3. Tying It All Together
Society allowed the patriarchy to become a self-functioning Panopticon by conditioning itself to abide by a certain set of rules or face brutal consequences. The government clearly had a lot problems to worry about, such as preventing gang violence and enforcing prohibition. Societies had firmly set gender roles in tradition ever since the beginning of civilized humankind. Failing to abide by tradition sometimes meant ostracization or even worse consequences. As a result, when progressive eras came around, there was resistance. Those trapped in tradition tried to hold others back not wanting to risk aggravating the imaginary man hiding in the Panopticon’s tower. The world was an enclosed arena for Hemingway and a claustrophobic …show more content…
The grand narrative to some extent supports the rising popularity of a man’s emotional identity, but it fails to address the man’s struggle and society’s downright objection to this view. The approach of the 20th century marks the rise of what is called the “companionate family” or a family unit “in which husbands and wives would be ‘friends and lovers’ and parents and children would be ‘pals’” (Mintz 113). In a sense, this new family unit meant equality in gender roles; as friends, husbands and wives could be equals in a parenting relationship. This authority was something women had gained during World War I; while they men were off fighting, the women were off wearing pants, working in the factories, and raising families on their own. Rather than supporting traditional marriage roles, the companionate family based marriage on the ideals of “romance, emotional growth and sexual fulfillment” for men and “mutuality in sexual gratification” for women (Mintz 114). With its rise in popularity in the 1920s, the companionate marriage fell alongside several other institutions such as Margaret Sanger’s contribution of birth control which helped contribute to the individual woman’s power in a marriage as well as divorce reform and the establishment of marriage counseling (Mintz 126, 128). Because of the sexual freedom many people now had, the country sought to maintain its power hold over the institution of marriage by any means necessary. Several laws were put in place to ensure that once a family became a family, it stayed a
Society allowed the patriarchy to become a self-functioning Panopticon by conditioning itself to abide by a certain set of rules or face brutal consequences. The government clearly had a lot problems to worry about, such as preventing gang violence and enforcing prohibition. Societies had firmly set gender roles in tradition ever since the beginning of civilized humankind. Failing to abide by tradition sometimes meant ostracization or even worse consequences. As a result, when progressive eras came around, there was resistance. Those trapped in tradition tried to hold others back not wanting to risk aggravating the imaginary man hiding in the Panopticon’s tower. The world was an enclosed arena for Hemingway and a claustrophobic …show more content…
The grand narrative to some extent supports the rising popularity of a man’s emotional identity, but it fails to address the man’s struggle and society’s downright objection to this view. The approach of the 20th century marks the rise of what is called the “companionate family” or a family unit “in which husbands and wives would be ‘friends and lovers’ and parents and children would be ‘pals’” (Mintz 113). In a sense, this new family unit meant equality in gender roles; as friends, husbands and wives could be equals in a parenting relationship. This authority was something women had gained during World War I; while they men were off fighting, the women were off wearing pants, working in the factories, and raising families on their own. Rather than supporting traditional marriage roles, the companionate family based marriage on the ideals of “romance, emotional growth and sexual fulfillment” for men and “mutuality in sexual gratification” for women (Mintz 114). With its rise in popularity in the 1920s, the companionate marriage fell alongside several other institutions such as Margaret Sanger’s contribution of birth control which helped contribute to the individual woman’s power in a marriage as well as divorce reform and the establishment of marriage counseling (Mintz 126, 128). Because of the sexual freedom many people now had, the country sought to maintain its power hold over the institution of marriage by any means necessary. Several laws were put in place to ensure that once a family became a family, it stayed a