Mike Tramontelli 3/3/09
AMST 072W Prof. Palmer
“For machineless men generally, it is both necessity and pleasure to assist, and be assisted by one’s neighbor.” (Susman 156) The ideology of the thirties was to lend a helping hand to our fellow Americans in need and provide aid to the soldiers overseas. Susman argues that in countries less developed than the United States, people are more willing to be selfless and extend a metaphorical olive branch to people who less fortunate. Due to the unregulated corporate activity, a series of unfortunate events during twenties lead to the depression of the thirties, but that didn’t stop the American people from uniting as a collectivist society in order to rid the ills of an economic tailspin. Hoover said in closing the Presidential campaign of 1932: “This campaign is more of a contest between two men. It is more of a contest between two parties. It is a contest between two philosophies of government…” (Hoover 1938). Hoover was a proponent of government that took a “hands off” approach while Franklin Delano Roosevelt employed the polar opposite role of government, “hand on” in order to increase efficiency and aid America in its escape of its current economic rut. Susman argues that the new technologies that were invented in the 1930’s—radio, photographs, and better distribution of the print media—allowed Americans, all over the country, to visualize the attitudes of people who were suffering from the economic woes of the era as well. The CCC, a public works programs created by FDR, was thoroughly documented and their photographs. The Wilfred Mead CCC Work Project photo didn’t just depict a valiant looking American male hold a sledge hammer, it portrays the iron will of the American workforce and its steadfastness to support the polices implemented by the New Deal. The harshest economic times America faced was in the 1930’s and in the struggle for economic prosperity, the visual and print media supported FDR’s notion of social welfare liberalism to the laissez-faire liberalism present by Hoover.
“It seems that things are in a rut, fixes, settled, that the world has grown old and tired and very much out of joint. This is the mood of depression, of dire and weary depression.” (FDR 1). Even though a somber mood was shrouding every American, the collectivist ideals, instilled by the New Deal, gave Americans hope and a yearning to get up and work in order to restore our country. Hoover thought that by permitting the corporation to continue on the same path that America would come out unscathed. American citizens liked that under Hoover, they were more free to choose various options and have a sense of individuality without the shroud of government looming over them. But for what were the American people able to choose. Hoover argued that New Deal polices are “substituting personal power and centralized government for the institutions of free men.” (Hoover 3). However, Hoover does fail to realize that the main reason why the country is in an economic recession is the unfair, unreasonable, and extremly corrupt tactics that corporation employed in order to make money. Corporations, which were left unregulated, didn’t afford their workers any suitable benefits for basically slaving away all day. Susman argues that “the shift to a culture of sight and sound was of profound importance; it increased our self awareness as a culture; it helped create a unity of response and action not previously possible.” (Susman 100). The advent of media technology made it almost universal for an American citizen in Utah have access to the same news printed for city dwellers. Increased knowledge of the economic hardships and having the ability to access data regarding the two vastly different schools of liberalism gave the American people a shared set of knowledge in order to make better informed decisions than in the past.
I'm following the pattern that was presented on the assignment sheet.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Paper 2. Question 2
Mike Tramontelli 2/11/09
AMST 072W Prof. Palmer
“You can select ten ordinary girls from a factory and by the skillful use of such preparations as Kijja and proper toilet articles…you can in a short time make them as attractive and good-looking as most any ten wealthy society girls…it is not as much a matter of beauty with different classes of girls as it is how they are fixed up.” (Piess 385). Apparently, the manufacturer who created the pamphlet in which this quote was printed thought that it doesn’t matter how poor and ugly one might be; if cosmetics were applied anyone could look beautiful and regal. In Piess’s essay she discussed the emerging consumer markets that were prevalent in American society during the era surrounding the early twentieth century. The “class, mass, and consumer” markets were emerging because America as a whole shifted from being a producer society to a consumer society. People used to make their own food, clothes and even cosmetics but in the advent of advertising and “niche” markets provided a whole array of products at an affordable price. Previous connotations that followed cosmetics were that makeup was used either by the rich or prostitutes, but now anyone and everyone bought them contributing to the consumption rather than production of products. The influx of new immigrants, especially in New York City, at the turn of the twentieth century created a rift between the rich, uptown, snobby, native white born Americans and the poor, ragged, ugly, downtown immigrants. The rich attributed the foulness and filth of the cities to new immigrants and left them to their own devices while assuming they would just stay downtown surrounded by their own refuse. However, not all immigrants fit the mold of a foreign hoodlum. Sara Smolinsky, the main character of the novel Bread Givers, breaks away from her family’s (mainly her father’s) traditional polish immigrant ideology and becomes a teacher. “I don’t want to sell herring for the rest of my days. I want to learn something. I want to do something. I want some day to make myself for a person and come among people.” (Bread Givers 66).
