village of Lentshin was tiny. It was surrounded by little huts with thatchad roofs. Between the huts there were fields, where the owners planted vegetables or pastured their goats."
For these lines, and from the whole story, a simple and contentented life is adorned as very precious and rich. This has been clearly understood by Berl's son Samuel.
Berl and his wife Berlcha are living a life where Nature gives them everything they need. They are not even wiling to buy anything beyond their minimum, basic need and this is explained in the following lines:
"The more prosperous villagers had kerosene lamps, but Berl and his wife did not believe in new gadgets. Only for the Sabbath would Berlcha buy candles at the store.
The foowing conversation clearly explaind that Samuel's parents are the richest people in terms of contentment and desirelessness:
The son asked one question after the other, but Berl's answer was always the same: They had
everything. The garden, the cow, the goat, the chickens provided them with all they needed. The son
said, "If thieves knew about this, your lives wouldn't be safe."
"There are no thieves here."
"What will happen to the money?"
"You take it."
At the end of the story, Samuel understands the TRUE MEANING of life: the true meaning of life only lies in a simple life that is lived with the Nature's guidelines and along the lines of divine laws. This is explained in the climax of this beautiful spiritual story:
In the twilight Samuel put his hand into his jacket pocket and touched his checkbook, his letters of
credit. He had come here with big plans. He had a suitcase filled with presents for his parents. He
wanted to help the village. He brought not only his own money but funds from the Lentshin Society
in New York. But this village needed nothing. From the synagogue one could hear people chanting.
The cricket, silent all day, started again its chirping. Berlcha began to sway and utter holy rhymes
inherited from mothers and grandmothers.
Thus, this story reveals about the clash of values between artificial American life and a simple and natural life that is lived along the laws of the divine.
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