Who was the narrator of American and I?
As the "Queen of the Ghetto" or "The Immigrant Cinderella," Anzia Yezierska rose to literary fame in 1920 with the release of her first collection of short stories, Hungry Hearts. Despite her instant fame, her career was erratic. By the 1930s, her writing had lost its appeal, but in 1950, when the autobiographical Red Ribbon on a White Horse was published, she experienced a comeback. Yezierska was reintroduced to the English-speaking public by Alice Kessler-Harris when she published The Open Cage: An Anzia Yezierska Collection, nearly thirty years after the artist's passing. One of three autobiographical pieces in the book is "America and I," which first appeared in Children of Loneliness in 1923.
She also anticipates getting her first month's pay so she can get new clothes and dress more like an American. However, the family does not attempt to compensate her. They tell Yezierska that she should be paying them for the opportunities they are providing her with; otherwise, she is worthless; when she asks them for her pay. Yezierska leaves the family right away, broke and disillusioned with any immigrant who has become Americanized.