Blood Brothers Historical Context Essay

One of the most well-known things about the sixties is its music. Bands in the sixties started to break the conservative boundaries by talking about drugs and sex in their music; the drugs and sex revolution in this music also

Hippies are good representation of the counter culture movement, it usually involve drug abuse, sex and abortion. History professor Theodore Roszak points out the hippies and radical students have a same point, which is counter-culture. (Roszak, 1995) In his views, counter-cultural movement is all social protest movements in the United States, such as democracy movement, women's liberation movement, black civil rights movement, and anti-war movement.

Willy Russell successfully expresses the unfair treatment and inequality of social class by using the families in “Blood Brothers” as a microcosm of the 1980’s British working class. Russell uses a variety of linguistic techniques and dramatic devices such as: dramatic irony, Greek chorus, the foreshadowing of events and much more to establish

The 60s were a point when it was normal for teens and young adults to leave home and start their lives elsewhere, whether or not it was with the hippie movement. It was also when there was a good amount of civil rights activities were going on and the Black Panthers came on the scene.

busy working- "I know it's hard on all you kids, but try and get some

The Working class that made up around 80% of society had little or no bargaining power with their employers resulting in the continuation of unfair working hours, bad wages, and unsanitary and hazardous working conditions. The workers could not even fight for their rights in the political system as only the rich were eligible to vote.

Between 1908 and 1914 the position of Trade Unions legally improved, but these years also saw the most active period of Trade Union action. This included industrial unrest and much strike action. Two reasons have been given to justify this industrial unrest: syndicalism or a response to the current social and economic conditions. However, it is possible that the Liberal government were to blame for this industrial unrest. They were accused of not taking quick enough action to reverse the Osbourne judgement (where Trade Unions could not ask for a political levy) which was a great embarrassment to them. The political levy was declared illegal in 1909 after a union used part of the fees to fund the Labour Party. There was then a feeling that Liberals were determined to undermine the Labour

During the 1950’s there was significant social change taking place in America. Young people were dissatisfied with certain conservative aspects of society and their conduct reflected this. They embraced the rock and roll culture, the new style of music and also the new styles of dancing and dress that were associated with it shocked the older more conservative people. Young people were also quick to protest against the controversial issues of the 1950’s. Civil Rights, the Vietnam War and general politics provided fuel for an already blazing fire. Mass production meant cheaper motorcycles and cars, providing the young people with freedom that was previously not with in their reach. A barrier formed between

The 1960’s was a decade that forever changed the culture and society of America. The

This book takes place in the present day, over the course of about 3 years. The setting is a coastal region in California, with lots of forest nearby. Our story begins with the everyday antics of twin brother and sister, Noah and Jude. These two will be telling the story, Noah the earlier years, and Jude the later ones. These years are the most pivotal points in their lives, with everything changing all at once, in a flash.

During the sixties, there was a huge generation gap between the parents, who became adults around World War II, and the children, baby-boomers, who came of age in the 1950s and 1960s. Due to the generation gap, the younger generation grew farther apart from their parents and the older age group. The younger people believed that the older generation was too inhibited and too materialistic. For the most part, the baby boomers simply refused to accept the world-view of the older generation without questioning it. They broke with the political persuasions of their

Women then became more educated and by the 70s it was not assumed that woman would give up their jobs when they got married. Where as in the 50s women were “neglecting their families if they were not looking after the children in the home” (textbook source). Secondly women were not allowed to be fired if they were pregnant, as it was seen as discriminative, so now an employer could no longer sack their employees without a legitimate reason. Thirdly Homosexuality became legal for the first time in 1967. The Death penalty was abolished which gave people a larger sense of freedom and divorce became easier. Abortions were also legalised which gave women a reason to use contraception as since abortion was legal that meant that using contraception was a widely accepted idea, and it gave women a back up in case the pill didn't work. However studies show that during the 60's abortion rose greatly, which suggests that the pill wasn't being used by everyone as many people were unwillingly becoming pregnant. As a result of this the so called revolution could have taken place but not solely because of the pill.

Unemployment was rising rapidly and had reached over 2 million men by the summer of 1921- people were losing their jobs in shipyards, cotton mills and coalmines across Britain. This was quite an important factor which helped to lead to the General Strike. If post-war England had been how it was anticipated to be then it is extremely improbable people would have been inclined to strike, in this way the General Strike may have been prevented. However since they were dissatisfied with the conditions they were working in they went on strike with the miners with the conception it would prevent their working conditions from being lowered.

The people that would become associated with the new teenage counter-culture movement were known as the hippies. The movement began in the mid-sixties in the United States. The hippies often believed in peace and pleasure. They even ushered in a new music genre of psychedelic rock. The Grateful Dead as well as the Beatles was famous artists coming from the movement and genre. The hippies created their own communities where they criticized the mainstream society and middle class. One thing they revolutionized was sex. The sexual revolution moved from traditional ways of behaving to more promiscuous activities and pleasures. The norms of American sexual culture would change greatly. Hippies were promoters of free love in the sexual revolution. They taught that the power of sex and love should be a part of everyday teenage life. In some colleges, they started to make dorms coed; in which the males and females could come together freely. “A

As Hirshman said, the overturning of Griswald, opened doors not only for the sexual revolution because married and non-married couples could have sex without the fear of reproducing or being criminal charged for using contraceptives and the feminism movement because females now had a choice