Paper 3 Draft

My paper is really broken up as I am still figuring out how I want to incorporate the Warren Susman article into my argument for the one idea of the thirties. I have my intro and other paragraph arguments though that I will post but I don't think they'll make sense yet because of the first question for the paper being unanswered so far. 

When looking back at the 1930’s in America most people would use the word depression to describe the hard times that our country was facing but I would choose a different word, strong. America has always been a nation made up of strong individuals who have shaped our country from the lowest worker to the greatest leader. The 1930’s were no exception to history as Americans had to unite and as one strong society rise above the challenges they were facing. In Warren Susman’s writing, “Culture as History” Susman argues that the culture of the thirties had become “all the things that a group of people inhabiting common geographical area do.” The idea of culture had always existed but now a new idea of what the American culture was was being developed. This would lead to the uniting of the American people, which Franklin Roosevelt reflects upon in his “Commonwealth Club Address” and asks the American people to have “faith in America” and endure through the times. Several visual images of the 1930’s also help to portray the American culture of the time such as the CCC Work Project photo and the Seymour Fogel Industrial life image. America was discovering a new culture during the 1930’s through its newfound unity and interdependence of individuals and its desire to never fail.

           

 

            In Franklin Roosevelt’s speech “Commonwealth Club Address,” Roosevelt starts out by addressing the hard times that have hit America and how things are looking pretty depressing, for lack of a better word. However, the very next line lifts the spirits of the American people and encourages people that America is strong and it will endure, “This is the mood of depression, of dire and weary depression. But then we look around us in America, and everything tells us that we are wrong. America is new. It is the process of change and development. It has the great potentialities of youth…” Roosevelt speaks about the youth of America because they are its future and they are the ones that must be the strongest.  Along with this idea of looking at the future he says, “I appreciate that the membership of this club consists of men who are thinking in terms beyond the immediate present, beyond their own immediate tasks, beyond their own individual interests.” So not only do the youth of the nation need to realize their potential and the possibilities before them but all men need to be looking past the dismal present and toward the much brighter future that the nation must create for itself.

           

 

            The Civilian Conservation Corps photograph entitled Work Projects portrays the exact image I see when I think of the average American during the 1930’s. Despite the hard times and the nation struggling economically this man stands erect, proud and strong with his eyes locked on the horizon ready to face the road ahead. The angle of the picture shows the viewer looking up at the young man, which could refer to his ability to literally overcome the depression of the nation. He may not have the broadest shoulders or biggest arms but he holds his working tool firm and represents strength. Strength through unity is the philosophy of the American people and they are prepared to work hard to overcome the depression. The slogan printed at the bottom of this picture by the CCC is “We can take it!” and also states that, “More than half of the enrollees who entered CCC during the last year were seventeen years of age.” This goes back to Roosevelt’s speech about the opportunities that the youth of America have before them and how they are not afraid of what lies before them.  This picture and others by the CCC are used to show Americans that their fellow man is tough and will not be broken by the burdens of the depression.

            The second photograph that depicts a industrial factory where there are 5 men working but in two very different ways. Three of the men are using their brute strength (two of them shirtless) to work while the other two are using technology to also work.  This shows two drastically different approaches to working during the depression but regardless of the means, they appear to be working together towards the same end. Manpower and technology are working united just as men of the time had to work together to survive. Also shown in the image are the different tools that each man uses to characterize their different approaches. For the men of physical strength are the sledgehammer and axe pick, while the men of science have microscopes and charts. This picture shows the diverse ways in which the workingman came together to unite as a nation and define the culture of the 1930’s.

Paper 2 Draft

sorry about being late group couldn't figure out how to copy this so had to type it

In America today it is quite common to hear people talk proudly about their heritage, such as the Irish being heavy drinkers or the Italians being excellent cooks. However, when the immigrants first arrived to America many of them tried to forget their old traditions and “Americanize” themselves. As we see in the book Bread Givers, it is very difficult for poor immigrants to try and rise up to the high standard of being an American. Throughout the book we see immigrants dress themselves to look like Americans, go to school to receive an American education, and even marry to simply achieve a higher standard of living. Sara Smolinsky is the only character that is able to “Americanize” herself throughout her life but when her father sickens and she must care for him the burden of her heritage is still there.

