Essay 4

Home: Sanctuary or Box of Fear?


--In the past few months, the idea that I will be going off to college soon has become more and more real. I have always felt safe when I am at home because it is where my family is and it is what I know. The thought of leaving for college has began to shatter that sense of security I get from being at home. So now I pose the question, what is home? In very simple terms, the home is simply a shelter from the elements made from many different materials. Going deeper than that, the home is a place where families congregate and live together. Finally, the home is a place where one can feel safe and secure. It is a place of sanctuary where one can escape from the world and in most cases, be happy. In the mission statement for Habitat for Humanity, it is stated that, “Habitat for Humanity works in partnership with God and people everywhere to develop communities with God's people in need by building and renovating houses so that there are decent houses in decent communities in which people can live and grow into all that God intended.” This also means that the home is a place where people and families can develop in a safe, secure environment. To better understand the home however, it is helpful to know the history of the home and how it has changed and developed over the decades.
--It was during the 1950’s that this idea of home first started to see some change. During the early years of the 50’s many soldiers were still returning home from World War Two. After the GI bill was passed, there was a large influx of veterans into college. Many of these student veterans spent the majority of their time on studying for the field they wanted to go into. (See The American Promise Volume C P. 966-967) With such, women had to start taking on a more active role. Not only were they still expected to take care of the home and the children, but many also had to get jobs to support their families as well as their husbands while they attended college. The typical housewife of the time being one that took care of the household chores and children but also may have held a job if needed. As such, the home became the place of family congregation where all members could live and talk with each other. During this time of change the home was still very family oriented in a sense that everyone in a family living in one house had their specific roles. Not all women of course had to juggle a job as well as housekeeping. There were many women of this time that still only had to deal with being a housewife and making a clean, comfortable home along with raising the children right. There is of course one room of the home in particular which was typically associated with women of the time.
--The kitchen was a major part of the home during this time period. The kitchen was the main area of family congregation in the 50’s. Women during this time were expected to prepare meals and as such spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Considering how the kitchen is also the one room of a home that has the most traffic, it can also be considered the heart of the house. Knowing this, it can be assumed that the kitchen was one of the most vital aspects of a home during the 50’s. This can be seen clearly in the novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Early in the second chapter it is said, “Jonas and I were expected to stay in our corner, out of the way, while Constance worked in the kitchen, and it was a joy to watch her, moving beautifully in the sunlight, touching foods so softly.” P. 21 Later in the book, early in chapter nine to be specific, there is a part that reads, “My kitchen,”” Constance said. “My kitchen.” P. 114 During the course of the book, almost every time that all the characters were together was when they were in the kitchen. These two points show that not only was the kitchen the main room where families congregate but also that it was the most common place for women to spend their time, whether it was for cooking or otherwise.
--By the 1960’s, there was more change happening in regards to the home. It was during this decade that feminism was really starting to gain some steam. With the release of “The Feminine Mystique” the concept of feminism began to take a greater hold in society. As such, it seems that during this decade, the home had less of an importance. Feminism of course related to this idea of home because feminists were trying to get away from their traditional roles in the home. The 60’s appears to have been more of a transition period between what home was in the 50’s and what it was in the 70’s. Along with feminism being on the rise, rebellion in teenagers and young adults was also becoming prominent. These two combined made home a less important factor of life in the 60’s. Rebellious teenagers wanted to spend as much time away from home and not be like their parents. Feminists started to push away from their typical roles as housewives so home began to change in relation to those terms as well. In most cases, home was simply a place for families to gather. Even then this was not always the case. This can be seen in The Crying of Lot 49. The main character Oedipa throughout the entirety of the novel is never at home or in one place for very long. As such, like many feminists of the time, she was throwing away the normal female role, mainly by not being at home and cooking for her husband. At the beginning of the second chapter there is a line that reads, “She left Kinneret, then, with no idea she was moving toward anything new.” P. 13 This quote is significant because like Oedipa, many women of the time were in a sense running away from their typical household duties and trying to change those standards of women as nothing more than housewives.
--There is also the role of the home in the 1970’s. A time when feminism was riding high, drugs were popular, and the role of the home had gone through some major changes. For the most part, the home had gone back to being a place for families to congregate but also a place where the member of a family could find sanctuary from the world and be safe. Much of this can be attributed to that fact that the roles of people in the household had, for the most part, changed. For the most part men and women were now more equal to men in and outside the home than ever before. The household duties were split up and more women now held jobs too. This can be seen in the novel The Stepford Wives. Early on in the first chapter, there is a short passage that reads, “It was Walter’s turn to do the dishes, and Pete and Kim were playing quietly in Pete’s room, so she took a quick cool shower and put on shorts and a shirt and sneakers and brushed her hair.” P. 4 When we examine the first part of that quote two things are discovered. First, it shows that there actually is more equal distribution among household duties between men and women. Second, it shows that times really have changed. In the 50’s and even the 60’s, something like this would never have been heard of, or if it was it was extremely rare. When compared to the 50’s and 60’s, the concept of home and its function in the 70’s was very different from what it had been.
--Finally, there is the role of home from the 1980’s to the present. From what I have read and observed, it appears as though the role of home from the 1980’s to the present has stayed pretty consistent with only some minor differences between now and the 70’s. Feminism is of course has been and is still riding strong and has had a fairly large impact on the concept of home and more importantly, how the home is run. More so than ever, the role of the home was to be a place of safety, security, and comfort. A short time ago I spent a few hours volunteering for Habitat for Humanity and my experience there reinforced this idea of home meaning a sense of security. A well built and tidy home, inside and out, I found can give one a sense of security whether an illusion or not. There are some greatly noticeable changes to how the home is run. These changes have become more common since the 80’s. The change I am referring to is the role of both men and women in and outside the home. Not only is it now normal for the household chores to be split up among the man and women as it was in the 70’s, but it has also become common for the man to stay and take care of the home while the woman goes out and earns a living. Even more commonly is the dual income system where both the man and woman have jobs and still take care of what needs to be done at home.
--It seems that no matter how the home changed, the idea of security was always important. In each decade, the level of that sense of security fluctuated but it was always an important aspect of home. I have always felt this sense of security when I am home. The thought of leaving in the next few months to go to college has begun to undermine that sense of security. When I finally arrive at college that sense of security will be completely gone and I will have to rebuild that sense of security by realizing that where I am is my home. I know that it is a little cliché but I will have to learn and accept that home is where the heart is no matter how much I hate it. It is this idea that I would assume helped many to get through those few decades when change was common and just as scary because the security of the home was compromised. This thinking must have worked seeing as how these changes in the home are now very commonplace and not nearly as frightening as they may have been fifty to sixty years ago.


Bibliography

1.Jackson, Shirley. We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Penguin Books, 2006.

2. Thomas., Pynchon,. Crying of lot 49. New York: Perennial Library, 1986.

3. Ira., Levin,. Stepford wives. New York: Perennial, 2002.

4. Roark, James L., Michael P. Johnson, Patricia Cline Cohen, Sarah Stage, Alan Lawson, and Susan M. Hartmann. The American Promise: A History of the United States, Volume C From 1900. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008.