Bread Givers

Sara gets into college and moves to a small town by the campus. Sara is shocked to see people who live in large houses and do not look like they fight for food or struggle to pay rent. She notices the other students are excited to discuss knowledge and education like her. Although Sara tries to talk to some of her classmates, she feels out of place. After classes, Sara gets a job at a laundry. She feels so tired when she gets back to her apartment that she oversleeps and misses her class in the morning. She receives a note that tells her to report to the dean’s office to explain her absence in Physical Education. Sara learns that Physical Education is a mandatory class, so she attends it in the afternoon. Sara sweats so much during the exercises that she asks the instructor if they pay the students for the class. When the teacher tells her it is a class, not a job, Sara gets mad because she has been sweating over work her whole life. The next day, the teacher makes her do hurdles in front of the class, even though Sara cannot do it. The other girls laugh at her, and Sara smashes the hurdle on the ground out of anger. The teacher sends Sara to the dean. Sara explains her problem to the dean, and he understands how strenuous her job is and excuses her from Physical Education.

Sara becomes so lonely that she decides to go to the freshman dance to try to meet friends. At the dance, she realizes she does not have a dress like the other girls, so she sits by herself. One of the chaperones tells a boy to ask her to dance, but Sara feels so humiliated that she leaves. After she leaves, she collapses on the ground in tears, feeling lonely and depressed. She wonders if she will always be alone in life and prays to God to help her.

Sara works hard at her studies, but she fails geometry. She gets angry when she receives a bill to retake the geometry class and goes to talk to the dean. Sara explains that she does not know why she must pay for a class when the teacher did not teach her the material properly. The dean does not understand her, so she scrapes together enough money to take the class over again.

The next term, Sara takes psychology, and she does not understand it until the teacher, Mr. Edman, asks the class to describe a time when anger was so strong that it inhibited their thinking. Suddenly, Sara’s life experiences become clear to her as she thinks about her anger around her father, the time the woman refused to give her meat, or how she felt when Morris Lipkin refused her. She realizes that emotions have gotten in the way of her thinking clearly her whole life and decides to pour herself into psychology. She does so well in the course that Mr. Edman gives her a list of books outside of their required curriculum. Sara stays up late reading them and tells Mr. Edman the next day that she wants to recite to him what she learned. Mr. Edman tells her that he does not have time to talk with her outside of class. Sara is angry, but the next day he asks her how the reading is going and tells her that he wishes he had more time to talk about it. Sara overhears other professors complaining about how they do not earn enough money, and she realizes that she judged Mr. Edman too harshly.

Over the summer, Sara works at a canning factory. While she works, she thinks about Mr. Edman and psychology. She runs into Mr. Edman at the post office, and she tells him about how much she loves psychology. She notices Mr. Edman’s address, and later she decides to walk past where he lives. She sees a “For Rent” sign in the window. Sara rents the room, and Mr. Edman looks surprised when he realizes they will live in the same house. Sara waits for Mr. Edman every morning to walk to college with him. At night, she hears Mr. Edman coughing and brings him warm milk. The next morning, Sara sees Mr. Edman walking in the cold, and she rushes out to tell him that he should not walk in the cold because of his cough. Mr. Edman tells her that he does not want her to fuss over him because it makes him uncomfortable. Sara feels crushed by Mr. Edman’s rejection. Over the next few months, Sara gets over her crush on Mr. Edman and realizes that she knows more about her life experience than most psychology professors. She becomes friends with the dean, who encourages her in her studies.

During her senior year, a newspaper in town offers the seniors a thousand-dollar reward for an essay submission about what the college did for them. Sara thinks about all that she learned, especially given her unique perspective, and submits an essay. On Commencement Day, Sara is nervous about pursuing a career after college. A man announces Sara as the winner of the essay competition. She goes up to the podium and accepts an envelope with a thousand dollars in it.