            Throughout the book we see the older generation of immigrants, Sara’s father, hold onto their old values while the younger generation of immigrants, the sisters, try to fit in with American culture. What the children realize that their father does not, even until his death, is that the traditions of the old country do not work in America. The biggest realization of this is Sara’s father’s commitment to studying the Torah while his children worked for him, which would have been acceptable in the old country. But in America the man is expected to be the “bread giver” and provide his family with everything they need. Sara’s father and other immigrants during his time thought that prayer and commitment to their faith would provide them with what they needed in the new world. The American dream is to become a self-made man and that cannot be achieved by sitting in your house reading scripture and providing no income to your family. There is also a bit of irony here because Rockefeller is mentioned several times and Sara’s father speaks of having his money. Rockefeller earned his millions by becoming the American dream and Sara’s father simply wants wealth delivered to him through prayer and not by actual work.

            One important old tradition that Sara’s father brings up on many occasions is the inferiority of women and how their role is to wait on men. In the old country that is how it worked and even in an older America it was the case but things were changing and women were gaining their deserved rights. The law attempts to teach him this after he is arrested for assaulting the landlord’s collector lady when she disrespects him by stepping on the Torah. However, he is released because the other immigrant men pool their money to buy the best lawyer and thus probably learned no life lesson in the experience. A similar situation occurs later in the book when Sara’s father invests their newly acquired life savings into a fraud business instead of waiting to discuss the investment with his wife. This once again shows the lack of respect that the immigrant men have for their women. Even when Sara’s mother dies, her father waits only 30 days, which according to the Torah is acceptable, to marry again. He sees women only as his “bread giver” instead of the man providing for his family like in American culture.

            The younger generation of immigrants eventually realizes that keeping their old traditions is holding them back from obtaining a real American life. In the book, all the sisters attempt to break away from their father and their backgrounds but only Sara is able to do so and “Americanize” herself. As young adults, the 4 sisters would dress themselves in fancy expensive clothing in order to appear wealthier than they actually were. Mashah is the perfect example of this as she spends her wages on clothes and make-up instead of giving it to her father. The girls also spend their money on fixing up their kitchen so that when they bring guests over they do not appear poor. Eventually the girls realize that they cannot “Americanize” by disguising themselves and their surroundings. Sara also sees that she cannot escape her roots by simply changing her surroundings, as she is an outcast everywhere she goes. When she is living on her own and working in the laundry mat she talks to almost no one and it is relatively the same story when she is at college.  At the laundry mat she wears make-up to appear as the other girls and she is mocked and at college she attends a dance where no one dances with her. She seems to become fully “Americanized” when she receives her diploma and becomes a school teacher but her father becomes sick and she must care for him. In the end she tried to escape her heritage but no matter what she always had some part of the old culture with her that did not allow her to become American.

            Even though it can be argued that no characters in this story were able to “Americanize” themselves some immigrants managed to do so over time. The restraints of their old culture and traditions made that path incredible difficult though as we saw with Sara and her family. The American dream of becoming a self-made man was exactly that, a dream that many immigrants desired but few obtained.  

Material Culture and Corporations

As I stood in the mall at 5am on Tuesday I noticed two things about the crowd surrounding me. The first was the excitement and joy that was on nearly everyone’s faces despite the frigid weather. Barack Obama had become a celebrity of the people during his road to the Presidency and the people were happy and grateful for him. The second thing I noticed about the crowd that morning was that nearly everyone was wearing something with the name Obama appearing on it. Shirts, pins, hats, signs, key chains were all being sold and worn this weekend, which means that the corporation heads also wore smiles on their faces, whether they are Obama supporters or not. The amount of Obama memorabilia seen in the crowd was incredible and therefore so must be the profits of the corporations.

            Some people would go as far as to say that the corporations are exploiting the popularity of Obama to put money in their pockets but I disagree. The American people love Obama so corporations deliver him, by pasting his face all over their products, which is just good marketing. An example of a corporation exploiting the Obama popularity would have been the raising of the Metro fare on Tuesday the 20th, which as far as I know did not occur.

Along with the selling of Obama products however, was the non-profit side of the corporations and the mass distribution of free items. The two major items in my mind were the American flags being handed out at the inauguration ceremony and the paper Metro tickets being issued with Obama’s face imprinted on them. Both of these items were used by the corporations to commemorate the weekend but they were free. The American flags were given out to the crowd prior to the ceremony and the paper Metro tickets could be purchased at anytime this weekend for no additional charge. Neither served as a profit making item and were collected simply so that a person could remember the experience and excitement of the weekend.