Mrs. Magnatech No More

Cathy Whitaker seems to lead the quintessential life of a 1950’s housewife with her maid, Mrs. Magnatech title, her two children and successful businessman husband, Frank.  Cathy is depicted as a”happy go lucky” mother to her husband, even when she discovers his homosexuality.  Although Frank lashes out at Cathy, constantly yelling at her and eventually slapping her in the face, Cathy still manages to maintain her composure and refer to Frank as “darling”.  During this time period woman, such as Cathy, were the property of their husbands.  They had no bank accounts, no domestic laws to protect them and much more.  This meant lack of personal freedom.

On the exterior Cathy might seem like she has her whole life together, however on the inside she is yearning to find authenticity. As Cathy meets her black gardner Raymond and discovers more about him, the greater her desire to find herself becomes.  When Raymond and Cathy go to the restaurant in their town of Hartford Connecticut, Raymond states, “This is a very welcoming place.” Ironically, both the white woman in the car judges the interracial friends as well as the black workers in the restaurant.  This shows that the level of openness in both black and white communities was limited.

As the rumors about the two fly around town, Cathy loses her closest friend, husband and new friend Raymond.  Although Cathy was able to stand up for herself  when on the phone with Frank by saying “You could never remember my car pool days,” it lasted for only a brief period of time.  Frank continues on with his life with a man and Raymond is able to escape from Hartford to Baltimore. Yet Cathy still remains boxed in a community filled with the closed-minded upper class.

Far From Heaven

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.

Not So Black and White

Far From Heaven uses Raymond Deagan to reflect the black American struggle during the 1950’s. The contrasting relationships between him and Cathy Whitaker as well as him and white society as a whole, reflect this theme of ‘authenticity in isolation’ that finds itself spilled over the era. Their ability to find themselves in each other, what seems to be the tip of a romantic relationship, shows that Cathy, Mrs. Magnatech herself, the WASP incarnate, is not offended by the idea of equality and friendships between blacks and white. White society as a whole, however, lashes back when a group of schoolboys throw rocks at Raymond’s daughter, who is knocked unconscious.

Raymond understands the consequences of their relationship. Though their interracial platonic relationship harms no one, it tears away from the normal spectrum that the 1950’s has molded for society. It is surprising that though Cathy can keep her husband’s homosexuality a secret till their divorce, she can’t do the same with her friendship with Raymond. Unlike homosexuals, black Americans cannot hide their identity behind a wife and two kids, and white supremacist society uses this to its advantage. Raymond is more cultured and tamed then most of the white men and women in the town, yet he is seen as an animal, having rocks thrown through his windows for befriending a white woman, not by racist whites, but by racist blacks. Raymond is trapped by whites and blacks, loses his job, and has to move to Baltimore because he and his daughter can be at peace where their past in unknown.

Cathy’s Cage

A maid, a husband who is in charge of a big corporation, two beautiful kids, and a nice sized suburban house, one would say that Mrs. Mangnatech’s life is picture perfect. However, that is far from the case.  Director Todd Haynes, depicts how tied up Cathy is from living an authentic life when her husband Frank walks in early from work with a full glass of whisky asking her, “is it true what I have heard.” This was referring to when one of her pretentious friends gossiped about her getting lunch with Frank on his side of town. With out hesitation she responded, “of course not Frank.” She is unable to defend her self to anyone at this point in the film. Although it seems as if she is at her peek of comfort when around Frank, Cathy was unable to stand up to her husband because she is living under his establishment.  Cathy not only has her struggling homosexual husband to stand up to whom is the least of her fears at this point.  Her wasp friends live to hear the next big news to spread, destroying or making one acceptable to society. With all her hiding and keeping her emotions in to keep her facade all perfect, Cathy ends up with no one at the end of the film.

It’s just a “disease”!

far_from_heaven_frank_begins_treatment

When Cathy Whitaker finds out that her husband is staying late at work again, she decides to bring his dinner to him, only to find him swapping spit with another guy.  Unable to process what she sees, she runs away and Frank is left to deal with problem: not knowing how to deal with his homosexuality.

In the 1950s, in an affluent society, homosexuality was treated as a medical problem often dealt with obscure medical processes or punishment. Frank is placed in a predicament because of his interest in men. To deal with his “disease”, he visits a doctor, Dr. Bowman, and he is determined to be treated so he can get his life back, his “normal” life. He mentally abuses himself  due to the fact that he can’t find the attraction that he once possessed for his wife which causes him to be violent and introverted.

Far from Heaven (Group 4, Due 10/31)

Instructions: Using the “New Post” function, choose a specific moment from the film Far from Heaven and write a brief (1-3 paragraph) blog post explaining how the moment reflects how American society in the 1950s limits the life options for a specific character (Cathy, Frank, or Raymond).  Which characters are most trapped, most kept from living “authentic” lives? Remember to think divergently, and avoid repeating moments that have already been written about. Your group should aim to produce posts about a diverse range of characters, scenes, and topics, so pay attention to what others have posted and choose your moment accordingly.         

