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How does the Essay What was the Effect that World War Two Had on the Social Roles of Women Relate to Salinger's Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut? In Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut written by Salinger one may notice many details which relate to historical background of the short story. The story about Eloise and her little daughter concerns the period of 1940 - 1950 and a great impact made by World War II on shifting social roles of women in America. I think that the positive and negative consequences of the mentioned social changes prompted by the war are shown by the example of such characters as Eloise, Mary Jane and Ramona, and of course, by the tragedy of Eloise's family.
As it was already said in the essay What was the Effect that World War Two Had on the Social Roles of Women, the first noticeable shifts of women roles took place in the sphere of profession. The war liberated women from the occupying the jobs which mostly implied family obligations, domestic chores, homemaking and raising children. In other words, the antifascist war enabled American women to achieve a wider social expansion. Thus in the story Mary Jane is described as a women who is making herself a career.
She came to see an old friend of hers, Eloise, but she was pressed for time. Mary Jane had to remind Eloise that it was the last free day for her and she would get back to her work soon. This is positively the last one [day] for me! Mary Jane called after her. Like hell it is. Who called who?
And who came two hours late? Youre gonna stick around till Im sick of you. The hell with your lousy career. This citation characterizes Mary Jane as a business woman, who saw very little of her family and her friends, and the last thing made Eloise grumble at her.
Mary Jane was accustomed to planning her time, she seemed to be confident of herself and socially focused. Through the entire story Marry Jane neither mentioned her family nor discussed topics concerning homemaking or raising children. It is evident, that she moved away from the restricted world of a domestic wife and already self-asserted in her profession. Besides, Salinger wrote about a thing, which belongs to negative features of the process of changing social roles.
The point is that though American women acquired mens professions during the war, afterwards they had to give them back to returning veterans. In post-war period women in America occupied jobs, which serviced, aided specialists, who were men. Thus women were mostly employed for nursing, arranging schedules, typing, copying, receiving telephone calls, bringing coffee etc. The same state of things is evidenced by Mary Janes occupation. She was probably no more than a secretary. Eloise asked Mary Jane how it happened she had the day off.
Mary Jane said she didnt have the whole day off; it was just that Mr. Weyinburg had a hernia and was home in Larchmont, and she had to bring him his mail and take a couple of letters every afternoon. I also think this fact relates to sex discrimination. And the issue of movement against sex discrimination was as well very important in the period of 1940 - 1950 s. The next fact of women social shift mentioned in Salinger's story was an access to education. Both Eloise and Mary Jane studied at college, which however was untypical for women of a pre-war period.
The author noted that Eloise and Mary Jane were former college roommates, though neither of them had graduated. As a matter of fact, before the World War Two American women received education which would be useful mostly for fulfilling domestic duties, and thus the specialties were generally divided into womens and mens. Nevertheless, during the war, labor shortage and need of specialists eliminated this division. Male and female students could study together, and naturally, - they got acquainted with each other, fell in love, and got married.
The similar sequence of events was introduced in life stories of Eloise and Mary Jane. They too got married while being students: Eloise had left college in the middle of her sophomore year, in 1942, a week after she had been caught with a soldier in a closed elevator on the third floor of her residence hall. Mary Jane had left the same year, same class, almost the same month to marry an aviation cadet stationed in Jacksonville, Florida... Though because of their early marriages both women did not complete their education, they still set priority of social over family: Mary Jane attempted to get a job and progress in it, Eloise totally disregarded her motherhood responsibility.
Also, as a positive result of social expansion, both characters Eloise and her friend were able to pay checks, and possessed their own properties. Eloise had her house and a servant in it. Her habits evidenced her material well-being. She could afford doing nothing but smoking and drinking.
More than that, Eloise could bye expensive goods with a brand-new and nice wrapping. That dopey maid, Eloise said without moving from couch. I dropped two brand-new cartons in front of her nose about an hour ago. Shell be in, any minute, to ask what to do with them. As for Mary Jane, she seemed a well-to-do person as well because she drove a car, a convertible, which is supposed to be a dear one.
