World War II became a great challenge for the American nation because all the aspects of social, political, and economic life were influenced significantly. Every day of the war was associated with the people’s struggle for peace. Millions of soldiers hoped to come back and forget the horrors observed overseas (The War, 2007). During World War II, all the people’s activities at home and war were oriented to cease the pressure of the conflict and to improve the conditions for struggling.
World War II resulted in the change of the American family’s idea and concept because the majority of the American males became soldiers sent overseas, and women had to play the males’ role in the society to support the economy of the country. According to the article “At Home: Family,” the period of World War II was full of paradoxes and controversial changes. On the one hand, women became the main workforce and felt the great social and economic influence (The War, 2007). Thus, Emma Belle Petcher supports the idea that women became more independent, responsible, and decisive, and they could even shoot the offender (The War, 2007).
On the other hand, women’s independence led to the shift of priorities, and there were many examples of the female delinquency and alcoholism during the period. The necessity to perform all the social roles made women suffer from social pressure. Women had to overcome many daily challenges. According to Barbara Covington, they could not have even leather shoes (The War, 2007). However, in most cases, women succeeded to combine their duties and roles while working at plants, controlling households, caring for children, and praying for soldiers. The roles of children were also changed because they wanted to help their families or to earn some money. Jim Sherman notes that one way to earn some money was the rent of the bikes for servicemen (The War, 2007).
The women and children’s desire to help soldiers was also caused by propaganda slogans according to which the nation could unite the forces to combat the enemy. All the visual and verbal messages were developed to involve people in the war for their interests and peace. The messages were oriented to evoke the public’s emotions and to create the concrete image of the enemy. However, the Americans often did not discuss the messages as unfair or untrue propaganda (The War, 2007). The horrors of camps and war battles were edited to create the image of the powerful nation and to make the people work for overcoming the war horrors.
The public could conclude about the war following such films as It’s Everybody’s War, which promoted the images necessary to support the public’s high spirit (The War, 2007). While discussing the issue of propaganda, Jim Sherman states that such films promoted the image of the Japanese as the bad people, the real enemies (The War, 2007). Katharine Phillips notes that it was almost impossible to think that the U.S. government used propaganda because it was the enemies’ typical means. However, during the war, the Americans used to discuss the Germans and Japanese as very bad people because of propaganda (The War, 2007).
Propaganda was used to create the image of the enemy and to make soldiers and other people fight the enemy successfully. However, effective messages were not enough. Referring to “At War: Life in the Infantry,” it is important to note that soldiers had to struggle for the peace while coping with a lot of sufferings associated with the impossibility even to change the clothes, to receive enough food and equipment, and to get enough sleep. As a result, the soldiers learned how to sleep while marching, how to keep the clothes dry, and how to carry all the things with them (The War, 2007). In spite of the horrors of the war, soldiers tried not to lose their humanity. Joe Medicine Crow states that he avoided killing the German because he uttered ‘mama’ (The War, 2007). Paul Fussell notes that the war was rather easy as well as the people’s attitudes to the war and their relations. Thus, he despised the officer who avoided fighting directly (The War, 2007). Also, Harry Schmid claims that the most controversial aspect was the necessity to wait for the events’ development. Thus, the fear of the unknown caused the real pressure (The War, 2007). Nevertheless, in spite of many challenges, difficulties, and sufferings, the American soldiers acted as the real heroes in most cases to win the peace.
World War II made all the Americans change their vision of the enemy and their inner forces as the nation because many social and economic models were changed. The war made people see the beginning and development of the new world where peace became the main goal.
Reference
The War. (2007). Web.