Rebellion Essays (1749 words) - American People Of German Descent

Rebellion ?Rebellion in the Fifties? During the Fifties the United States was filled with confidence but at the same time insecurity. The United States emerged from WWII as a global superpower and a symbol for freedom. The United States saw its role in world affairs as the protector of free countries from communism. The fear of communism expansionism during the fifties was a major issue. Communism represented radical thinking and ideas, a shift away from conservatism thinking or a shift away from the center, to a shift towards the edge. During the Fifties the fear of communism spreading in America gave rise to movements such as McCarthyism and the House on un-American Activities (HUAC). These movements represented the feelings of Americans towards communism at the time, they represented fear and the way to contain their fears was to weed out the bad seeds. These movements created a shift towards the center again, towards conservatism. This trend towards the center or conservatism can be seen in all aspects of American l ife. Not only was conservatism evident in the Fifties, but also rebellion. The push to be conservative and persecute individualism was an immense undertaking that it created fear and out of that fear came rebellion. In any controlled environment, such as the one the United States created for itself during the Fifties, there is bound to be some kind of tension or rebellion, rebellion against the pressure of being normal or conservative. There was a great deal of stress being placed on being ?just like everyone else?. The voice of the rebellion was usually the entertainers, artists, or writers. Many of these people expressed their feelings about current issues by disguising it in their stories, movies or, paintings. Many of these people challenged the politics of the mainstream or the center. However there were works done that supported the shift towards the center and conservatism. Three works that will be examined are Kurt Vonnegut's, ?Player Piano?, the movie, ?Rebel Without a Cause?, and Jack Kerouac's, ?On the Road?. In Kurt Vonnegut's novel, ?Player Piano?, many similarities can be seen between the post-war period in the novel and post WWII in America. In post WWII America there was an extreme shift towards conservatism and an extreme prejudice towards communism. In the post-war period in the novel there was also an extreme shift towards conservatism, but instead of an extreme prejudice towards communism there was an extreme prejudice towards sabotage. Sabotage and communism can be interchangeable because they both mean radical change or thinking and were ideas or acts that were against conformity and conservatism. Vonnegut used sabotage in place of communism to better describe the situation in his novel, but was actually using his novel to describe the current situation in America. During post WWII, communism was a lurking threat in the world and in America. Many feared that communism would expand its influences into America. This was the same fear that was depicted in Vonnegut's novel, but ins tead of the fear of communism it was a fear of sabotage. In the novel Vonnegut used terms such as ?anti-sabotage laws? and saboteur. In America there was McCarthyism, HUAC, Executive order 9835, and communist. The worst thing anyone could be called during the fifties was a communist, or in Vonnegut's novel, a saboteur because it meant that they were a rebel. Another similarity would be the growing dependence on technology like the atom bomb and EPICAC. They both represent how we have become dependent on technology to fight our wars and do our thinking. The development of Levittowns was also described in the novel as M-17's and how everyone lived in one. Everyone had the same house, had the same furniture, and had the same appliances. In essence everyone was the same, they just had different names. It was these kinds of trends that Vonnegut wrote about to warn the American population of what was happening around them. Vonnegut noted these trends in American society in his novel, predicting what could happen if society continued on this path. America was developing a trend where individuals were no longer recognized; only the whole mattered. Everyone had to be part of the system, if you were not part of the system then