hungarian immigrants to canada
To what extent does the novel or memoir you have chosen provide useful insights into the topic mentioned? John Marlyn's 'Under the Ribs of Death' is concerned with the life of Sandor Hunyadi, a young Hungarian living in Canada. The novel follows his life as a young boy, and then as a young man in the years before the Great Depression. Sandor's efforts to find his place within Canadian society are a dominant theme of the novel, as is the problem of poverty. Perhaps the all-encompassing term which would define Sandor's life is struggle. Sandor's home life can be seen in terms of a constant struggle against poverty. Like many other Hungarian immigrants, Sandor's father is a janitor, a low-paid, menial job. Hungarians brought with them few skills fit for the Canadian job market, and were often employed in jobs with low wages, and were highly exploited by the Canadian employers. Sandor himself was shocked and upset when he heard his father being talked down to by his employer, but this type of treatment was common for Hungarian immigrants to Canada, who were subjected to prejudice and hate. Although being shocked by his father's treatment, Sandor is very aware of the prejudice against immigrants. He shows this from an early
Sandor has seen his family struggle against the odds for so long, blaming his father's soft heartedness for their hardships, and so sees wealth as a greater source of happiness than that of company. Marlyn may also have rejected this part of Hungarian life on the basis that it may have been incomprehensible to Canadian readers, or he felt that it served no purpose to the story, preferring to use Onkel Janos, a closer relation to the Hunyadi family. The Hunyadi family is similar to the Canadian family in their desire to help Alex when he is unemployed because of the Depression, and Alex's rejection of their help is not from Hungarian or Canadian values, but a matter of pride. Sandor's name has always caused him problems with the Canadians, and from his encounter with Mrs Crawford when he became Alex Humphrey, to his later decision to become Alex Hunter, he has always felt that his foreign name was a hindrance to his future. What does the boy want with Hungarian?'. Sandor's Anglicisation of his name demonstrates not only the prejudice that many Hungarians experienced; it is also closely linked to the importance of language to immigrants. These establishments could be lucrative since they utilized all the family's spare time labour , and it is a constant source of Sandor's frustration that his father will not charge his boarders. It should be noted that Sandor also speaks German, such as during his negotiations with the Kostanuiks. However, at the same time, we are also only learning about one family, and literature in this way cannot be used to make generalisations either. Although his reasoning in this way of living is understandable, and he seems content with his life, we feel that he is letting down his family and his background by letting this burning desire for wealth come before his family and friends. The Hungarian 'sib' system was doomed to die out as second generation immigrants learned Canadian values and rejected this large extended family. The novel brings a personal edge to the traditional studies of Hungarian Canadian immigrants in the early twentieth century. As well as providing a source of income for Hungarian families, these boarding houses presented the new arrivals with an instant surrogate family and community. These new homes were a great source of pride, a sign of success against the odds.
Common topics in this essay:
Hungarian Canadian,
Sandor Creighton,
River Heights,
Onkel Janos,
Depression Sandor's,
Fraulein Kleinholtz,
Canadians Hungarian,
Alex Hunter,
Janos Sandor's,
Onkel Janos's,
hungarian immigrants,
onkel janos,
social science,
sandor's life,
hunyadi family,
social science literature,
science literature,
canadian values,
eric's house,
canadian society,
hungarian canadian,
marlyn's 'under ribs,
'under ribs death',
immigrants twentieth century,
hungarian canadian immigrants,
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Acceptance Essays
