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Essay Subject: An essay on the struggles of women who work at night.... More...

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Paper Abstract: An essay on the struggles of women who work at night. Choosing night work so they can care for their families during the daytime. Myth of the nuclear family, and ideal role of women in the home. Economic issues. Personal problem of focusing on others while ignoring their own needs and desires. Paper Introduction: Anita Ilta Garey, in Wharton, writes of the economic, physical, psychological, social and familial struggles of women who work at night and raise families in the daytime. These women work because their families need the money, and they work at night because it allows them to fulfill the responsibilities of being mothers and wives during the day. The most interesting parts of Garey's essay to me have to do with the ideals which women are pursuing as they work at night and raise a family by day, and the role that the 2000 census, as a current event still playing a role in defining America, plays in this set of circumstances. Basically, Garey says that the women are pursuing the ideal of the traditional nuclear family, which portrays the woman/mother/wife as a stay-at-home stabilizer on the domestic front while the husband/father goes to work in the daytime. The Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. However, as Garey makes clear, the belief remains in the minds of thenation--and especially in the minds of the women and families Garey iswriting about--that such a family is real and is the standard that allfamilies should strive for. Such a nuclear family was not dominant long enoughto be considered "traditional" in any meaningful sense of the word. The ideal role of thewoman in the home focuses on the nurturing aspects of the domestic scene--taking care of the children, supporting the husband in his work and career,cleaning the house, feeding the family, soothing the worries of thechildren and husband. This means that these women were able to live up to an ideal whichthe census shows does not exist in reality. "The Nuclear Family Takes a Hit." June 7. They were able to live as the heart and soul of a nuclear familywhich was an illusion. Basically, Garey saysthat the women are pursuing the ideal of the traditional nuclear family,which portrays the woman/mother/wife as a stay-at-home stabilizer on thedomestic front while the husband/father goes to work in the daytime. Such a nuclear family was dominant in the nation foronly a short time, and is today itself dominated by alternative familyarrangements which essentially make that nuclear family obsolete as eithera reality or an ideal. They were able to make theirchildren believe that they were at home at night in case their childrenneeded them, while in reality they were working as nurses, caring for otherpeople. The result is afamily full of pretenses and deceptions. The children in many cases failed to see howmuch their mothers were giving up in order to allow those children tobelieve they were a part of the mythical nuclear family. This situation leaves the woman "free" at night to work, but it is asif such a work-at-night mother simply disappears rather than actually goingto work at night. It is ironic that the census which fails to take account of the workthat these women do at night (as reported by Garey) is the same censuswhich puts the lie to the myth of the traditional nuclear family (asreported by Benfer). In fact, as a number of adult children reported, the childrenwere not even aware that their mothers were gone from the home, not evenaware that their mothers worked outside the home. The father was unable to make enough money to keepthe wife at home, but the women convinced the children that this was thecase. (2 1). ReferencesBenfer, Amy. This ties in with the way they"disappear" from the home at night, when their children do not need them ormiss them. There is a large element of pretense on the part of allthe family members. Boston: McGraw-Hill.----------------------- 1 They served their husbands by pretending that he was the onlybreadwinner, because a part of the myth of the nuclear family is that thefather alone works outside the home. Thecensus reveals this ideal as a myth. http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2 1/ 6/ 7/family_values/Wharton, Amy S. These women work because their families needthe money, and they work at night because it allows them to fulfill theresponsibilities of being mothers and wives during the day. Clearly, the myth of the nuclear family is destructive in a number ofways with respect to these women who worked at night, primarily as nurses.They essentially lost their own identities, being swallowed in their manyroles as servants to others. To me, this means that in almost every area of their lives, thesewomen are focused on others--husband, children, patients. The myth is that he is less than a manif the woman must work as well. They essentiallyignore their own needs and desires. (2 2). This seems to me to be a situation which causes the women todisappear in a sense as actual human beings. The husbands, clinging to the same myth of the idealnuclear family, pretend that their wives are not really working becausethey work at night, or are only part-time or seasonal workers, or becausethey do not make as much money as the husbands. The men had to pretend in order to keep uptheir own (false) self-esteem. Working in America. Then, when they go to work, or are forced by family economics to goto work, they choose (or are forced to choose) a field which is also basedon nurturing and caring for others--nursing. The children claim to not have known that their mothersworked at night. The mostinteresting parts of Garey's essay to me have to do with the ideals whichwomen are pursuing as they work at night and raise a family by day, and therole that the 2 census, as a current event still playing a role indefining America, plays in this set of circumstances. They live for others, to serve others,to care for others, to be present for others. Anita Ilta Garey, in Wharton, writes of the economic, physical,psychological, social and familial struggles of women who work at night andraise families in the daytime. It is also interesting that many of these women who work at night andtend to a family in the daytime choose to be nurses. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.