The Fifties are a time that a lot of nostalgic older individuals look back to as a time that they appreciated, a time better than today. This was a time after world war two, and consisted of many veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and having trouble reintegrating into society. This was also a time that saw economic expansion and the rise of materialism and consumerism. In response to this, Salinger wrote the story called “A Perfect Day for Banafish”. The story takes place during the fifties. Married couple Seymour and Muriel Glass are staying at a hotel. Muriel’s mother talks about how weird Seymour is, and the weird things Seymour has done. Muriel couldn’t care less, as she is engaged in painting her nails, fixing her …show more content…
They started advertising on Radios, car ads, Billboards, Magazines, and Newspapers. All of these ads targeted the average people and started making them call into consumeristic lifestyles. These consumeristic lifestyles also included suburbanization. According to Boucher, “between 1944 and 1954, nine million people moved to the new suburbs.” (Boucher 11) Boucher goes on to say that living in the suburbs was traditionally reserved as a privilege of the rich, but now it was available for the common family. (Boucher 11) Everything was advertised, people were buying and buying. Such is the historical context of when Salinger wrote the short story. Salinger describes this materialistic society in the short story, embodied in the form of Muriel and her friends. Muriel, when her mother is talking, is more focused with materialistic items such as “her little lacquer brush” or the fact that the psychiatrist’s wife was wearing an “awful dinner dress” or any materialistic thing. (Salinger 1, 6) Throughout the entire story, Muriel is just too busy with the parties and the people and conforming to that materialistic lifestyle, worrying about her social life more than anything else. Sybill’s mother also seems to be more worried about her social life than anything else. Such was society characterized. In fact, Muriel was too worried about her social life
The early 1960’s to mid 1970s was the start of the counterculture of youth culture. During the 1960’s, there were revolutions including a sexual revolution, a cultural/ racial revolution, a rights revolution, and student revolutions. In addition to revolutions, there also a focus on the transition to adulthood, popularity, consumption, anxiety, and the media. However the movie, American Graffiti, which was set in the 1962 (1960s)–before the peak of 1960’s counterculture–and released in 1973 (1970’s) displays an environment more focused on the anxiety of transitioning to adulthood, dating, and consumerism--music and cars. American Graffiti compared to the set and release dates share similarities with the counterculture, but are depicted in
The 50s and 60s were mostly the best time to live in because everyone in the family would do things together. There were no games or phones or social media like Instagram, FaceBook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. This was the time kids went outside and played a game of football or soccer. Families were closer together. Kids weren’t always on a device or watching TV. Some traditions in the 50s and 60s were…
Stephanie Coontz is a professor of Family History at the Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington. She is a nationally recognized expert on the family and an award winning writer. In her 1997 book “The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America’s Changing Families”, Stephanie Coontz wrote an essay entitled “What We Really Miss about the 1950s”. In Stephanie Coontz’s “What We Really Miss about the 1950s”, she argues that we as a country collectively remember the 1950s with a nostalgic tone, but we are not remembering this era in its entirety, nor are we completely accurate. She explains that the family and economic life that we remember and long for does not represent
Overall the 1950s and today are very similar in some ways, but also very different in others. With a 67-year different the 1950s has changed but also things have stayed the same. Since the 1950s, some similarities are discrimination, teen interest and problems with North Korea. Some differences since the 1950s is the average poverty rate, average unemployment rate and the average income for families in the United States.
The 1950s and the 1960s had many similarities, though they had many differences as well. Their similarities and differences include: the politics, the economy, the society, and the culture of both decades. In the 1950s, North Korea moved into South Korea and began a civil war between the two parallel countries. The reason for this dispute was the border lines as well as guerrilla fighting in the South, which created a greater tension on the issue. The reason why the U.S entered the Korean War was so that the Soviet Union would not gain another nation and, in turn, more power. Like the 50s, our country was also at war with another country in the 60s. This time, the U.S was at war with Vietnam. The U.S entered the war because the
Throughout history, people have looked towards past history to recognize the problems that society endured. Some might say certain time periods was the best time to live as others periods were full of failure and the mistakes and should not be repeated. The idea of a perfect time to live is known as “golden age thinking” which is ultimately defined as a certain time period is better than the one they live in today. This hasty generalization bases an entire era with very little evaluation and thought due to people lacking to realize there is no such thing as the best era. However certain times may have accompanied better economic stability or less social oppression such as Stephanie Coontz’s article “What We Really Miss About the 1950s.” The idea of making a golden age by force by structuring society in very detailed manners causes a loss of privacy, choice and ultimately a loss of freedom due to the deprivation of individuality. The loss of individuality causes a loss in competition within a society causing people to lose interest in being more than what is just allowed like in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s short story “Harrison Bergeron.” Every era in history has had its setbacks but that is why every time period is run through trial and error.
