Essay Draft Two

              The true essence of Americanization

          The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen written by Bruno Lessin writes of the unexpected transformation of cultural and religious values between Cohen, a newly arrived Russian Jew immigrant in New York and his two “Americanized” sons, Abel and Gottlieb who embrace the outward American culture at first, but are touched by his father’s wisdom and ability to adopt to American values and yet remain Jewish in the end. Lessing uncovers the true essence of Americanization by displaying the conflicts resulted from the intersection of cultures, compromises adopted by Shadrach  Cohen and his sons, Abel and Gottlieb, and lastly, the lifetime lessons learned.

        Besides from original existing challenges resulting from differences in terms of moral values, religion and culture between Jews and Americans, Cohen’s tenacious attachment to Jewish tradition and his sons’ disdainfulness toward this attitude, have indeed deepened the gap and resulted in the break out later. Insisting about his Jewish tradition, Cohen is ridiculed by his two son not only of his dressing style of an typical Russian immigrant with loose, baglike garment, grey bear and ringlets that come down over ears; but also certain Jewish tradition, such as going through the grace after meals. Five years of living in America has assimilated them in a great deal into this so called American lifestyle and its society, in which they are proud of, whereas omitting the religious and traditional aspects of their own identity

           Instead of trying to reach a mutual approach, Cohen continues sticking to these tradition without making the least effort of adapting himself to this new society, while his two sons still consider regular grass after each dinner troublesome; having a father dressing Jewish-like shameful and hope he would soon be Americanized

            However, things are not as planned and this family conflict seems to gets worse. “To their chagrin, however, they began to realize, after a few months, that their father was clinging to the habits and customs of his old life with a tenacity that filled them with despair. The more they urged him to abandon his ways the more eager he seemed to become to cling to them” While Abel and Gottlieb held the opinion at the beginning that their father would be voluntary and become more integrated into this society after a period of adaptation, they find his stubborn demanding attitude unchangeable. Without reproach or directly expresses his thoughts, Cohen would remain silent to any remarks made by his sons such as “let us fix you up a bit; learn to speak English; wear your beard shorter and trimmed differently” By not losing his temper, and by eye contacts with Marta’s eyes, a maid he brought from Russia together, but no one knows what truly is on his mind. The quote stands out perfectly here “There is no set rule for the turning of the worm; most worms, however, turn unexpectedly.” The consequence of his two sons’ disdainful attitude to leave out their own practices and to forget their true identity and Cohen’s very tenacious attitude to its own identity in refusing subconsciously to change is the break out or the turning of the worm.

           The worm or Cohen, after all these time of hesitation between his moral standard and struggling whether to give his beloved sons a lifetime lesson, “turned: unexpected eventually. The official break out, resulting from Gottlieb’s refusal to let his girlfriend and father meet immediately due to shameful or blizzard behavior in which Cohen may display to ruin everything, has fastened the determination of Cohen, the worm, to figure out a solution to deal with current problems. By interfering their business which he claims to know nothing of, such as extending working hours adding with better services and attitude in order to prosper the business, by obligating his sons to every tenet of their religion , Cohen becomes stern and unyielding that the implicit obedience and profound respect are demanded of his sons. Nevertheless to their amazement, not only does business begin to prosper where respect is shown to their father from certain clients, from whom these two sons have never experienced, but most essentially, they also come to realize the important function of religion serving as an unique and peaceful consolation to their souls. The two sons express their increasing appreciation to religion, the value of discipline, the beauty of filial reverence, and the severe joy of the earnest life. On the other hand, through outer contacts with American clients, Cohen, too, is undergoing some changes of turning into more broader-minded, more tolerance and more flexible in his tenets and finds the idea of liberty, democracy, faculty of adaptability very appealing. Changes brought after the “turn of this worm” appear unexpectedly considerable.

         Through the process of dissatisfaction of attitudes showed at the beginning to the conciliation and assimilating of the distinction of mainly religion and cultures and lastly the precious lessons about life learned, the author shows the reader the true essence of Americanization lies upon its’ spirits and characteristics, such as American dreams, rather than physical assimilation. Adapting to the current environment doesn’t necessarily mean a contemptuous attitude toward the original, just as shown in the case of Cohen. It is the flexibility and the ability to adjust to new environment while maintaining your own cultural virtues that is the true essence of Americanization.