Immigrants generally left their county because they were below the poverty line there and wanted to start a better life in a county where there was opportunity. This was no easy task for a Sara Smolinsky, a poor uneducated immigrant with no formal training. Sara broke away from her oppressive father to live, work, and go to night school all on her own. The tradional ideals of the old country, according to her father Reb, were: to get a job at a very young age and give one’s wages back to the family, get married, start a family, and die. Women were known as child-bearers and that’s it. “The ideal of the “New Woman” represented a departure from concepts of female identity constituted solely in domestic pursuits, sexual purity, and morality.” (Piess 381). Sara fit the mold of the new woman and thus she had an extra obstacle to surmount. She had to overcome the fact that she was a woman and was supposed to be married and with kids at a young age and the stereotype that immigrants just perpetuated the unpleasantness of urban environments. Sara valued education rather than having her father marry her off to an eligible suitor as he did with her other three sisters. Reb Smolinsky was an extremly holy man and lived his life according to the Torah. “It says in the Torah, only through a man has a woman an existence. Only through a man can a woman enter Heaven.” (Bread Givers 137). These time-honored traditions imposed by her father were meant to oppress her, but Sara had a strong enough will to start her own journey.
“My will is as strong as yours. I’m going to live my own life. Nobody can stop me. I’m not from the old country. I’m American!” (Bread Givers 138). Sara was always an outcast ever since she didn’t succumb to her father’s will. Her father called her “blood and iron” and instead of taking his overt criticism as a term of endearment and thus surrendering to her father’s tyrannical nature, she triumphed over his subjugation in her fight to be American. However, Sara was faced with the harsh reality that she wasn’t a native born American citizen at college. “By all their differences from me, their youth, their shiny freshness, their carefreeness, they pulled me out of my sense to them. And they didn’t even know I was there.” (Bread Givers 213). College in the early twentieth century wasn’t meant for just anyone. There wasn’t as much financial aid as there is now and it was a privilege of the rich to continue education at the university level. “She nodded politely and smiled. But how quickly her eyes sized me up! It was not an unkind glance. And yet, it said more plainly than words, “From where did you come? How did you get in here?”” (Bread Givers 214). Sara had endure the judging eyes of her orthodox father at home and the scornful eyes of the affluent college students who indirectly made her feel like an outcast.
Sara wasn’t only an outcast in the eyes of her father and fellow students. She was ostracized at work too. The other girls who worked at the laundry with her constantly teased Sara for dressing drab and gray everyday. One day Sara mustered up the courage and put on makeup. “I looked in the glass at the new self I had made. Now I was exactly like the others! Red lips, red cheeks, even red roses under the brim of my hat.” (Bread Givers 182). However, she hated applying makeup and hated how she looked. “I felt shamed and confused with my false face. It was as though the rouge had turned into a mask, and I could breathe through the cover.” (Bread Givers 183). The introduction of cosmetics into the consumer society, that also began in the early twentieth century, perpetuated using make up as an everyday product. The rise of the “mass” market made cosmetics abundant and very affordable for everyone. “Mass market manufacturers stressed as a route to upward mobility, arguing that a woman’s personal success relied on her appearance.” (Piess 384) It was thought that women could achieve social acceptance and impress men solely on their complexion. All of the other girls that were Sara’s age wore makeup, as a sign of femininity, but Sara didn’t share their sentiments.
I havent gotten to the conclusion yet.
