Postwar Essays - American Culture, Suburb, , Term Papers

Postwar In the 1950s the number of people living in the suburbs came to actually equal the number of people living in cities. This wave of people was due mainly to the availability of affordable housing; which allowed middle-class Americans to move to an area previously inhabited only by the wealthy. The houses and neighborhoods built in mass numbers on assembly lines came to look identical to each other. As a result of this, a model American life was created. People all around the country began to follow this model, and before they knew it a race to conform had begun. People no longer strove to be different, neither by ethnicity nor religion; they strove to be the same. David Farber, the author of The Age Of Great Dreams, says that while people were intentionally conforming into model Americans, they were forming their own identities as well. Women began to take on new roles as housewives and mothers. They had to adjust to staying home alone all day, and began to take pride in the appearanc e of their homes and families. The men, on the contrary, had to adjust to lives of commuting. They were away from their homes all day and had to drive on highways or take trains just to go to work. In the great move to the suburbs on the quest to conform to what was known as the good life, people had to undergo many changes; this enabled them to develop new identities and ways of life. During the 1950s the gap between white-Americans and African-Americans grew vaster than it had ever been before. The increase in the gap is due mainly to the creation of large suburb towns such as Levittown. By 1960 Levittown had 82,000 whites and no blacks. African Americans were told that they should not bother to apply for housing; the houses were sold strictly to whites. This living situation caused a huge gap to grow between the two races. Prior to the 1950s people of all different cultural backgrounds lived side-by-side in cities; the drastic change damaged race relations forever. The gap between men and women also grew in the postwar era. The men who returned from war were forever changed by the experiences they had there. This, as David Farber explained, gave them something to differentiate themselves from their wives. The women, who had held jobs while the men were away, were told to return to the home. This gave the women something to resent the men for. The 1950s were a difficult time for men and women due to the large gap that had grown between them as a result of the war. The baby boom of the postwar era is a real marvel to society for the simple reason that it has never happened before. Farber states that he is not sure exactly why the baby boom occurred; however, he implies that there were many factors leading to the occurrence of the phenomenon. During the 1950s seventy percent of women were married by the age of 24, and families were having an average of 3.8 children each. There are no records of a baby boom after World War I, nor were there any records of a baby boom after any major European wars. Therefore, the postwar baby boom was due to factors that had nothing to do with the war directly. It was perhaps that America was in a state of extreme prosperity, people had money, houses, back yards and appliances. They then felt it was a good time to settle down and have a large family. When Farber says that people are forming these large families as sort of a haven from a crazy world, he may be correct. The country was so prosperous at the time that people were afraid it wasnt going to last. They, therefore, rushed to achieve their American dream while it was still within their reach. After the war America became without a doubt the most supreme power the world had ever known at the time. We were in a state of extreme prosperity where our economy was soaring. Most families had the money to buy houses, television sets, and sometimes even more than one car.