Essay On The 1955 Good Housewife's Guide

When analyzing the 1950s, it is clear that racial segregation, strict sexual mores, oppressive women’s rights, and high materialism were considered normal. Interracial marriage and divorces were an abomination in this time period and there was a major issue with racism in the 50s. Additionally, women were held to a different standard than men, they were to maintain the home and rear children, it was thought to be their only purpose. Furthermore, homosexuality was believed to be a sickness that could be cured, it was forbidden by society to be a homosexual. The 1960s counter-culture was all about rallying against these. This paper argues that despite the values of the 1950’s that the counterculture sought to reject, issues under the surface

would help pave the way for the 1960’s counterculture.
The 1955 Good Housewife’s Guide is one great example of what the 50s was about.

The guide was oppressive of women, and when an individual reads this in a modern period, it can be considered shocking and scary. The guide listed down rules that wives need to follow to be considered “good.” Notably, women were tasked to know their place, at home and doing everything to keep it in tip-top shape for the husband. The first things their husbands must see when they reached home were good food, a good-looking wife, and a good-looking home. They were tasked to look good for their husbands all the time and remember that what transpired during the day for their husband at work was much more important than theirs. Back in the 50s, this was probably not something women found oppressive, however, the youth in the 60s could no longer accept these values, among many other things. Although, these standards for women were not considered oppressive of women, it was a matter that was boiling at the surface. This document elucidates the values of women in the 1950’s and how they are to behave according to society. This standard could not be tolerated anymore by the youth, therefore, it assisted in leading to the 1960’s counterculture by assisting the youth in shaping new values and

standards.
Apart from this guide, when one wants to have a clear idea of what it was like in the 1950s, “Far From Heaven” is a good movie to generate insights. It showed that in this era, women were perceived as meant to stay home and complete housework and cooking. This film also showed how homosexuality is perceived; it is a “problem” and referred to as despicable. Men often talked about “licking the problem” and refer to it as a sickness that could be cured. The 60s was also a time when racism was rampant, but not necessarily considered wrong.
Set in 1957, the film focuses on the Whitaker family, residing in suburban Connecticut. The protagonist, Cathy Whitaker is the epitome of a 1950s wife and mother while her family is the flawless American family that people at the time aspired to. She is a proud mom as well as a loving wife whose days were spent mainly on making her husband and son's lives as pleasant as possible. The house is kept immaculate, the kids were raised to be polite, and the husband, Frank Whitaker has a good job at a local advertising company. However, the movie revealed that all of these are only on the surface. The first sign that all of these are just appearance comes in he form of Frank’s increasing “workaholism" he was working long hours under the guise of wanting to move up in the company. Cathy, being the perfect wife, is always ready to smooth things over in the household and make apologies and excuses on Frank’s behalf. On the film, it can be seen how wives were completely submissive to their husbands. In a scene, women can be seen discussing at lunch how much they have sex with their husbands as if they are discussing a duty.
However, Cathy realized that the perfect life she had been living was actually a lie when she caught her husband making out with another man in the office. It was revealed that Frank is really a homosexual and has been living a double life for years. The movie also highlighted that this was not a spur-of-the-moment decision for Frank, but a product of him is spending some time exploring the gay scene in Connecticut as discreetly as possible.
While Cathy was distraught, she did not react like how a woman scorned would react these days. Instead, as is the prevailing attitude of the time, she viewed Frank’s homosexuality as a disease. She asked him to visit a doctor and encouraged him to undergo conversion therapy. She still tried to keep the family together, which meant more smiling and more focus on being the perfect mother based on 1950s standards. Frank, had to struggle with keeping his secret and not pursuing his happiness, resulting in a drinking problem.
Apart from bigotry and sexism, the movie showed how racism was prevalent at the time. While Cathy could not talk to anyone about her marital problems, even to her best friend, she found it easy to do with an African-American widower, Raymond Deagan. He also tends to Whitaker’s garden. It was apparent that Deagan, working for a white family, has already learned how important it is to be on his best behavior all the time. When Cathy confided in him, their friendship is taken to the next level, until a romance is forged. When her closeness with Deagan was observed, she receives many dirty looks and criticisms from her friends and neighbors. It was apparent that African Americans were still treated as second-class citizens and were to be separated from white individuals. African Americans were supposed to know their place and not associate themselves with white people.
Ironically, when Frank realized that Cathy was having fun with an African-American, and he was trying to keep his own affairs a secret, he beat Cathy, and their relationship ended. Instead of being free, Cathy remains secretive of her relationship with Deagan because she wants her divorce to be finalized first. Finally, when it was finalized, they still did not end up together because Deagan realized that they could not be together nor seen together, as society dictates. It became apparent through the film that even though the 1950s sounds like a perfect and euphoric era because it was a prosperous time, it was also a decade operating under a set of cruel and unjust societal rules and expectations. All of these rules and expectations in the 50s were not going to be tolerated any longer by college aged adults. This led to protests and movements in the 1960’s, instead these adults chose to stand for what they thought were right and move against what had been previously accepted by society.
The underlying issues in the 50s, traditionally hidden and swept under the rug, burst and led to the counterculture. One instrumental generation behind this is the beat generation, a literary movement established by a group of authors whose main works were quite influential in the post-World War II era. Their work centered on the rejection of narrative values, the call for spiritual quest and exploration of different religions. The generation was about the rejection of high materialism, encouraging of sexual liberation, and many more factors that the 1950s shunned. The Howl poem by Allen Ginsberg was a prime example of the works associated with the Beat generation. The author wrote Howl to express the pent-up frustration of a generation silenced by the dominant American culture at the time. Through the poem, he expressed that his generation has a well of artistic energy being oppressed because conformity was highly valued, more so than artistic license and opportunity. The poem was entitled “Howl” to show how artists of the Beat generation were akin animals, instinctively wild, but not given enough opportunity to express this wildness. Like animals, they are only allowed at night to experience literature and jazz, but underground. Like animals, the Beat generation was not accepted and embraced by the so-called cultured members of the society. Lastly, the poem “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg substantiated the counterculture by giving it a piece of real literature to base itself around.
During this counterculture period, young people indulged in many things that the 50s did not have the time to pay attention to, such as on ideals of love, peace, and harmony. The youth became interested in new genres of music: rock, pop, and new types of spiritual music. People became interested in mysticism, meditation, and yoga. Many also became enamored with psychedelic drugs. All these were thought to be routes to the expansion of one’s consciousness. The 1960s were all about fighting against the oppression of the 1950s, but it was the same oppression that served as the motivation to call for peace, equality, creativity, opportunity, and harmony.