This week we have been asked to review two seperate essays focused on the 1950's and the role of the family in that time period. As I wrote in my previous post for last week, history fascinates me and I love to think about what has happen in order for life to exist as I know it. The essays Looking for Work by Gary Soto and What We Really Miss About the 1950's by Stephanie Coontz gave great insight to the "everyday life" of Americans in the 1950's.
Of the two essays I read, Looking for Work was the msot interesting. By including references to the media and using unformal, common language, Gary Soto allows the story to connect well with the audience. Many Americans can relate to drinking "Kool-Aid" and the desire to have money of their own. Ultimately I think that the message one can recieve from Gary Soto's writing is that culture and environment do influence our way of thinking and acting whether for good or bad. For example, when the teacher in this story refers to some children in her class "differently", these students begin to think that they are different and not in a positive way. Because of how they were treated as children, they may have lower ambitions or goals. Although there were many good morals promoted by people in the 1950's there were some actions that were completely wrong. The shining point in this story however was the determination expressed by Gary as a young boy. As children life is so full of opportunity and because Gary decided at a young age to have a great work ethic, and drive he has become a well respected, educated man.
Although I said I enjoyed the first essay better, does not mean that Coontz's more researched based paper did not give me some ideas to ponder. I liked the fact that What We Really Miss About The 1950's held theries that could be proven and backed up with scientific evidence. It is allowed me as a reader to trust the information I was being represented with. The most enphiseed point of this essay was the fact that simplicity is what most American are missing in their lives and the 1950's are a symbol of a less complex time in our history as a people. As the song says "All I want to do, is have some fun." Life is built around this idea that everything we do is to allow us to have more joy in our life. We go to school so we can get a good job, so we can provide for ourselves and our loved ones, so that we can enjoy time together. This was the most interesting part of the essay for me. The fact that in Coontz's mind, the 1950's may not have perfect, but they held an important, sought-after dream for most Americans.
Unitl Thursday at 6:00,
Maddi
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Good job Maddi, I like how you related what we have read to that song. It's true we do just want to have fun, unfortunately working to get that fun is part of the battle but fortunately it's the work that makes the fun more enjoyable. Hopefully though work can be enjoyable too.
ReplyDeleteHi Maddi,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how we all catch something different out of these reading assignments. I didn't really get the impression that the role of the family was the meat of either essay. I felt that the emphasis was really on the role of the television and the impact that had on the family. I find it hard to wrap my head around people feeling progressive about putting their parents into institutions so they could focus on their nuclear family. I wonder if it occurred to them that they were someone's parents and that is the instructions they were really passing on.