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This is an essay I wrote for a 200 level English course. The course was titled The Myth of Suburbia, and it was exactly that; the myth of the idealized suburban life in the 1960’s/ 70’s America. This is one of my proudest essays, but I am sure there are many grammatical errors here, so I would love some feedback and critiques.

The Epidemic of Societal Hegemony

            It’s hard to imagine how society can have such a profound effect across each of our minds. Without noticing, it infiltrates nearly every aspect of our life; it is not something that can be seen with the naked eye, there is no name, no end or beginning, making it difficult to identify your own thoughts separate from the one’s society has a hold over. Like a virus, it’s seemingly highly adaptable as it morphs in expectations from generation to generation. Is it something that lingers in the air? Once it enters our system, how do we heal those parts it infected? Or maybe it is rather sold as a vaccination; something to protect against failure, to ensure happiness, an illusion of perfection that can be bought and consumed. Despite the expectations society aims for us to adhere to, each body is different in the way it handles a vaccine. Our differences are what bring us together, welcomes vulnerability, and question what we think we know; we can’t expect to lead the same life. To live the nuclear life was the achievement of a conceived image of happiness, success, a perfect life, home, and family. Those who obtained the idealized nuclear family felt the pressure to uphold and maintain this facade, for the life they led was one that everyone wanted, so it must have been perfect. In the novels “The Ice Storm” by Rick Moody, “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng, and the film The Truman Show, these three works provide insight on this illusion of perfection, how it evolved generations afterward, and its inevitable downfall. Despite the creation of the nuclear family, it was the ultimate mistake that forced members of the family to wear this mask of perfection; despite silently enduring the weight of unfulfillment, unsupported mothers, inherently suffering children, and the sense of alienation although unaware that they were not alone in their struggles.

            The creation of the nuclear family through societal pressures of the 1950’s abandoned the “it takes a village” approach to raising children, excluding help from the extended family and impeded roles to be taken on by the mother and father. It has proven to be unattainable as these expectations only lasted about twelve years, but even so, the pressure to display perfection trickled down into following generations. The family unit only continued to become less united as it morphed into the “me” movement, where the pressure to embody these illusions remained important above all. Where a seemingly united family was the opposite, in “The Ice Storm” by Rick Moody, this novel illuminates the harsh reality of what the nuclear family became even in the rich suburbs of America in the 1990’s. Each member of the Hood family exhibits the torment of their intense and resentful feelings that lay buried and unspoken, leading to loneliness and feeling misunderstood when each of them unknowingly are facing similar feelings of alienation. With a lack of trust and vulnerability within the family to lean on each other, when the ice storm hits their town, it forces each character to face the reality of their decisions and secrets, “Your family is the void you emerge from, and the place you return to when you die. And that’s the paradox- the closer you’re drawn back in, the deeper into the void you go” (Moody, 102-Kindle). Up until the ice storm hits their town, the Hood family handles the societal pressure to embody this illusion by acting as if you can either do it like there is a great weight on you, or you can do it like it is apart of the dance. The anticipation of the storm stirs up many of their anxieties, but as it finally hits, each character unfolds both confronting their own secrets, as well as the truth of the dysfunction within their family.

In the novel “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng, the author similarly displays the downfall of a progressive family in the 1990’s that should seemingly have it all. The Richardsons live in a town called Shaker Heights, and it is highlighted that the Shakers was where life and its people were most ideal, “Outside in the world, volcanoes erupted, governments rose and collapsed and bartered for hostages, rockets exploded, walls fell. But in Shaker Heights, things were peaceful, and riots and bombs and earthquakes were quiet thumps, muffled by distance” (Celeste,103- Kindle). As Elena Richardson, who was born and raised in Shakers, compares these external occurrences as just quiet thumps muffled by distance, accurately portrays the feeling of perfection and finding bliss in ignorance by hiding behind the mask of a perfect life. Despite the rose-colored glasses placed over a town like the Shakers, an important character, Izzy Richardson, is seen as the troubled child who reveals the truth behind the deception of this town and her family. By straying away from the crowd, questioning the status quo, and not being bound by the expectations of society and her family, she is seen as crazy for being different, “No,’ Trip countered, ‘Izzy takes everything too seriously. That’s her problem’… Lexie and Trip treated Izzy as if she were a dog that might go rabid at any minute” (Celeste, 41- Kindle). Izzy challenges her family members and shows aggression toward the hold society has over those in it. She illustrates how her non conformity creates a rift in the relationship with her mother, Elena, which both frees her from the bounds of society but also destroys the illusion of perfection that Elena has become a slave to, “All her life, she had learned that passion, like fire, was a dangerous thing… Better to control that spark and pass it carefully from one generation to the next, like an Olympic torch… Happy in captivity. The key, she thought, was to avoid conflagration…Rules existed for a reason: if you followed them, you would succeed; if you didn’t, you might burn the world to the ground” (Celeste, 161- Kindle). The curation of these characters by Celeste allows the readers to digest and compare how dangerous the control of society can have over our life and how we think. By comparing how society created something like a virus in Elena’s mind, and how Izzy has fallen apart from the mindset of her mother, it reveals to the readers that although this novel also ends in tragedy, that by non-conformity, Izzy found freedom despite being put down for her differences.

As active members of our given society, as mentioned prior, it’s hard to understand how influenced we really are by the society we are surrounded with. The film The Truman Show, provides almost a bird’s eye view in a more literal sense about society’s control. The main character, Truman, is sort of like a gineau pig placed in an experiment in which his artificial life is bound by a tv set, in which the world observes his life when under the control of this made-up society. Although it’s not so made up; Trumans life depicts the nuclear life, one that he is perfectly happy and content in. Being that he was placed into this society since birth, it is all he knows, making it only natural that he is okay with it, “We accept the reality of the world with which we’re presented. It’s as simple as that.” (The Truman Show). Despite this perfect world that revolves around him, he begins to notice blips of imperfection as the actors start to slip up and the set becomes revealed. As he starts to push the boundaries set upon him, he can tell there is more out there of the world. Although he is living comfortably, in the illusion of perfection he is placed in, he struggles to grapple with the idea of leaving this perfect world, “You’re afraid, that’s why you can’t leave” (Christof, The Truman Show). He finds the first moments where he can think for himself, despite the control and manipulation of Christof, the creator of this world for Truman, and he is eager to see what this made-up society is shielding him from. With these internal challenges and external societal boundaries placed on Truman, this film has a more positive and motivational outcome as Truman overcomes the influence of this society and its creators. As Truman remains true to himself with his escape from this artificial life, it is something that can be related to the deception we face today. Although Truman had to put up a fight to discover the truth, he was better off for it.

As we analyze our society of the past, it often feels as though we have broken away from the illusion of perfection it once held. Although many generations have passed since the nuclear family, the pressure of society continues to infect us as its expectations morph and enter our body before we can recognize it. As we slowly stray away from the standards of the 1950’s, the illusion of perfection still exists, making it important to look inward for growth, but equally important to look outwardly and question what society feeds us. We often view ourselves as the product of the people who raised us and the things we have experienced; in striving to leave the world better than we found it, we must be brave in calling our society and its illusions into question.