Stephanie Coontzs What We Really Miss about the 1950s :: I Love Lucy

Part 1 SummaryStephanie Coontzs try out What we really miss about the 1950s is an es articulate that talks about a poll taken in 1996 by the Knight-Ridder news agency that more Americans preferred 1950s as the shell decade for children to kindle up. Coontz doesnt believe that it is a decade for people to remember fondly about, except for financial reasons and better communication within families. Coontz doesnt believe in it as the best decade because of the votes, the 50s only won by nine percent, and especially not by African Americans. Examples from family and financial issues in the 50s that makes it better than other decades from 20s to 80s. She doesnt believe that the 50s should be taken literally because from 50s there were changes in values that caused racism, sexism discrimination against women. Even though the 50s were good, it didnt lead to a better 60, 70, and 80. Part 2 QuestionI whap Lucy was a very popular sitcom in the fifties. Through humor and plot it brings out more of positive aspects and less of negative aspects for the 1950s that Coontz described in What we really missed about the 1950s.After viewing an episode of I Love Lucy, positive aspects of family and financial issues can be clearly seen in the 1950s. The Ricardos be middle class, Ricky works as a club band leader and Lucy stays home and poured all her energies into their nuclear family. (37) This is a positive side of the 1950s because compared to a few decades before, women quit their jobs as soon as they became pregnant, (36) and concentrated more on raising children. These families were much more stable and made more or less 60 percent of kids were born into male breadwinner-female homemaker families, (37) which is a important factor for children to have a good childhood. Ricky Ricardo is a Cuban, and with his job, it is probably clear to say that he doesnt have a high education but he can still earn a living to support his family. So in the 50s there were jobs for people w ho dropped out of high school (41) that was also supported by federal assistance programs which helped many families to get through. It seems that in the 50s, wages often change magnitude and there were corporate pension plans and health benefits (43) these were maybe why people who were working during the 50s were so in favor of this decade.