IMPORTANT:  Be sure to categorize your post under “Far from Heaven” (the Categories buttons should be on the lower right) so you can get credit for your post!

25 Cents

“A DOLLAR A DAY OR KANSAS.”

This saying from worker strikes in Kansas puts into perspective how desperate black workers were for an increase in pay.  The idea of one leaving the state of Kansas over a pay raise seems outrageous nowadays, but when you consider that these workers had to make ends meet with 75 cents a day it is clear that they had no other option.  These protests lasted for seven years before finally coming to a head in 1887, when the Knights of Labor had their greatest influence.  The Knights organized ten thousand sugar laborers to strike in Thibodaux, all of them demanding at least a dollar a day.  However, the military was called in, martial law was enforced, and on November 22, 30 black laborers were shot and killed, and hundreds more lay wounded.  “Lame men and blind women shot; children and hoary-headed grandsires ruthlessly swept down! The Negroes offered no resistance; they could not, as the killing was unexpected. Those of them not killed took to the woods, a majority of them finding refuge in this city…”

I believe Howard Zinn makes mention of this because it shows how adamant the US government was in terms of it’s policies on pay for black workers.  The fact that they would be willing to kill their own citizens just to quell a protest clearly demonstrates how forceful the government was when it came to civil unrest, even over such a trivial amount of money.

No matter how much time passes money STILL talks louder by Jessica Bonilla

Even though by the 1900 Americans have done a great job in advancing itself by building railroads and using electricity. There isn’t much of a difference than the world today. Back then just building the railroads were sufficient for the convenience of exploring the U.S and make it back home for dinner, in today’s society since we already have the train tracks, we work on extending train lines to help everyday commuters.

Another similarity i found in the reading is how business men J.P Morgan and John D. Rockefeller didn’t have to serve their country because they paid their way out of it. As quoted below  “Morgan had escaped military service in the Civil War by paying $300 to a substitute. So did John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Philip Armour, Jay Gould, and James Mellon. Mellon’s father had written to him that “a man may be a patriot without risking his own life or sacrificing his health”. Now a days you hear on the news how celebrities get away with murder and dwi because they have money to pay people off.

 

I think Howard Zinn uses specific key terms for instance “had escaped military services” so it can be interpreted in a positive way. Instead of using “he didn’t have to serve the military or even he paid his way out of serving his country. Howard Zinn portrays Morgan as a successful business man. Usually the world escape is used in cases “she escaped her kidnapper”.

Morgan it all

“While making his fortune, Morgan brought rationality and organization to the national economy. He kept the system stable. He said: “We do not want financial convulsions and have one thing one day and another thing another day.”

In Chapter eleven of “ A People’s History of the United States”, Zinn mentions one of the big names who had formed a monopoly in the late 1800s and early 1900s, J.P.Morgan. Morgan was the son of a banker who sold stocks for railroads, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific. He made his own wealth by linking railroads to each other, then linking the railroads to banks, and then linking the banks to insurance. At some point, he was in charge of 100,000 miles of railroad and three insurance companies equaling more than a billion dollars in assets. Zinn mentions Morgan along with other big names because as the industry boomed, wealthy American businessmen, as called Robber barons, came into existence.  They became most of the upper class, which the government pretended to have neutrality to maintain order for, but was really serving their interests. In other words, they somewhat marked a capitalist state.

President Grover Cleveland a Corporate Puppet?

“No harm shall come to any business interest as the result of administrative policy so long as I am President … a transfer of executive control from one party to another does not mean any serious disturbance of existing conditions.” (Grover Cleveland, Chapter 11)

President Cleveland was a democrat presidential candidate in 1884, he ran against republicans candidate, James Blaine. Common perception throughout the country during the presidential campaign was that the Cleveland would stand against the big corporations and provide relief for the small and new businesses. However, after being elected, Cleveland was seen surrounded by big businesses and their interests to keep the poor and rioting rebels under control. He personally assured the industrialist and corporates that the government during his presidency won’t make any such policies that would contradict their interests.

He used every opportunity to help big business and completely neglected the needs for the rest. Howard zinn gives an example of 1887 when Cleveland vetoed a relief bill of $100,000 for the Texas farmers who were suffering from drought but later on during the same year he used his gold surplus to pay off wealthy bondholders at $28 above the $100 value of each bond-a gift of $45 million. Cleveland appointed his chief adviser William Whitney as Secretary of the Navy. William started to work on “steel navy” and started to buy steel from Carnegie’s plants at scandalously inflated prices. What Howard Zinn is trying to assert is that Cleveland was truly a corporate puppet, who served the industrialist with all his will. While neglecting small business, such as farmers in Texas who were not able to buy grains and seeds due to drought that had taken over their lands.