The Imported Bridegroom

Sing Ruby Siu

English 48B
January 29, 2009
Journal #7 Abraham Cahan

QUOTE:
“He felt as though he had never been away from the place, and were tired to death of it, and at the same time his heart was contracted with homesickness for America” (775).

SUMMARY:
In the short story “The Imported Bridegroom”, the Jewish businessman, Asriel Stroon, depicted his conflicts when he arrived at a synagogue of his birth place. After establishing his roots in America, he and his daughter ceased to abide by the strict rules of being orthodox Jews and gradually adopted the Gentile way of living. However, deep in Asriel’s heart, he felt a lingering guilt of betraying his tradition, so he set off a trip to visit his birth town for several reasons: to choose a male of the law and to experience his long-forgotten old country. In the first place, he was totally overwhelmed by the dearly beauty of his town and praise the purity of the place. However, once he had a closer examination, he realized the inferiority of the place and he found out that parts of his heart were firmly attached to America.

RESPONSE:

Abraham Cahan was one of the oppressed socialist teachers who escaped to United States around 1882. With a strong basis in Jewish studies and literature, he became a central writer who showed excellence in depicting the painful and complicated process of “Americanization”. Since the day he arrived in New York, he “transfered his commitment to socialism to his new country” by devoting a considerable amount of effort in analyzing the process of assimilation of the Jews (Wikipedia). His study and own experience as a Jew in America enhanced his understanding of Americanization of the immigrants. In his major publications, he mainly conveyed the transitional process Jewish immigrants were going through at his time. The character, Asriel Stroon, represents a marginal Conservative Jew who had occasionally conformed. However, his daughter, Flora Stroon, represents a new age Jewish woman who belongs to Reform or Reconstructionist Jewish population.

I find the storyline about Asriel incurs more resonances. As an old man who yearned for the returning to his own country, Asriel frequently sought for representations of his own country in his heart. When he really had a chance to go back, he entered his native land with excitement, but he was soon turned down. Having stayed in America for nearly thirty-five years, Asriel’s connection to his country was unconsciously bleached by Americanization and he was well adapted to his life in America by all means. However, Asriel still felt painful when he thought of himself as a convert Jew, who was neither a 100% Jew nor an American. So, he imagined a fantasized longing for his hometown, and wished his visit will remove his sins and refreshed his love toward his homeland. However, after a short stay, he brutally realized that his attachment to America has jeopardized his love toward his traditional law and people. At the end, he found no way to wash his sins, nor to declare his identity to Pravly or America.