Homeward Bound by Elaine Tyler - 1531 Words

Through my understanding of the book, Homeward Bound by Elaine Tyler May explores two traditional depictions of the 1950s, namely suburban domesticity and anticommunism. She intertwines both historical events into a captivating argument. Throughout the book, May aims to discover why â€Å"Post-war Americans accepted parenting as well as marriage with so much zeal† unlike their own parents and children. Her findings are that the â€Å"cold war ideology and domestic revival† were somewhat linked together. She saw â€Å"domestic containment† as an outgrowth of frights and desires that bloomed after the war. However, psychotherapeutic services were as much a boom then as now, and helped offer â€Å"private and personal solutions to social problems.† May reflects her views on the origin of domestic containment, and how it affected the lives of people who tried to live by it. First, in order to critically analyze May’s thoughts, one most first consider the foundation on which the book is built. Homeward Bound does a great job of initiating connections between Cold War politics and the American families that stood during the 1940s and 1950s. Throughout the book, subjects that May explore are feminism, consumerism, Cold War, suburbia and gender. After its release in 1988, the book altered what Americans believed the Cold war to be. The author vividly describes family life during the post-war era by giving detailed accounts of early marriages, baby booms, high values of premarital virtueShow MoreRelatedEssay about Elaine Tyler May’s Homeward Bound1175 Words   |  5 PagesElaine Tyler May’s Homeward Bound   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Elaine Tyler Mays Homeward Bound weaves two traditional narratives of the fifties -- suburban domesticity and rampant anticommunism -- into one compelling historical argument. Aiming to ascertain why, unlike both their parents and children, postwar Americans turned to marriage and parenthood with such enthusiasm and commitment, May discovers that cold war ideology and the domestic revival [were] two sides of the same coin: postwar Americans intense needRead MoreA Social Examination On The Cold War969 Words   |  4 PagesBrittany O’Neill May Paper Elaine Tyler takes a social examination on the war against communism in the book, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. May portrays the idea that the nuclear family structure was a way to amplify resistance against communism. The exterior threat of communism during the postwar and the Cold War era caused for interrelationships within marriages to become a longer and more stable environment. Compared to the previous book we read as a class, May takesRead MoreThe Coronet Instructional Film That I Would Be Analyzing Is The Short Film, Nature Of Sound1404 Words   |  6 Pagesbased of the era, what was life with the technology in that time. During this newly released video, Nature of Sound, and being used for the many upcoming years, it was the time of the Cold War era. According to a segment in the book Homeward Bound by Elaine Tyler May, â€Å"science was changing the world.† During this time, America was transitioning from radio to television. Radio was the primary broadcast that presented news, voice over shows, genre of many stories that American families would hearRead MoreThe Cold War Era During World War II1349 Words   |  6 Pagesunlike any Americans had seen before. After defeating Germany and its allies in the war, the United States faced a change on the home front: young Americans rushed into marriage and parenthood in unprecedented numbers. In Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era, Elaine Tyler May describes these changes from the end of the war through the early 1960s. The author makes a compelling range of arguments about the changes that affected Americans during this period. Mainly, May argues that theRead MoreAn Analysis Of Elaine Tyler s Connection Between Foreign And Political Policy And The Dynamics Of American Families During The Post1173 Words   |  5 PagesIn Homeward Bound, Elaine Tyler May portrays the connection between foreign and political policy and the dynamics of American families during the post war and Cold War eras through the idea of containment. Her main argument is that domestic containment was bred from political containment. She ties together the widespread anticommunist views of the years following World War II with the ideal of American suburban domesticity to illustrate this argument. According to May, domestic containment wasRead More Todays Consumer Culture: Bought Self-worth and Artificial Happiness1137 Words   |  5 Pagesgoods have weakened society and compromised our position as a close community.    Works Cited Gruen, V., and Smith, L. (2005), Shopping Towns, U.SA.: The Planning of Shopping Centers. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. Basic Books, 2008. Miller, Daniel. Capitalism: An Ethnographic Approach. Berg, Oxford. 1997. Miller, Daniel. A Theory of Shopping. Polity Press, Oxford, 1998.      Read More Resolving Conflicts in Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun1345 Words   |  6 PagesThe Sun.   Conneticut.  Ã‚   Greenwood Press,1998.    Draper, James P. Black Literature Criticisms. Detroit: Gale Research Incorporated, 1992.    Hansberry, Lorraine.   A Raisin in the Sun.   New York:   Signet, 1988.    May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound. New York. Basic Books, 1988.    Patterson, James T.   Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974. New York. Oxford University Press,1996.    Wilkerson, Margaret B. The Sighted Eyes and Feeling Heart of Lorraine HansberryRead More Resolving Conflict and Overcoming Obstacles in Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun1344 Words   |  6 PagesUnderstanding A Raisin In The Sun.   Conneticut.  Ã‚   Greenwood Press,1998. Draper, James P. Black Literature Criticisms. Detroit: Gale Research Incorporated, 1992. Hansberry, Lorraine.   A Raisin in the Sun.   New York:   Signet, 1988. May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound. New York. Basic Books, 1988. Patterson, James T.   Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974. New York. Oxford University Press,1996. Wilkerson, Margaret B. The Sighted Eyes and Feeling Heart of Lorraine Hansberry. BlackRead Moreâ€Å"A Proud-Acting Bunch†: The Issues of Suburbanization and Class Stratification in â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† 1462 Words   |  6 Pagesof the Youngers characterizes the class conflict felt by many African Americans during the suburban migration. Works Cited Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Print. May, Elaine Tyler. â€Å"Containment at Home: Cold War, Warm Hearth.† Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. By May. New York: BasicBooks, 1988. 16-36. Print. Wiese, Andrew. â€Å"‘The House I Live In’: Race, Class, and African American Suburban Dreams in the Postwar United StatesRead MoreEssay about A Raisin in the Sun1559 Words   |  7 PagesCarter, Steven R. â€Å"Hansberry, Lorraine Vivian.† American National Biography Online. 2000. Oxford UP. Feb 2000. Web. 30 Sep 2011. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Print. May, Elaine Tyler. â€Å"Containment at Home: Cold War, Warm Hearth.† Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. By May. New York: BasicBooks, 1988. 16-36. Print. Nemiroff, Robert. Introduction. A Raisin in the Sun. By Lorraine Hansberry. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. 5-14. Print