In the 1950’s American families went through several changes, some of which were positive and beneficial. There were many new technological breakthroughs. Additionally, new forms of entertainment created a generational divide between young people and adults. Americans entered a period of postwar abundance, with expanding suburbs, growing families, and more white-collar jobs. The average income of American families roughly tripled. Thousands of families rushed to buy the inexpensive homes. New suburbs multiplied throughout the United States. Affordability was the key reason most Americans moved to the suburbs.
Many people inaccurately assess the 1950s and 1960s. Historians, in particular, tend to describe the 1950s as a decade of prosperity and the 1960s as one of turbulence. According to most, peace and harmony defined the 50s while violence and protest conjured the 60s. This isn't true because controversy existed in the fifties, many achievements occurred in the sixties, and both decades had its political ups and downs. With all the criticism surrounding it, the 1960s remains one of the most controversial decades in American history.
A perfect day for a bananafish is a short story written by the author J. D. Salinger and published in 1948. The story starts off with Muriel Glass, a pretty, materialistic wife to Seymour Glass, in her hotel room waiting for a phone call. In the meanwhile she spends her time trying to complete small tasks, cleaning her dress, washing her comb and brush, and reading a magazine. After roughly two and half hours finally the call that she had been waiting for was ready, she picks the phone up and it speaks to her mother. After a brief misunderstanding between the Muriel and her mother they finally begin their conversation over the phone. Her mother was quick with the questions asking everything from why she didn’t call her as soon as she made it took her vacation spot, how the drive down there from New York, and her mother was especially interested in how Seymour behaved on the drive down to their vacation. Muriel quickly answered as many of her mother’s questions as she could and assured her that everything had gone well on their drive down and that Seymour had acted perfectly and had not attempted anything out of the ordinary. Meanwhile her mother continued questioning about Seymour and his mental state, one that Muriel had no interest talking about, telling her continuing to tell her mother that Seymour was completely fine. Her mother even began to question had he attempted to do anything “funny” and they both said to each other, "Well, you sound that way. I mean all he does
The 1950s is considered to be the model decade of America. Families were close, children respected their elders, workers worked hard to provide for their families who grew up in nice neighborhoods, and the economy was booming. The forced conformity, neglect of the poor, and segregation are often overlooked when talking about the decade as they were during the time period. The 1950s were a prodigious time period for family life but not for the individual or societal ethics.
The 1920s and 1950s both starts out different and ends on different circumstances. The 1920s started out with a wrongful lawsuit and ended with and economic shutdown. The 1950s started out with fighting in wars against communism and ended with and economic growth. Both eras were a lesson for society. The 1920s and 1950s has many differences and similarities between each other.
Througout the story we hear about this elegant lifestyle with “a state room and a carriage,” “tea served by uniformed maids,” “elegant silk slip gowns.” The narrator is the only one in the family that isn’t living the glamorous life in NY. She is living in a flat with cockroaches and a mattress on the floor. She is the one who breaks the pattern by living a humble life. She is also the only one described as going to an event with a date. “We went to studio 54.” She is the first one who isn’t going to functions and has tea served in the afternoon.
In today’s society, people are judged by their values or are frightened to take sacrifices to better benefit their lifestyle. Characters like Gatsby, Tom, Daisy and Myrtle are shown as evidence of greed and how wealth surrounds their values. Fitzgerald uses social commentary to offer a glance of an American life in the 1920s. He carefully sets up his novel into distinct groups, but in the end, each group has its own problems to contend with, leaving powerful ideas for readers to adapt(add morals characters inhabit). By creating distinct social classes, old money, new money, and no money, Fitzgerald sends strong messages about the elitism running throughout every perspective of society. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays characters like Nick,
Historians tend to portray the 1950s as a decade of prosperity, conformity, and consensus, and the 1960s as a decade of turbulence, protest, and disillusionment. These stereotypes are largely true, though, as with everything in life, there are exceptions to this perspective. Therefore, the historians’ portrayal of the 1950s and 1960s is accurate for the majority of Americans, though some groups were clearly exceptions.
The 1960’s were a time of great turmoil and change; people had many different ways to express themselves. Some did this through drugs, others through assassination, while some chose music. While there were many American musicians who were influential during the 1960s such as Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, and The Eagles, arguably none were as influential as The Beatles. Consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, helped change the face of popular culture of the 1960’s through their music, image, and influence on the counterculture of the time.