Clara Lemlich

Clara is the novel’s central character, and the narrative follows her closely as she endures many ways in which her environments squander her desires to help and heal others. The novel begins in 1903 when Clara is 15 and living in a Jewish shtetl with her father, mother, and three brothers Marcus, Nathan, and Benjamin. Clara spends her time assisting her mother run her grocery store and interacting with the abundant nature around her village, but is not permitted to become educated because of the pre-determined gender roles in her culture. Despite these limitations, Clara exhibits a strong desire for self-determination and individualization and teachers herself to read and write. This desire for self-determination endures throughout the entire novel as Clara encounters many forms of oppression and discrimination, fighting back against all of them.

Upon arriving in America, Clara becomes emboldened to fight for her desires because her...