Call it Sleep

It is arguable that the early years of the 20th century were, collectively, a pivotal moment in the history of America. The wave of immigrants from Eastern Europe at that point in time ushered in an era of industrialization and work effort that would eventually form the backbone of the United States as an economically dominant world power. Scores of books and stories have been written to depict the struggles and conflicts endured by these early American people and Call it Sleep, by Henry Roth, is a wonderful example of such a tale. I believe that the aspects of immigrant life depicted in the novel Call it Sleep, which are most important in understanding the lives of immigrants in America during the early 1900’s, are language, labor and industrialization, and the interaction between different ethnic groups.
The main character of the book, David Schearl, is of a Jewish family. His borderline-psychotic father, Albert, left David and his mother and came to America some time ago to...