Split at the Roots

In Adrienne Rich’s essay “Split at the Root: An Essay on Jewish Identity,” she writes about her experiences growing up in a predominately gentile society as a half-Jewish, half-Gentile person. She illustrates the ideas that there are clusters of people in the world that are forced to camouflage their true identity for the slightest chance of being accepted into society. She engages in informing the reader about different transformations that some undergo to suppress who they really are, through faith, race, and social responsibilities, and also about the harms and persecutions these people could possibly endure should they ignore their heritage. I was surprised at the number of similarities between the life she describes and my own.
In the beginning of Rich’s essay, she speaks of her adolescent years. She informs her readers that she was from a southern heritage, and then proceeds to write, “‘Common’ white people might speak of ‘niggers’; we were taught never to use that word; we said ‘Negroes’” (Rich 642). This statement reminds me so much of my home. As a child I lived in Alabama where black people were known as ‘niggers’, but to be politically correct we were forced to use a label that wouldn’t hurt their feelings as much. ‘Negroes’ was the label given to those types of people, although I really don’t think there was that much of a difference. Another way our lives mirror each other is through our family’s histories. In her essay, Rich speaks of her father’s background and also about her grandfather, stating, “My grandfather had had a shoe store in Birmingham, Al,” (Rich 641). This information about her family’s history allows me to relate to Rich in ways I never would have imagined. My grandfather also, like Rich’s, worked hard to provide for his family, and to be proud of what he had. Growing up I was always taught, “If a task is once begun, never leave it ‘til it’s done. Be the labor, great or small, do it well or not at all.” Unlike Rich’s shoe store, my family survived by owning and running a cotton/cattle farm. Our farm enabled us to remain alive throughout the depression and grow into what is now one of the most abundant farms in south Alabama. Both Rich and I had learned the value of hard work by an early age.

 In school, Rich tells us that she met some friends which were considered to be a “dangerous crowd” by her mother, who felt that while being a fascinating group of people, her friends would be effectively dragging her into society’s unruly classification for Jews. These individuals were accepted in society and well liked by others. This was the group that was the standard and ‘cool’. I myself also had a school experience, which relates extremely close to the one Rich describes. My freshman year in high school, my mom decided to enroll me into a Christian high school, Alabama Christian Academy, in hopes of protecting me from the harsh realities of public high schools. My freshman and sophomore years sailed by without a hitch, but as junior year rolled around and football season kicked off, my mom heard what she never could have imagined. During one of my brother’s high school football games, my mom was walking to the concession stands when she passed a group of people that I happened to be standing with, and overheard one young girl proposing that we smoke some marijuana. Without even time to refuse the girl’s offer, my mom snatched me by the arm, led me to the car, and before Monday morning I found myself sitting in the used broken desk of a public school student. My mom did what she thought was the best for her child, in keeping me from associating myself with the wrong type of people. In conclusion, Rich and I grew up in similar households, with moms that in the end had the final decision on with whom we were allowed to associate. Rich feels that throughout this façade that has become her life she has effectively betrayed her father, the Jewish doctor, by disguising her Jewish ancestry. Her perspective, an assembly of what was perceived as less educated whites from middle to low class social standing as the “common” people. Radcliffe which resides in Cambridge Massachusetts was thought, by Rich, to be set in the more intellectually based North, but still she explains that some of the girls that were her classmates would actually go to the extreme of changing their physical image to disguise themselves as normal. These so-called “fixed” girls would have their hair straightened, change their names, and/or even get their noses fixed, all so they wouldn’t possess what was considered to be a “Jewish look” (Rich 645). Yet, even as Rich refers to herself as part of this “we,” she goes on to explain her actual opinions and faith, and how she is forced to portray herself under the disguise of a gentile woman. Although Rich complains of the hypocrisy of whether to ‘be’ a Jew or not, she ultimately decides to hide under the false pretences of the gentile woman. What Rich chose to do was not too far fetched from what young women do today. Most young girls, myself included, do not want to be shunned by society; they want to belong. Giving up ones individuality and following the lemmings off the cliff is preferred to being a friendless outcast. Whether it’s as simple a changing your hair color or to the point of body modifications, some way or another everyone will decide to live under a false pretense in order to be accepted. In the end, Rich and I ultimately come from two completely different worlds. However, despite the difference in our situation, the principals remain the same. We both share a southern heritage, a hard working family, a mother who only wants the best for her daughter and the desire to be accepted.