Essay: Elaine Tyler May’s Homeward Bound

Sample Essay

In my opinion May’s book is a significant study of the development of meticulous philosophies of the standard family and for the clear links it discloses between life of families, public and political philosophies in this era. In order to study the familial structures existing in the postwar era, this book would prove to be the only such account of history that will answer all your questions. May signifies that the postwar family would be the stronghold to defend its members from the fears of the atomic times, the interior risks of communist sedition, the enticements of greed and materialism. Barbecues in the courtyard and huge bedrooms and living Family rooms and backyard barbecues were actually a provision of a warm home setting that would lead to fulfilling all the ” personal need through an energized and expressive personal life” (11).

Elaine Tyler May’s Homeward Bound intertwines two customary accounts from the 1950s, one was the domesticity in the suburbs and the other was an uncontrolled anticommunism. What was very strong about this intertwining, in my opinion was that this resulted in a forceful chronological argument. Aiming to determine why, “postwar Americans turned to marriage and parenthood with such enthusiasm and commitment,” (5-6) May tries to tell us that this was a resultant of “postwar Americans’ intense need to feel liberated from the past and secure in the future” (10). In my view, domestic containment was a result of the insecurities and ambitions that were the outcome of the war – and that is exactly what May argues, that it started inside the homes, “potentially dangerous social forces of the new age might be tamed, where they could contribute to the secure and fulfilling life to which postwar women and men aspired” (14).

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