Rosa: The Life of an Italian Immigrant is an enjoyable biography of an Italian Immigrant named Rosa Cavalleri. From working in the silk mills at as early as six, to being forced to move to Missouri for her abusive husband, to losing two children, Rosa’s story is one you won’t want to put down. It’s true - I read it all in one day. This book isn’t just a fun read, although I was very entertained. It uses Rosa’s dangerous journey through America - and life in general - to display the message summarized in the last sentence: “That’s what I learned in America: not to be afraid. (254)” America in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s was very risky for young immigrants, with firings and near-death experiences, along with extreme prejudices from nativists.
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The main goal of the retelling of Rosa’s story was to show young women that they should not be afraid. When Rosa was just six years old, she started working in a silk factory, where her boss was extremely scary and uptight. All the young girls were afraid of him, but not Rosa. Rosa wanted to ask him a question one day, but her friend got extremely worried and warned her that “‘he will slap you in the face!’ But [she] did it anyway. [She] ran over and looked up in his face and asked him if he knew.” Rosa wasn’t scared of her likely abusive boss at 7. She was the same age as the modern-day 1st grader, and yet, she could talk to him like he was a good friend. Her mother did not like this, so she sent Rosa to a convent to learn manners. In the convent that Rosa spent much of her childhood in, she supported the orphans in way that the sisters could not, like how when the sisters didn’t allow the girls to drink water after a long day, but when Rosa found some spare water, she “drank until [she] wanted no more...but [she] couldn’t sleep thinking how thirsty the other girls were. (99)” Rosa …show more content…
Once she moved to Chicago to get away from her abusive husband, she found a happy life with her new husband, an old friend from Missouri. One day, her husband bought a horse, but was contemplating buying another one for only a little bit more money. Soon, the horse’s owner came by to collect the extra money for the new horse. Rosa, being the smart woman that she was, told him her husband did not trust her with money. When her husband came home later that day, she asked him why he sent the horse’s owner to get the money instead of coming himself, to which he replied, “‘Why Rosa, I didn’t send nobody. I didn’t go by Guido today. (207)” Rosa was outraged, saying, “And he was a Toscano too.(207)” Money was tight in America, so many people tried to scam money out of others to get by. This was especially a low blow for Rosa and Gionin because the man was Toscano, or from Tuscany, which was Gionin’s home town, showing that no one could trust anyone anymore. This is an accurate representation of what I’ve learned in history class because in our Holt textbook it says, “Once admitted to the country, immigrants faced the challenges of … getting along in daily life. (Holt, 257)” While the book does not explicitly mention scamming to get money, it can be inferred that some sneaky stuff was happening. The scamming could possibly be a reason why all other American citizens hated Italian
The main goal of the retelling of Rosa’s story was to show young women that they should not be afraid. When Rosa was just six years old, she started working in a silk factory, where her boss was extremely scary and uptight. All the young girls were afraid of him, but not Rosa. Rosa wanted to ask him a question one day, but her friend got extremely worried and warned her that “‘he will slap you in the face!’ But [she] did it anyway. [She] ran over and looked up in his face and asked him if he knew.” Rosa wasn’t scared of her likely abusive boss at 7. She was the same age as the modern-day 1st grader, and yet, she could talk to him like he was a good friend. Her mother did not like this, so she sent Rosa to a convent to learn manners. In the convent that Rosa spent much of her childhood in, she supported the orphans in way that the sisters could not, like how when the sisters didn’t allow the girls to drink water after a long day, but when Rosa found some spare water, she “drank until [she] wanted no more...but [she] couldn’t sleep thinking how thirsty the other girls were. (99)” Rosa …show more content…
Once she moved to Chicago to get away from her abusive husband, she found a happy life with her new husband, an old friend from Missouri. One day, her husband bought a horse, but was contemplating buying another one for only a little bit more money. Soon, the horse’s owner came by to collect the extra money for the new horse. Rosa, being the smart woman that she was, told him her husband did not trust her with money. When her husband came home later that day, she asked him why he sent the horse’s owner to get the money instead of coming himself, to which he replied, “‘Why Rosa, I didn’t send nobody. I didn’t go by Guido today. (207)” Rosa was outraged, saying, “And he was a Toscano too.(207)” Money was tight in America, so many people tried to scam money out of others to get by. This was especially a low blow for Rosa and Gionin because the man was Toscano, or from Tuscany, which was Gionin’s home town, showing that no one could trust anyone anymore. This is an accurate representation of what I’ve learned in history class because in our Holt textbook it says, “Once admitted to the country, immigrants faced the challenges of … getting along in daily life. (Holt, 257)” While the book does not explicitly mention scamming to get money, it can be inferred that some sneaky stuff was happening. The scamming could possibly be a reason why all other American citizens hated Italian