Timidity In Melanie Crowder's Audacity

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” During the World War II time period, many Russian immigrants were forced from their homes and propelled into a new life. The Lemlich family in the novel, Audacity, by Melanie Crowder, is a prime example of a Russian family going through this hardship. One of the Lemlich’s children, Clara is initially a meek voiceless girl, but she transforms into a brave fearless woman throughout her immigration to America. Clara has stumbled upon many problems on journeying, arriving, and working in America. Therefore, she experiences immense waves of emotion; such as timidity, enragement and finally resolution. Timidity plays a big part in the first portion of the novel, which takes place in Russia, back in the Leimlich’s shtetl. Clara Lemlich seems to be nothing more than a timid young girl working in her family's kosher shop, but she proves to be more than what meets the eye. Clara is full of aspiration and yearns for an education, but she learns to keep these hopes and dreams to herself due to her
She decided to dedicate her life to fight against this inhumanity. Her ambition to be a doctor is put on hold while she strike and fights women’s equality. The long hours of working in the sweatshop are replaced with rallies, strikes, and even a period of time spent in jail. Despite being violently battered by men 3 times her size and then detained, Clara managed to persevere through it all. Clara describes the brutality of the gorillas by saying “‘Stand fast girls! I shout.’ That is all I can get out before I am driven to my knees by a fist on the gut. I am gasping to draw a single breath- I do not even feel the blows to my chin and cheek all I can think is ‘I can not breath’.” (pg.343) Without courageous women to fight for our rights like Clara who knows what our world would be like