Wiki for Dr. McClurkens Courses

You've loaded an old revision of the document! If you save it, you will create a new version with this data.

====== Nye, 238-286, “A Clean, Well-lighted Hearth” ======

Do you ever sit back and think to yourself, “I wonder how this tradition originated or when did this become a thing in society?” Essentially why do we do what we do? While the advantageous of electricity are blatantly obvious: it is safer than gas, cleaner than gas, and does not consume oxygen (243), lighting began to take a life of its own for unpractical uses as well. My favorite Christmas tradition is to decorate and light the Christmas tree so I found the information about the origination of Christmas tree lightings (245) to interest me. The electrification of the Christmas tree highlights the idea of electricity as a novelty and a decoration. Not only was this changing the way people operated in terms of necessity, but also in terms of flashiness and appearance. It was a way to impress people and gain attention. “It changed the familiar into something rare and strange (245)." -Kelsey Dean

In the 1900s, electricity was the main energy source for “labor saving” devices geared towards the home. While electricity had competition with gas, upper class homeowners saw electricity as the cleaner option. Many families in lower socioeconomically statuses relied on gas because electrical lines didn’t reach their homes or it was too expensive. (269) Electricity won the competition partially because of the way it was marketed. Barton marketed electricity to “redefine the housewife and her work.” (270) Women, by using technology, delegated their roles of laundry and housework to machines. However, this technology was a double-edged sword-while labor saving devices supposedly was less time intensive, women were expected to take on more roles in the home. Therefore, the home space became a woman’s factory, a place of production. (271) Nye describes that the combination of “home economics and advertising raised expectations.” (273) Advertising was geared towards middle class as a way of social uplift. If these households owned the “best” coffee maker, or the “best” electric oven, their wealth increased. Advertising practices encouraged consumers to buy goods to improve their social status since their purchases were an extension of themselves. (278)  --- //[[ejames@umw.edu|James, Emily B.]] 2017/04/12 14:54//

Nye brings up the point on how electricity to household items did not make everything easier, while it made some tasks less time consuming that resulted in women doing more work in other areas of the house. The washing machine is very important to history. From the washing machine it brought a new job. This job was called a “washing woman” who could be hired to come to families homes and do their washing for them, or the other option some upper class families would do would be to actually send out their clothes to commercial laundries to do their laundry for them.As we mentioned in class, there were many things that changed because of the washing machine. For starters it made more work for women in the house. It put the expectation of them to do it faster than before and also get more work done while the wash was being done. Another thing that changed was the process of how laundry was done, what once was a communal and social event became a solo process. (271-272).-Megan Liberty

It's amazing really how much electricity has impacted people's lives so profoundly.People had to design houses to accommodate the wiring system for electrical appliances and lighting. "Children were particularly fascinated. Long before most homes had electricity, upper-class children had electric toys. In 1897 a book on electric toy making, already in it's third edition, describing how to make an electric train, a tireless electrified dancer, an electric drum, artificial butterflies with moving wings, and electrical firecrackers." (245 - 246) Of course there was still a difference between what is considered a boy's toy and what is a girl's toy. But the electric toys still serve their purpose to provide children a method to learn the latest technology and push them towards their future careers, the boy gets the remote control cars and the girls get the easy bake ovens. - Laura B. Downs

Prior to reading this, I never realized how much influence Victorian style life played in the home. It was interesting to see how people would choose their wall colors and their decorations based around the types of heating and lighting that their home had. For example, people would dark reds and greens to hide the soot from the gas burners because it was so problematic (253). With the invention of electricity, people were able to choose new wall colors, new furniture configurations and really take advantage of the space within the house in a way that they hadn't previously been able to. It was really interesting to read how much of an influence electricity had on things that we now don't even think twice about. Electricity was also revolutionary in the way that it impacted housewives' cleaning routines. Spring cleaning was very prominent during the Victorian era due to the gas and oil lamps, but because of electricity this notion of "spring cleaning" declined(243). -Emma Baumgardner