Equally important is the fact that Eloise and Mary Jane did not have many children. Actually, Eloise had only one child whereas Mary Jane most probably did not have any. This fact has its own historical background - the revolutionary innovation of contraceptives, which dated World War II. Due to this innovation American women had a possibility to plan their motherhood and thus they had time to be devoted for the sake of their personal ambitions. Finally, all the mentioned facts of women social shifts resulted in the change of womens lifestyles and their individual outlooks. Women started perceiving themselves as equals to men.
Women could feed the family without husbands; women could reject or assume motherhood and choose a partner for relationships. Eloise herself decided to decline the offer made by her boy-friend because Mary Jane stayed in. At the same time Eloise acquired mens habit of smoking, drinking, swearing. (I hate this damn rug anyway. Gimme your glass, Throw me one [cigarette].
Lets have another drink). Eloise lost much of her cordiality and affection, and thus she treated her daughter more like a man in a dry, formal way. When Eloise addressed to Ramona, she mainly used orders and commands: Stop that, Cut that out. But immediately, Stand up, please. The range of socialization of women is also demonstrated through their thoughts and conversations. It is notable that their topics touched only events and relationships.
The women adopted mens values, which considered death as something unworthy, a common thing, which happened here and there, as a logical completion of an every matter. Maria Louise. I ran into her once, too. She talk your ear off?
God, yes. But you know what she told me, though? Dr. Whitings dead. She said she had a letter from Barbara Hill saying Whiting got cancer last summer and died and all. She only weighed sixty-two pounds.
When she died. Isnt that terrible? Also a negative consequence of all the changes caused by the shifts of women roles, women moved away from the family. Women got more spheres to realize their potential; women started fighting against sex discrimination and what is more, female employees who filled various jobs and positions proved that women were no longer a weaker sex. (women worked even in those spheres which demanded physical or moral strength: politics, defensive industry, military) On the whole, social processes influenced the family, and family relationships had to survive through drastic changes as well. First, the world of adults alienated from the world of children. It seems that Salinger opposed two worlds in his short novel.
The adults appeared to be evil, corrupted, greedy, silly, insane. Whereas the child was pure, modest, shy, and delicate. The childhood innocence in the story is aimed at showing drawbacks and weaknesses of the new family relationships which were arising on the grounds of feminism and movement against sex discrimination. As the story illustrated it, a child can not be happy in family, where there is no balance between inner and social life, no harmony of male and female sexes. Ramona's father died and her mother was the only creature who could love, cherish and care about her. But instead Eloise felt enormous irritation and anger when she saw her daughter: when the child entered the room where Eloise and Mary Jane were talking to each other; she provoked the following reaction.
Wait just a second. Eloise raised her head and her voice. Is that you, Ramona? Yes, a small childs voice answered. In this and many other cases, Ramona did not respond to her mothers bad temper, she had to tolerate it, in this way becoming the victim of the failures and unrealized hopes of Eloise life. As the time went on, Eloise grew more and more monstrous: Why are you sleeping way over here?
Because I dont want to hurt Mickey. Who? Mickey, said Ramona, rubbing her nose. Mickey Mickeranno. Eloise raised her voice to a shriek. You get in the centre of that bed.
Go on. Ramona, extremely frightened, just looked up at Eloise. However the problem of Eloisa's lies not only in her rude and selfish attitude to Ramona, the greater and more terrifying consequences, I think, will show up when the child grows. Being little Ramona absorbed everything her mother could teach her. Later the child easily took over Eloisa's immoral values.
Ramona started to speak about the death of her friend in a similar heartless manner as Eloise used to do about the deaths of her former acquaintances. What happened to Jimmy? Eloise said to her. He got runner over and killed. I saw Skipper with a bone, and he wouldnt. In this way, having her mother as an example to follow, an innocent child may also become a monstrous grownup in the future and torture her own children in the same way.
All in all, the pain, suffering and tragedy of an innocent child in Salinger's story testify the complete break-up of the family relationships. The experience of the family in the story Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut demonstrates negative consequences of the process of shifting women social roles in America in 1940 - 1950 s. Though due to the mentioned changes the American society acquired more democracy in general, it, at the same, lost its faith in such valuable things as the family, parents, children, childhood innocence.
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