The Fat of the Land by Anzia Yezierska

First published: 1919

Type of plot: Social realism

Time of work: The early 1900's

Locale: New York City

Principal Characters:

• Hanneh Breineh, the protagonist, the mother of six children
• Fanny, her only daughter
• Mrs. Pelz, her friend and neighbor

The Story

In the first section of the story, the narrator introduces two Jewish women who are neighbors in a tenement. Hanneh Breineh, a self-centered and hyperemotional woman, calls out her window to the kind and somewhat philosophical Mrs. Pelz for help. Hanneh's washer-boiler is broken, and she asks to borrow Mrs. Pelz's.

Hanneh engages Mrs. Pelz in a dreary conversation, but as she is doing so, one of her six children falls from his high chair. The mother characteristically overreacts, rushing hysterically to her son, while the more sedate Mrs. Pelz offers up a superstitious solution for avoiding such future occurrences.

Mrs. Pelz also tries to comfort Hanneh with the thought that, although a burden now, six children will eventually provide much more income when they are old enough to work. Then, Hanneh will live off "the fat of the land." Ignoring this prophecy, Hanneh continues to lament the particulars of her awful life. Suddenly realizing, however, that she is behind schedule, Hanneh rushes to the marketplace, returning later only to find one of her children missing. Desperately searching the local streets for her Benny, she is shadowed by a crowd of concerned residents. At the end of this search, while Hanneh is reviving from a fainting spell, a police officer appears with the frightened and tearful Benny. Hanneh's earlier tormented concern quickly turns to anger and resentment. Instead of welcoming her son lovingly, Hanneh tells him to sit down and eat, and while eating to "choke."

In the second section of the story, Mrs. Pelz returns to live in New York City, apparently after some time away. She is on her way to visit the widowed and wealthy Hanneh, who now resides in a brownstone with her daughter, Fanny. The brief absence of the servant on this day allows Hanneh the momentary pleasure of eating in the kitchen. She and Mrs. Pelz do so, in a manner reminiscent of their tenement days.

It is true that she is quite wealthy, Hanneh declares, but she then proclaims through tears how wealth has enslaved her. This once envious woman, now the very object of local envy, secretly longs for her poorer days. Interrupting this poignant moment, the servant returns, and the two former neighbors are forced to end their meal.

The third section of the story begins as all of Hanneh's children gather in the brownstone one day. The conversation centers on Benny and his successful Broadway play and on the family's plans to attend a performance together. Suddenly, however, Hanneh tearfully starts to chide her offspring for not having invited her to go along with them. Fanny, it seems, thought it best to have Hanneh attend on a different night, and because it was her duty to ask Hanneh to accompany them, the mother never received an invitation. According to Fanny, the ill-mannered and uneducated Hanneh would be a social embarrassment. In addition, she would prove detrimental to Fanny's career if the daughter had to introduce her to the influential Mrs. Van Suyden. In further defense of her actions, Fanny accuses her brothers of abandoning Hanneh, while she, the daughter, has had the difficult chore of living with their mother.

As a result of this disclosure and discussion, the children agree among themselves to provide Hanneh with an apartment of her own. This decision makes Hanneh even more unhappy because the new apartment is without a kitchen, that one refuge to which Hanneh could always turn in order to stay busy. The idleness that this creates, along with the humiliation of being stared at in the public dining room, intensifies Hanneh's unhappiness. One day, she finds solace by returning to her old neighborhood to bicker and bargain with the vendors there.

Back at her new apartment building, which has strict regulations concerning food delivery, she defiantly enters the front lobby with her bag of groceries, including a large fish. Confronting there the very staid and proper hallman, Hanneh makes a stand. During the ensuing drama, Fanny enters the lobby with Mrs. Van Suyden. Immediately running to elicit aid from her daughter, Hanneh emotionally explains the situation. Instead of providing support, however, Fanny sides with the hall-man. Dejectedly, Hanneh goes to her room upstairs. Fanny apologizes to the departing Mrs. Van Suyden, who suggests that they meet again at some better time.

Blaming her mother for this lost opportunity, Fanny storms into her mother's apartment to deliver a tirade. An argument erupts, with mother and daughter accusing each other of various past and present abuses. When the fish finally arrives at the door, Hanneh flings it across the room and leaves.

Shortly afterward, at Mrs. Pelz's house, Hanneh seeks consolation and a sense of solidarity from her impoverished friend. Hanneh catalogs the unendurable conditions of her current lifestyle, ending her confession of grief with a request to stay the night with Mrs. Pelz. However, the uncomfortable bed and the vermin combine to drive the former tenement dweller away. She walks back toward her more comfortable apartment with the realization that she can never return to the arduous, simple life. With bitter laughter, she scorns her original enchantment with those magic words, "the fat of the land," and again enters the civilized enslavement of her apartment building.