When WWII was over, the 1950s began; it seemed like the last age of innocence. Families sat together for dinner every night, mothers took care of the children, and fathers went to work. It seemed like a perfect era, however life was repressive and constrictive in many ways. Women fulfilled certain roles as mothers, and as wives. A woman was considered a “good wife” only if she carried out her husbands every need and order. Cathy Whitaker is a perfect example. Even though she learns her husband is interested in the other sex, she doesn’t cause chaos but simply takes him to the doctor to be cured, and goes on running errands. Even if she wanted to voice an opinion, no man would listen due to their total dominance and inequality.
Cathy fell in love with the car insurance guy because he was a man who knew how she felt and what she was going through, which rarely happened. Women were the most trapped in the 50s, even though they were living good lives. Everyday seemed like a routine, and a type of show to make their hard working, cheating husbands happy.
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A Vicious Game
It seems as if the “free” slaves were treated as animals. Zinn gave the impression that slave owners were playing some kind of vicious game with the blacks. The slaves would get tortured then run away and scatter; whoever escaped had won, whoever didn’t had lost and was tortured or killed.
David Walker was a son of a slave, but was born free. He agreed that blacks must fight for their freedom. He wrote Walker’s Appeal that included problems with racism, equal rights, and the effects of slavery. He said: “…They have no more right to hold us in slavery than we have to hold them…Our sufferings will come to an end, in spite of all the Americans this side of eternity…”Every dog must have its day,” the American’s is coming to an end.”
Walker even agreed that they were being treated like animals, and he wanted this game to be over and started to fight for their own rights. It worked. The slave owners felt threatened by him and sent out a request to kill him. Sadly, the game was over for David Walker.
The slave’s freedom after the Civil War wasn’t easy. It was as if they were set free into a world full of hungry, vicious wolves.