Research Paper on:
1950s' 'Perfect Wife'

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
hopes and aspirations are for the success and well-being of her husband and their children. IF she doesnt sound like any woman youve ever met, youd be right. Linda is  the typical housewife of the 1950s as depicted in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman. Most women in the fifties had grown up during an age when women were regarded  as the helpmate, the little wife, or the support structure. Most women during this era would have very few aspirations outside of having children and cleaning the home. Linda personifies  this stereotype in that she is not willing to believe any of the things that are evident about Willys negative influence on their children. If Linda did have dreams and  desires they were severely curtailed by Willy who controlled nearly all the financial aspects of their lives. In fact, women were not allowed to have their own bank accounts until  the late fifties. This served to, in effect, relegate women to the role of subservience to their husbands. If women needed money to get groceries, they had to ask for  it from their husbands. Sometimes women were forced to scrimp and save out of unused grocery money so that they could have some pin money for things that they might  want for themselves. Linda personifies this in that she has a small garden that she has attempted to grow. The money for the seeds she has saved for herself.  The perfect wife, such as Linda, would have a typical day of getting up before anyone else in the family and fixing a very large breakfast, including the fresh squeezed  orange juice. After seeing to it that everyone was dressed and fed, she would send everyone off into the world while she stayed at home and began the daily task