The Relationship between Immigrants and Reformers

The link between the immigrants and progressive reformers in the passage I Came a Stranger is very strange.

In the passage Soap and Water, it tells a story that a woman who is confronted with an unequal treat in the America. Because of the uncleanness, she did not get the same chance as the Americans to go to the college and become a teacher. In the passage I Came a Stranger, it also tells a story about a woman who got help from a person from the Chicago Hull House and her name is Jane Addams. With the assistance of this person, Hilda acquired enough confidence to achieve significant success in her life and made a great contribution to the society.

Polacheck is a woman that comes from a Jewish family in Poland. They arrived in Chicago in 1892. At the beginning in the Chicago, she felt very confused about its culture. Moreover, everything and anywhere was full of discrimination and unequal. Moreover, she worked in a garment factory being like a poor worker. Then, she turned to become a member of the Full House. The relationship between the immigrants and the progressive reformers is harmonious. Let’s take the example of Jane Addams. She is the staff in the Hull House. She is very kind-hearted, integrity, and responsible. She engaged in developing the charity works. He thinks that young people should make contributions to the society and pay attention to the important things. The Jewish people always are treated unequally. Addams never condemned to anyone. She was also very modest, and she thought that working for a charity is a very noble thing. At the same time, she helped a lot for the Jewish people and poor people. The relationship between them can be an analogy to be the people in a whole world.

Comparing with the above relationship, the relationship of that in the Yezierska’s short story is very different. The differences due to the different strong backgrounds, the motivation that encourages them to write and the audience they want to get. Hilda lived in the 1892 year, and at that time, the whole world is engaging in the joint work of constructing a peaceful world. So, the people like Addams, college teachers, and constitution members worked very hard to reach the same goal. Moreover, Anisa lives in the almost same period, and the people would like to change the environment of the society. The reformers held the view that Jewish persons who have the bad genetics should not get the same chance as the other American people. These two characters encountered different kinds of people. They all affect these two characters dramatically. Hilda was changed by a very decent person, Addams. Her behaviors have a profound influence on the Hilda. From going to the college and becoming a teacher, Hilda gave her much help. Moreover, finally, she got the opportunity to contact with the more ambitious young man, and she achieved great success in her future. These rich experience have a significant influence on this person. But Anisa was not so lucky. She was very depressed by her college teacher. She did not get help from her because the Dean was annoyed by her appearance. So Anisa tried harder and harder to become a person that she wanted to be. In this process, what he got is discrimination and unequal treatment. So, this is another big difference between the relationship of the immigrations and the reformers.

All in all, the big difference in the relationship between the two people and their reformers is mainly due to the background and the people they met in their life. By analyzing this, we could notice the experience that they encounter.