AMST 072W Prof. Palmer
“You can select ten ordinary girls from a factory and by the skillful use of such preparations as Kijja and proper toilet articles…you can in a short time make them as attractive and good-looking as most any ten wealthy society girls…it is not as much a matter of beauty with different classes of girls as it is how they are fixed up.” (Piess 385). Apparently, the manufacturer who created the pamphlet in which this quote was printed thought that it doesn’t matter how poor and ugly one might be; if cosmetics were applied anyone could look beautiful and regal. In Piess’s essay she discussed the emerging consumer markets that were prevalent in American society during the era surrounding the early twentieth century. The “class, mass, and consumer” markets were emerging because America as a whole shifted from being a producer society to a consumer society. People used to make their own food, clothes and even cosmetics but in the advent of advertising and “niche” markets provided a whole array of products at an affordable price. Previous connotations that followed cosmetics were that makeup was used either by the rich or prostitutes, but now anyone and everyone bought them contributing to the consumption rather than production of products. The influx of new immigrants, especially in New York City, at the turn of the twentieth century created a rift between the rich, uptown, snobby, native white born Americans and the poor, ragged, ugly, downtown immigrants. The rich attributed the foulness and filth of the cities to new immigrants and left them to their own devices while assuming they would just stay downtown surrounded by their own refuse. However, not all immigrants fit the mold of a foreign hoodlum. Sara Smolinsky, the main character of the novel Bread Givers, breaks away from her family’s (mainly her father’s) traditional polish immigrant ideology and becomes a teacher. “I don’t want to sell herring for the rest of my days. I want to learn something. I want to do something. I want some day to make myself for a person and come among people.” (Bread Givers 66).
Immigrants generally left their county because they were below the poverty line there and wanted to start a better life in a county where there was opportunity. This was no easy task for a Sara Smolinsky, a poor uneducated immigrant with no formal training. Sara broke away from her oppressive father to live, work, and go to night school all on her own. The tradional ideals of the old country, according to her father Reb, were: to get a job at a very young age and give one’s wages back to the family, get married, start a family, and die. Women were known as child-bearers and that’s it. “The ideal of the “New Woman” represented a departure from concepts of female identity constituted solely in domestic pursuits, sexual purity, and morality.” (Piess 381). Sara fit the mold of the new woman and thus she had an extra obstacle to surmount. She had to overcome the fact that she was a woman and was supposed to be married and with kids at a young age and the stereotype that immigrants just perpetuated the unpleasantness of urban environments. Sara valued education rather than having her father marry her off to an eligible suitor as he did with her other three sisters. Reb Smolinsky was an extremly holy man and lived his life according to the Torah. “It says in the Torah, only through a man has a woman an existence. Only through a man can a woman enter Heaven.” (Bread Givers 137). These time-honored traditions imposed by her father were meant to oppress her, but Sara had a strong enough will to start her own journey.
“My will is as strong as yours. I’m going to live my own life. Nobody can stop me. I’m not from the old country. I’m American!” (Bread Givers 138). Sara was always an outcast ever since she didn’t succumb to her father’s will. Her father called her “blood and iron” and instead of taking his overt criticism as a term of endearment and thus surrendering to her father’s tyrannical nature, she triumphed over his subjugation in her fight to be American. However, Sara was faced with the harsh reality that she wasn’t a native born American citizen at college. “By all their differences from me, their youth, their shiny freshness, their carefreeness, they pulled me out of my sense to them. And they didn’t even know I was there.” (Bread Givers 213). College in the early twentieth century wasn’t meant for just anyone. There wasn’t as much financial aid as there is now and it was a privilege of the rich to continue education at the university level. “She nodded politely and smiled. But how quickly her eyes sized me up! It was not an unkind glance. And yet, it said more plainly than words, “From where did you come? How did you get in here?”” (Bread Givers 214). Sara had endure the judging eyes of her orthodox father at home and the scornful eyes of the affluent college students who indirectly made her feel like an outcast.
Sara wasn’t only an outcast in the eyes of her father and fellow students. She was ostracized at work too. The other girls who worked at the laundry with her constantly teased Sara for dressing drab and gray everyday. One day Sara mustered up the courage and put on makeup. “I looked in the glass at the new self I had made. Now I was exactly like the others! Red lips, red cheeks, even red roses under the brim of my hat.” (Bread Givers 182). However, she hated applying makeup and hated how she looked. “I felt shamed and confused with my false face. It was as though the rouge had turned into a mask, and I could breathe through the cover.” (Bread Givers 183). The introduction of cosmetics into the consumer society, that also began in the early twentieth century, perpetuated using make up as an everyday product. The rise of the “mass” market made cosmetics abundant and very affordable for everyone. “Mass market manufacturers stressed as a route to upward mobility, arguing that a woman’s personal success relied on her appearance.” (Piess 384) It was thought that women could achieve social acceptance and impress men solely on their complexion. All of the other girls that were Sara’s age wore makeup, as a sign of femininity, but Sara didn’t share their sentiments.
I havent gotten to the conclusion yet.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)