Over the last fifty years, the place people call home has shifted in drastic ways. Whether this is due to the lack of a good economy, or the use of American troops in war, home isn't always the same when the years change. The dictionary defines home as, "the social unit formed by a family living together." Even if the environment changes around the American people, home still has a basic rule; "home is where the heart is."
Throughout the 1950's women were able to vote and join the work force. Women were able to establish their own identities, and getting the chance to live their lives to the fullest. For many families this meant, mother and father were going off to work in the mornings and wouldn't be home till much later. During this time era, there were less stay at home moms and a larger group of working mothers. This created the home to be empty at many times during the day. Children would then come home to empty houses. If home is where the heart is, then the heart of mother's in this generation were in the work force. There is nothing wrong with this new passion in American mothers. This just shows a new stage of American females. With this new opportunity to join the work force, many women did. It was an opportunity they hadn't yet experienced.
In the book, "The Stepford Wives," women were controlled by higher sources to work as stay at home mothers. This called for cleaning the kitchen, yard work, and various places around the house. With women in the 1950's being able to participate in the work force along side men, this book demonstrated a town polar opposite to that of America's new generation; where women belonged in the kitchen. One scenario in "The Stepford Wives," reads as follows, "Dear Good! 'And you stay home every night and do housework?' 'There's always something or other that has to be done.' Carol said. 'You know how it is. I have to finish the kitchen now. Good night.' In this story, home is shown by women establishing a solid and safe home while the husbands and children go about their daily lives; returning home where they find a place of stability.
In the late 1950's and early 1960's, the television was created. The television allowed families to come together around dinner time and partake in sitcoms. This new form of entertainment brought families away from their busy schedules and into their homes for quality time with each other. Despite mother working as a stay at home mom and holding down a part time job, father working to bring in the most money for the family, and the children growing up and learning new things in school; the television brought all of these lives together in a fun enjoyable way. Home in this time era was presented as quality time spent with one another.
With threats of an atomic bomb being set off on American land and communism in the early 1960's, home also had a new feel. Home could be defined in this generation as a place of safety. Many citizens were terrified of the Soviet Union setting there atomic bomb off. Many children learned in school what to do if the atomic bomb were to be set off. The students learned forms of safety precautions and adults had to tell their children everything would be alright. Where ever families found safety, whether that be in eachother's words, or any other form, this was what defined home.
For African Americans in the late 1960's, the didn't have a strong place to call home. In fact, they felt violated. They were not considered to other Americans of the white race. African Americans and white Americans were separated in anything and everything, whether is be school, cafeteria, or the bus. African Americans fought for their rights, they had many leaders to help them, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and the unforgettable Martin Luther Kind Jr. Even so, they had no place to call home, in fact, they were looking for one.
During the late 1960's, the Vietnam war occurred. Many American men went off to fight in this war. This left the homes filled with mothers, women, girls, and children. While many men were off in the Vietnam War, they longed to be back home, holding their children and wives again. This is where their hearts were, back in America. However, back home, many women and children had a vacant spot at the dinner table and their hearts were not resting well at night. They longed for their loved ones to return, until they did, they found home in one another's sadness and longing.
Today, people find home in many different places. Teenagers can find their homes within time with their friends, adults can find their homes in the lives of their children, and children can maybe find their homes in the backyard finding a new buried treasure. Today there are many more places one can call home, our nation is much more advanced now and there are many races represented in America that will each find their place of comfort in a different way; a place of safety. Wherever you one goes about finding this place of home, we together make up the American population, all of us with different backgrounds and comforts. For home is "where the heart is."
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