American Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American Studies - Essay Examplend their wives were hostages in the home, unaffected by self-interest gum olibanum creating a perfect world in which men were free to pursue every material followers they wished while women were constrained to remain at home and protect the moral and ethical values of the family unit. obligingness became a defining aspect of the urban, immigrant fair sex first as daughter then later as wife and mother. She was taught that if she chose to think for herself or espouse her own opinions, she would lose both her happiness and respect of others. The immigrant woman living in urban areas began taking advantage of the abundant job opportunities and extoled a measure of laissez faire and autonomy those previous generations of women in America had seldom experienced. The individuality and power of these women marked a transposition away from communal domesticity, undermining the Victorian culture that had existed prior to the mass immigration of that era, with a new furiousness upon autonomy, pleasure, and consumption. Between 1900 and World War I the old Victorian code which prescribed the subjugation of women crumbled. The womens rightist movement that has served to lift women to a greater level of equality today was greatly aided by these immigrant women who broke the mold by working outside the home.Immigrants to the U.S. leave the familiar surrounding of their country of origin, the homeland of their ancestors, to travel great distances then struggle to assimilate into a new culture and learn a new language. They are strongly motivated to embark on this life-altering journey into the unknown because they are impoverish with little hope of improving their situation within their home country. That the U.S. is a prosperous nation, that its people enjoy high standards of living is not and has not been a secret. The tired, poor and huddled masses that immigrated to the U.S. at the mo of the twentieth century had heard of street s paved with gold. In most cases, if the streets were