The Image of a Housewife
The summarization of “The Problem That Has No Name,” a chapter from the book The Feminine Mystique written by Betty Friedan. The common themes throughout Friedan’s writing are about the concerns, expectations, and fears of the housewives of the middle twentieth century. Friedan’s writing could provoke thought about how the expectations of housewives in the past have shaped the present and how it will impact future. While the housewives of the middle twentieth century were expected to devote their lives to being a wife and mother, there were many who questioned if there was more to life than living up to an unrealistic image and feared the loss of their personal identities.
“As she made the beds, shopped for groceries …show more content…
The housewives were expected to live up to a standard of perfection in their lives and homes. The middle twentieth century offered them the convenience of modern appliances and better healthcare, so society pictured them as, “smiling as they ran the new electric waxer over the spotless kitchen floor” (2). Anything outside of their husbands, children, and homes were to be of little importance to them. If they were unhappy with maintaining this standard, then it was perceived as a silent personal issue and they kept silent about it. The maintaining of this societal standard led housewives to fear the loss of their own …show more content…
Living up to a standard set so high as to be unreachable would be an extremely difficult situation and is hard for some in the present day and age to comprehend. While it is easy to identify with the women from Friedan’s chapter on the loss of their identities, there is also disbelief in wondering why they put up with it. The disbelief coming from people close to a century later whose beliefs and standards have changed. A family tree point of view shows the ever-changing history of the expectations of the housewife; from a woman born in the twenties who worked to support the family; to the daughter she raised who lived through the time of Friedan’s chapter; to the daughter she raised who lived through the time of wife and mother being expected to work; to the daughter she raised who lives in a time of choice without condemnation. It seems that the previous generations of housewives help to determine the futures of the
The summarization of “The Problem That Has No Name,” a chapter from the book The Feminine Mystique written by Betty Friedan. The common themes throughout Friedan’s writing are about the concerns, expectations, and fears of the housewives of the middle twentieth century. Friedan’s writing could provoke thought about how the expectations of housewives in the past have shaped the present and how it will impact future. While the housewives of the middle twentieth century were expected to devote their lives to being a wife and mother, there were many who questioned if there was more to life than living up to an unrealistic image and feared the loss of their personal identities.
“As she made the beds, shopped for groceries …show more content…
The housewives were expected to live up to a standard of perfection in their lives and homes. The middle twentieth century offered them the convenience of modern appliances and better healthcare, so society pictured them as, “smiling as they ran the new electric waxer over the spotless kitchen floor” (2). Anything outside of their husbands, children, and homes were to be of little importance to them. If they were unhappy with maintaining this standard, then it was perceived as a silent personal issue and they kept silent about it. The maintaining of this societal standard led housewives to fear the loss of their own …show more content…
Living up to a standard set so high as to be unreachable would be an extremely difficult situation and is hard for some in the present day and age to comprehend. While it is easy to identify with the women from Friedan’s chapter on the loss of their identities, there is also disbelief in wondering why they put up with it. The disbelief coming from people close to a century later whose beliefs and standards have changed. A family tree point of view shows the ever-changing history of the expectations of the housewife; from a woman born in the twenties who worked to support the family; to the daughter she raised who lived through the time of Friedan’s chapter; to the daughter she raised who lived through the time of wife and mother being expected to work; to the daughter she raised who lives in a time of choice without condemnation. It seems that the previous generations of housewives help to determine the futures of the