Flannel Suit Sparknotes
Joshua Loerker Summer 2014
Summer Assignment AP US History
Historical Book Review – The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit By Sloan Wilson Post-war life in the United States during the 1950’s affected many households and the quality of life for thousands. Sloan Wilson conveys this central idea by sharing a fictional story based off of the middle class in the Chicago suburbs. This is built upon by zooming in on personal accounts on main characters of the story, specifically Tom and Betsy Rath and their family. Given the effects of war, Tom has changed the most radically since World War II manipulating his personality and actions greatly. Additionally there are times where topics of war interfere with the relationship between Tom and …show more content…
As a fictional novel, Wilson is able to be persuasive and subjective in how he presents the characters and the storyline, going in depth with many aspects of society. Wilson most likely chose to present his thoughts in the form of a novel because he’s able to expand on his ideas by developing characters that personify typical 1950’s post-war citizens the most. It is essential for Wilson to have these elemental characters to show how they were all affected by war. Many themes that Wilson talks about in the story need these characters to understand what Wilson is trying to communicate. This includes the divide between men and women that was created by the war. When the men were in service, many betrayed their fiancés and wives, adopting adulterous behavior while overseas. Meanwhile, at home many women gain a sense of entitlement and begin to take many jobs that the men had. This caused for many years of lies and excuses in relationships around the United States following World War II. Wilson establishes this idea that because of the war there was a period of time where many shared love without emotion. Given that this is a novel, Wilson was able to make the main characters Tom and Betsy the stereotypical middle class post-war couple, and use that to his advantage. For Wilson’s purpose, it was the best to write this in the form
Summer Assignment AP US History
Historical Book Review – The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit By Sloan Wilson Post-war life in the United States during the 1950’s affected many households and the quality of life for thousands. Sloan Wilson conveys this central idea by sharing a fictional story based off of the middle class in the Chicago suburbs. This is built upon by zooming in on personal accounts on main characters of the story, specifically Tom and Betsy Rath and their family. Given the effects of war, Tom has changed the most radically since World War II manipulating his personality and actions greatly. Additionally there are times where topics of war interfere with the relationship between Tom and …show more content…
As a fictional novel, Wilson is able to be persuasive and subjective in how he presents the characters and the storyline, going in depth with many aspects of society. Wilson most likely chose to present his thoughts in the form of a novel because he’s able to expand on his ideas by developing characters that personify typical 1950’s post-war citizens the most. It is essential for Wilson to have these elemental characters to show how they were all affected by war. Many themes that Wilson talks about in the story need these characters to understand what Wilson is trying to communicate. This includes the divide between men and women that was created by the war. When the men were in service, many betrayed their fiancés and wives, adopting adulterous behavior while overseas. Meanwhile, at home many women gain a sense of entitlement and begin to take many jobs that the men had. This caused for many years of lies and excuses in relationships around the United States following World War II. Wilson establishes this idea that because of the war there was a period of time where many shared love without emotion. Given that this is a novel, Wilson was able to make the main characters Tom and Betsy the stereotypical middle class post-war couple, and use that to his advantage. For Wilson’s purpose, it was the best to write this in the form