i INDICE Página Introducción iv Notas x Capítulo I. Anzia Yezierska ...

Si para Anna la educación significaba progreso, para David, de The Rise of
David Levinsky, asistir al City College de Nueva York, simbolizaba el acceso al
mundo material y social norteamericano, como se desprende de sus palabras:
It was a battle not merely a place in which I was to fit myself for the battle
of life, nor merely one in which I was going to acquire knowledge. It was a
symbol of spiritual promotion as well. University-bred people were the real
nobility of the world. A college diploma was a certificate of moral as well
as intelectual aristocracy. 6
No podemos olvidar que la educación, aún siendo una vía deseable hacia las
metas de las heroínas de Yezierska, tiene un coste demasiado elevado. Sin
embargo, Mary Antin parece haber resuelto la dicotomía educación-desarraigo en su
autobiografía, The Promised Land, al comprender que la mujer inmigrante no pude
alcanzar sus metas en solitario:
I was fed on dreams, instructed by means of prophecies, trained to hear
and see mystical things that callous senses could not perceive. Though I
went in the disguise of an outcast, I felt a halo resting on my brow. Sat
upon by brutal enemies, unjustly hated, annihilated a hundred times, I yet
arose and held my head high, sure that I should find my kingdom in the
end, although I had lost my way in exile; for He who had brought my
ancestors safe through a thousand perils was guiding my feet as well.
This is the dream to which I was heir. 7
Efectivamente, Antin parece haber encontrado la solución al conflicto de
identidad que Yezierska intuye, pero esta última no la lleva al terreno práctico. Antin
ilustra este punto doblemente: en primer lugar, salir de la miseria y entrar en el
mundo de la intelectualidad ha de venir acompañado del apoyo de la comunidad:
Solitary success is imperfect success in his eyes. He must take his family
with him as he arises. So when I refused to be adopted by a rich old man,
and clung to my family in the slums, I was only following the rule. 8
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