Homeward Bound
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Elaine Tyler May's Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era captures the underlying tensions that belie the portrait of the traditional American family from the '40s to the late '60s. In May's depiction, the family was upheld as a bastion of security and domestic bliss. Men were willing to sacrifice the autonomy and freedom of bachelorhood to assume the responsibility of being the primary breadwinner of a family. Concomitantly, women gave up their pursuits in education and careers to take on the domestic responsibilities of wife and mother (May 23). However, in her book, May highlights the individual tragedies of these nuclear families that appeared to have everything any family could have wanted. The seething discontent of the individuals in these families would ultimately lead to the disintegration of traditional family units (May 201-2). In this paper, May's presentation of her powerful arguments is analyzed. In addition, the shortcomings of the book will also be examined. Through her perceptive overview of the social and historical events from the '30s to the '60s, May illustrates the impact of these developments on the segregation of gender roles and the institution of marriage. She demonstrates convincingly how the media, the government and the society seemingly conspired to promote the mentality that men should advance their careers while women should relegate themselves to a domestic existence. May's examination of the wartime period testifies to the tr
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their husbands (May 72-3).
What gives May's analysis an authentic quality is the description of the lives of the individual couples who took part in the Kelly Longitudinal Survey (KLS). The couples' remarks give a powerful and intimate perspective of the American family. Not only did these couples provide an entertaining break from an academic analysis, their "voices" brought to life an era that no longer existed. Furthermore, these individuals fleshed out and authenticated the academic analysis in a dramatic fashion.
Although the main focus of May's analysis is on the family, she also highlights the oppression of women and men in stereotypical roles. While the popular culture's promotion of the traditional family seemed innocuous, May shows the dark underbelly of this one-sided perspective. During the early '50s, in the reaction against homosexuality and communism, popular culture often blamed mothers for raising their children to become normal individuals. According to the opinions of the experts in the '50s, parents who adhered to their traditional gender roles were able to raise proper children (May 83-5). Therefore, behind the promotion of the traditional family unit was a dark intrusion into the privacy of the individu
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1332
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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