Gender roles are seen strongly throughout Act 1 of Brighton Beach Memoirs. The difference between the gender roles shown in the play in the 1930's and what gender roles are like now are drastically different. Now, both parents work and both make family decisions but in the 1930's the males only work and make the family decisions. The picture to the left connects to the play Brighton Beach Memoirs because it shows a women serving their husbands like how one of the characters, Kate (Wife) serves Jack her husband.
Eugene the main character lives in a house with his brother, mom, dad, aunt and his two girl cousins. His mother Kate does not work and stays home with his Aunt Blanche who also lives with him. Aunt Blanche's husband has died and she could not afford to live on her own so she had to move in with Eugene's family. This shows how women are depend on their husbands income since only the males work. Gender roles are shown within his household by the actions of his family members.
For example...
- On page three the women roles are mentioned. "Kate Jerome, about forty years old, is setting the table. Her sister Blanche Morton, thirty-eight, is working at a sewing machine."
- Page seventeen shows how males are the decision makers in the household. "Then we'll leave it up to Uncle Jack. We'll let him make the decision."
- Page forty mentions what Kate does for her husband Jack before he leaves for work. Women in the 1930's always served their husbands every need. "He gets up at five-thirty My mother has to line up his shoes at night because he can;t make decisions at five- thirty."
Eugene and his family are living a typical 1930's american home were the males are the providers of the family and the women stay home to serve their husbands needs.
I like this blog a lot, I was going to do mine on this topic. I noticed all of the same things in Act 1 as well. Especially how the women have to almost act as servants to their husbands, it is much different now then it was in the 1930's.
ReplyDeleteYou can definitely see the 1930s era in this story as Dana said with multiple things said by the wife Kate. I wonder if throughout the story, things will change as they ARE headed into a "new era". Maybe the roles will change, and instead of looking to Jack for guidance and advice, they will decide amongst themselves. I am interested to find out how Jack will carry throughout the story as he starts as the strong dominate male in Act 1, and how the women will take the lead.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Lana. Will they have different roles in act 2 because of the changing of eras? I think we will notice a few changes but nothing drastic. Often families who have grown up living that way for awhile are used to that way of living and perfer to keep their family the same. Still today we notice from our elders how they have different rules in the house then how most modern day families run their household.
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