Analysis Of The Fallen Angel Cake

A few months ago, I was digging through my mother’s old pictures for fun on a lazy, Sunday afternoon. I quickly stumbled across her senior picture from 1985. I was struck by her big hair, bigger thick rimmed glasses, and her excessive use of hairspray (seriously if one had lit a match, the entire photo studio probably would have been engulfed in flames). The 1980s truly were a time of economic prosperity, rabid materialism, and outlandish fashion choices ushered in by a Reagan Presidency. People felt invincible in a booming economy and women, such as my mother, believed the world was their oyster due to increased college and career prospects. No aspect of life was safe from these effects, including urban legends. In Jan Harold Brunvand’s Encyclopedia
The central character of the mother is most likely a working mother who does not have much time on her hands to be preoccupied with baking perfect cakes. She is most likely highly interested in the way her image is presented, causing her stress and anxiety when she realizes that her cake is not perfect and may be ridiculed if others find out about her cake faux pas. This is typical of 1980s ideals about how people should act. As mentioned earlier in this analysis, the 1980s were characterized by a highly materialistic world view. Judgement was passed on a person's clothing, hair, car, and many other attributes. If one did not have the look, they were ostracized. This character was so preoccupied with this idea, that she would rather fake her cake, than admit to her shortcoming and risk embarrassment. This fits into the larger perspective of this legend that discusses the theme of creating a facade, because faking the cake seemed more plausible to this character than to show her mistake. This character’s purpose in this story is to show an extreme of the 1980s materialism. The other major character in this story is the woman who purchased the stuffed cake. This woman also shows an extreme of the importance of impressions within the 1980s. This character fakes the cake in a different way than the main character, taking credit for something that she did not do. This character is also preoccupied with appearing perfect in the context of the bridge club. She may want the club to view her as a perfect working mother and housewife as well, and is not above lying to appear so. This character's motives are also tailored toward the 1980’s view that it is not what you do; it's what you look and act like. These women each wanted have it all. Society at the time was extremely polarizing on this issue. Women were expected to work, but also be able to have