Ah, Suburbia, USA. With
picket fences, swing sets, and manicured backyards to boot, suburban
communities enticed many Americans following the Second World War and continued
to draw families from cities and towns well into the later decades. These
neighborhoods were designed to capture the idyllic essence of the American
Dream, but for those who chose to pack up the sedan and chase after it, this
dream was often, if not immediately, replaced with a chilling reality.
In theory, suburbia was an
oasis. The cookie-cutter Dutch colonials and shuttered starter homes combined
affordability and spacious accommodation (by comparison,) with the opportunity
for land and property ownership. Coupled with assistance from the government
through programs like the G.I. Bill, this dream was tangible, and only at a
slight cost; you had to leave the cultured, vibrant city behind. But many
Americans, seeking a retreat to a simpler, more wholesome time in the wake of
the progressive social movements of the day, welcomed this tradeoff with little
regret. Thanks to major developments in the Interstate Highway System, newlyweds
like Don and Betty quickly adjusted to the classic suburban routine. While the
men of the household often held onto aspects of their old lives working in the
cities and merely tacking on a relatively short road or rail commute, their
brides faced a greater predicament. Out of their element in pop-up communities
with sparse surroundings outside of their developments, these women were truly
earning the title of housewife. They were slowly, but surely realizing that
they were trapped in their own homes, confined to the trophy-wife, domestic
lifestyle that many claim already existed. But this time, they had nowhere to
go. By definition, the suburb is, “an outlying part.” The wives of suburbia had
become the outliers, the outsiders trapped within. Living in a homogenous
society, they unknowingly began to sacrifice the cultured, forward-thinking
mentality of the city in favor of close-minded, rigidly defined gender roles
and limited expectations.
Image credit:
http://www.capitalcentury.com/levittown.jpg
In picturesque Ossining,
sheltered women like Betty and Francine are, at least initially, blissfully
unaware of their entrapment. It takes an infusion of liberal, revolutionary
thinking on Helen Bishop’s part to awaken the independent, ambitious spirits of
the housewives, or at least within one of them. Helen’s seemingly aimless walks
may have served another purpose all together- an attempt to break free from the
confinements of suburbia.
The suburban USA encased
many women beneath a glass ceiling, often unbeknownst to them. But as with most
lifestyles, these women adjusted to it, acclimated themselves, and raised their
children with this mentality. A few
exceptions surfaced, though, offering a glimmer of hope on the otherwise gray
cement driveways of the ‘burbs. Women like Helen, and later Betty, proved to
this new society that women could continue to lead cultured, well-rounded,
educated lives outside of the city just as well as the men they lived with, and
even without them. Gender roles were being rewritten, even in light of the
hiccup in feminism produced by suburbanization in the United States.
Links Referenced:
Freeman,
Tyson. "The 1950s: Post-war America Hitches Up and Heads for the
'Burbs." National Real
Estate Investor. N.p., 30 Sept.
1999. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.
real_estate_postwar_america_hitches/>.
"The
1950s." History Channel. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.
1950s>.
I found this to be an interesting article. Though suburbs are seen as part of the American dream, its odd to realize that a dream could limit your reality. I like how the characters from Mad Men were analyzed in relation to suburbia, especially with the description of Helen. I feel like it would have been interesting to talk about more of the statistics of the 60s in terms of how many people tended to live in neighborhoods like that. Overall it was great!
ReplyDelete