As it is commonly regarded darkness symbolizes those things which have negative connotaions. Yezierska uses the notion of darkness to symbolize her feelings of despair, confusion, and the hardships faced by her. On the other hand the image of light is used to symbolize hopes and dreams about her life in America, and the unraveling of her confusion. Yezierska, in using these images, is able to present a clearer picture of the emotions that should be interpreted from the story.

Even from the very beginning of the story Yezierska uses images of light and dark to describe her coming from Russia to America. She describes her hopes for America as "su

The first use of light and dark in describing her coming from Russia to America sets the standard for the feelings that the reader interprets from the symbolism in light and dark. From this point on the idea of light and dark plays a part in the telling of Yezierska's story.

Yezierska seems to keep finding herself in the darkness, but there is always some light that keeps her going and searching for the America that she wants to find. It seems that no light can ever bring her out of the darkness. Her search for her "America" seems to be helpless and all that she does brings her no joy. This gloomy and empty feeling felt by Yezierska, due to her inability to do something that gives her life, gives the sense of darkness that prevails through the story. When she can no longer take the struggle she is in she claims, "All the light was out of my eyes".

nlight burning through my darkness". In this instance she has used light and dark to emphasize her feelings. Sunlight is used to symbolize the hopes and dreams of a better life while darkness is used to illustrate the hopelessness and disparity she felt in Russia. Furthermore, she depicts the people of Russia as "colors that never saw light". In saying this she reemphasizes the hopelessness of Russia and demonstrates her longing to move a better place.

However we see the image of darkness again when she discovers that she would receive no wages. As she is coldly told of this she claims that "it went black for my eyes." A picture of darkness can be seen when imaging what she says. The darkness repr

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Approximate Word count = 1058
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)