Bread Givers Character Analysis

Sara

Sara Smolinsky, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, lives with her family in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the early 1900s. As the novel’s narrator, Sara chronicles her family’s struggles and poverty as they try to… read analysis of Sara

Father/Reb Smolinsky

Father, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, is a learned scholar of the Holy Torah. Members of his immigrant community—including his own family—deeply admire and respect him for his unparalleled religious wisdom. Sara comes to resent how… read analysis of Father/Reb Smolinsky

Mother

Mrs. Smolinsky is mother to Sara, Bessie, Mashah, and Fania and wife to Reb Smolinsky. Although Mother and her daughters have great respect for Father’s piety and religious wisdom, they resent… read analysis of Mother

Bessie

Bessie is the eldest Smolinsky sister. Sara describes Bessie as the family’s “burden bearer,” a nod to all the burdens Bessie takes on to support the family, working long hours in a shop and keeping… read analysis of Bessie

Mashah

Mashah is one of Sara’s older sisters. Sara often regards Mashah judgmentally, noting Mashah’s materialism, her selfishness, and her preoccupation with her looks. Mashah works only when she has to and shares none of… read analysis of Mashah

Fania

Fania is one of Sara’s older sisters. She falls in love with Morris Lipkin, a poet, who writes her heartfelt love letter and dedicates his first book of poems to her. Fania and… read analysis of Fania

Zalmon the Fish-Peddler

Zalmon is a fish-peddler who lives near the Smolinsky family. Recently widowed, Zalmon comes to Father (who has recently gone into the matchmaking business) in search of a wife to care for his six children… read analysis of Zalmon the Fish-Peddler

Abe Schmukler

Abe Schmukler is the man in the cloaks-and-suits business from Los Angeles. Father meets Abe when Abe is in New York on business (and to find a wife) and selects him to marry Fania… read analysis of Abe Schmukler

Moe Mirsky

Moe Mirsky is a man Father selects to marry one of his daughters. Mashah, resigned and heartbroken over her and Jacob Novak’s recent breakup, decides to marry Moe to please her father, though… read analysis of Moe Mirsky

Jacob Novak

Jacob Novak, a talented pianist from a wealthy family, is a man whom Mashah initially plans to marry before both her and Jacob’s fathers, in different ways, dismantle the young couple’s romance. Unlike Mashah… read analysis of Jacob Novak

Max Goldstein

Max Goldstein is a wealthy businessman from Los Angeles whom Fania sets Sara up with. Sara isn’t looking for romance just then, hardly having time for much else other than her work and her studies… read analysis of Max Goldstein

Hugo Seelig

Hugo Seelig is the principal of the school where Sara teaches. Although many of Sara’s fellow teachers fail to inspire her the way they did when Sara was a young girl, in Hugo she recognizes… read analysis of Hugo Seelig

Mrs. Feinstein

Mrs. Feinstein is a widow who lives in Sara’s parents’ building. Toward the end of Mother’s life, when Mother is seriously ill and on the verge of death, Mrs. Feinstein starts going out… read analysis of Mrs. Feinstein

Berel Bernstein

Berel Bernstein is a garment cutter at the shop where Bessie works. Toward the beginning of the novel, Berel and Bessie start a romance, and Berel later comes over to tell Father of his intentions… read analysis of Berel Bernstein

Morris Lipkin

Morris Lipkin, a poet, is a man whom Fania falls in love with and initially plans to marry. Although Morris isn’t a wealthy man, he cares deeply for Fania and writes her heartfelt love letters… read analysis of Morris Lipkin

Mr. Edman

Mr. Edman is Sara’s psychology teacher in college. At first his class confuses her, but when she gets a better grasp on psychology, it provides a helpful and enlightening lens through which to understand… read analysis of Mr. Edman

Collector Lady

The collector lady is a woman tasked with collecting rent from residents of the building where the Smolinskys live. She drops by the Smolinskys’ residence and demands payment toward the beginning of the novel. Irritated… read analysis of Collector Lady

Shprintzeh Gittel

Shprintzeh Gittel is a woman who lives in Sara’s neighborhood. An immigrant of Sara’s parents’ generation, Shprintzeh Gittel praises Father’s assault of the collector lady as a heroic defense of the Jewish faith… read analysis of Shprintzeh Gittel

Muhmenkeh

Muhmenkeh is a woman who sells herring in Sara’s neighborhood. A deeply generous woman, Muhmenkeh loans Mother a feather bed to make the Smolinskys’ front room more appealing to potential boarders. She also offers… read analysis of Muhmenkeh

Minor Characters

Shprintzeh Gittel’s Daughter

Shprintzeh Gittel’s daughter is a young woman who lives in Sara’s neighborhood. The daughter, an “Americanized” young woman with more modern views than her mother, clashes with Shprintzeh Gittel when Shprintzeh Gittel praises Father’s violent attack of the collector lady.

Benny

Benny is Zalmon’s youngest son. It’s out of pity for Benny that Bessie ultimately decides to go through with her marriage to Zalmon.

Bread Givers Characters