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

María de los Dolores Vargas Oliva
El sueño americano: Una ilusión inalcanzable para la mujer judía americana
sobre su sensibilidad el ambiente enrarecido de la casa, que nos recuerda al hogar
de los Smolinsky en Bread Givers:
Both mother and daughter had left a bad taste in my mouth, and I made
up my mind not to take the job. But I had accepted advance payment for
my next visit. I decided that it would be my last. However, the following
Wednesday afternoon, when I walked in, Sara Rosalsky was so overjoyed
to see me that my resolution faltered. 10
Tampoco es suficiente para contrarrestar la necesidad de libertad de la
escritora, ni, naturalmente, el trauma del reencuentro con el pasado inmigrante que
simbolizan Rosalsky y su mundo. Aceptar mudarse a la casa de esta mujer
significaría para la narradora volver a enfrentarse a sus fantasmas: los seres
queridos, cuya compañía había abandonado para procurar formar parte del sueño
americano, que por cierto, nunca encontró, tal y como indica este párrafo:
I´d wake up in the middle of the night and, in a sudden burst of clarity,
hear Sarah Rosalsky´s voice: 'Take a good look at yourself!' As in a
dream I saw that Sara Rosalsky was myself, the shadow I had left behind
me, the shadow of father, mother, brothers and sisters - the relationships I
had uprooted in my search for the life I had never found. 11
A pesar de todo, la escritora decide acompañar a Rosalsky en su fin al
comprender que su mera presencia puede aliviar el profundo sentimiento de
soledad, desamor, vacío y miedo a la muerte:
The door was partly open when I got there. She was in bed, propped on
pillows. Her face was gray; sweat gathered in the deep furrows of her
forehead. She looked uprooted in the alien hotel room. A terrible sadness
was in her eyes. It came from long ago. The unloved, unwanted child
persisted to the end - naked, alone, facing death. 12
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