1. Women in the 1950's were supposed to meet multiple standards. They went to college to be married and after that, they typically felt no obligation to continue their studies. They were supposed to be the equivalent to a housewife and care for the children. Katherine disagreed with the whole view on how women were supposed to live their lives and tried to encourage them to be who they wanted to be and not what society wanted them to be.
3. Betty's reaction to Joan's application to study at Yale's law program shows that she is upset and confused as to why Katherine would give it to her. This is because of the expectations people had for women during this time period. If I were Betty, knowing the standards of that time, I would most likely react the same way just because it wasn't really heard of for women to do much more than become a housewife if they were married or were supposed to be getting married soon.
I completely agree with you. Katherine was not like typical women in the 1950s. She made her own decisions, simply because that's what she wished to do. I feel without Katherine everybody in that class would live their life unhappy but "proper". Even if they did go on and get married, they could still have Katherine's opinion in their head to help them be independent for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Betty getting upset was simply due to the fact that she was brought up to believe that being a wife and mother was the best job a woman could have. It was unheard of for women to be a student and wife at the same time. Betty could not grasp the concept that women's lives did not necessarily have to revolve around marriage and children.
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