ROSE COHEN OUT OF THE SHADOW

                                                         

                                                                     Rose Cohen

                                                              Out of the Shadow

 

      Rose Cohen stepped outside the box, or should I say outside of the shadow with this mini summary reflecting on her life events. This story was very descriptive/detailing of her experience with life in Russia throughout her childhood. Rose Cohen looks back on the trials and tribulations of being a Russian girl on the lower East Side. A child having to bear years of hard work, perplexity, settling for less, privation, all leads to dissatisfaction instead of prosperity. Rose's plan was to move to America. This reminds me of multiple modules within the text because many immigrants wanted and/or in fact did move to America for freedom or a better opportunity at life. Rose Cohen came to the United States in 1892 at the age of 12. This was a major encounter with the world outside of her ethnic childhood neighborhood that wasn't of her liking. Rose had to grow up quickly and start working. approximately at the age of 12 or 13 living with her family as a sweatshop worker. She was oh so eager to begin life on her own, with her own responsibilities, but also afraid of the repercussions. Rose's grandmother didn't too much like the fact that she was being independent. On page 109 it states, " Good heavens! child twelve years old -care-for-herself". " But grandmother took the news in a manner that astonished us all". [Cohen 109]. A child shouldn't have to take such responsibility at a young age, but in some situations most people tend to attempt to walk before they even try to crawl. Rose felt like a shadow in her own home, but once she elevated and changed her environment, she was out of the shadow and finally in the real world of new life experiences.

                                            " Time flies over us but leaves its shadow behind."

- Essays on Immigrants

Rose Cohen Out of the shadow

(Russia; 1918)