Background
Sociohistorical Context: American Women’s Roles in the Mid-20th Century
The novel focuses on the struggles that several female characters face, for in each timeline, characters such as Alice, TJ, and Barbara must navigate the complexities of rampant misogynistic social conventions that devalue and disempower women in ways both subtle and overt. For this reason, it is vital to understand the cultural expectations of gender roles that dominated the 1950s and persisted into the 1960s and 1970s in the United States.
The 1950s marked a time of unprecedented economic prosperity in America, and in the years following World War II, birth rates increased—the so-called “Baby Boom.” With the acceleration of the Cold War, the American government perpetuated the image of the nuclear family as a stable, moral unit, portraying communism as a direct and negative contrast to this social pattern. Thus, raising a large family came to be seen as a patriotic duty that advanced the greater good of American society. To achieve this goal, women—primarily those of the growing middle class—were expected to remain at the center of the domestic sphere, caring for children and remaining separate from the workforce, which was regarded as a strictly male sphere. If women opted to pursue advanced education, it was assumed that such an endeavor was meant to help them find a suitable husband, not to embrace a career of their own.