Section VI of chapter 6 provides an interesting dichotomy between portrayals of electricity in art. In O’Neill’s Dynamo it represents godlessness and the unfaithful Reuben Light is electrocuted. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, however, electricity becomes not only a symbol of Gatsby’s status, it becomes a part of his identity and an extension of his self-confidence. In Hemingway’s “A Clean Well-Lighted Place,” it takes on an almost religious meaning for the waiter, who seems to believe in nothingness, and views electrical light as the only bastion from the darkness. In Hopper’s Nighthawks it is used to create a sense of solitude for the patrons of the cafe. In the span of a lifetime, electricity came out of nowhere to become an integral part of everyday life, and many people were forced to grapple with its significance and meaning in their lives.- Nick Skibinski

In chapter 6, Nye tells us a little more about how electricity use became gendered, and it started early in users’ lives. For example, when toy companies began producing electric toys for children, he noted that “early socialization emphasized that boys were to use electricity as producers, while girls need not understand it as they would only consume it” (Nye 247). For boys, they were encouraged to “create miniature worlds, animated by electric vehicles, and decorated by lighted houses” whereas girls got replicas of appliances they would use later as housewives (Nye 247). Because housework became the sole responsibility of women since the advent of electricity, there was great concern that gender roles would be confused from services available to residents of apartment houses that were becoming widely popular. In return, many people chose to “live in labor-intensive single-family dwellings” that required a lot more attention and care (Nye 249). After all, what would happen if a woman didn’t have to do housework all day? With what would she fill her idle time, or worse, would she question her authority? (I am being highly facetious with these questions) --- //[[htaylor2@umw.edu|Taylor Heather L.]] 2017/04/12 20:57//

I think the argument made on page 238, "new appliances meant not more freedom but the expansion of corporate control," is a fascinating one. It ties into what we discussed in class about domestic appliances like the washing machine raising the expectations for production as opposed to alleviating them. In a sense, this notion of corporate control has manifested itself in modern times. Consider how many of us have an almost compulsive willingness to stand in line for the newest model of the iPhone. On the following page, Nye goes on to mention how homes had been industrialized before the arrival of electric light and power. On page 242, Nye discusses how electricity did not replace servant labor. Instead, electricity was perceived "in terms of conspicuous display or novelty." Another aspect of this reading selection that I found interesting was the gendered tension between men and women regarding the identity of the household. On page 253, Nye quotes a speaker at the American Homes Economics Association who said, "Men in general must admit consciously that the home is the social workshop for the making of men." The selection discusses the transition from women becoming producers to consumers on page 257. On pages 272 and 273, the text talks about how the Women's Home Companion advocated for "cooperative work" and was wary of "labor-saving devices." I found the portrayal of the household almost as a battleground between masculinity and femininity surprising because it seems atypical in today's society. Perhaps this is because I have grown up in a society where women are not confined to the domestic sphere the way they once were. -Yousef Nasser

Reading about the effects of electricity on early domestic life helped put things into perspective. Literally designing your home and life around the electrical systems you want to take part of is typical of humans. Once a technology is discovered and becomes accustomed to widespread use, it is imperative for people to model their lives around it. As an example, Apple products designed their connected devices platform of having a Mac computer, an iPhone, an iPad, and introduced Apple TV. People who loved Apple from the beginning of their iPod products tended to get an iPhone once they became available, which led to iPad to get a good quality tablet with the ability to share date Nd information with their iPhone. Which led to the Mac computer and so forth. Once Apple bought Beats by Dr. Dre, those same users felt compelled to purchase a pair regardless of what they had. Therefore, modeling our lives after technology, as seen through this chapter, is not something new, but has become more refined and specific.  --- //[[kmcgowan@umw.edu|McGowan Khayla J.]] 2017/04/12 22:55//

What I found most interesting about this chapter is the uses and importance of the introduction of electricity in the home that we take for granted now. For example, the instillation of refrigerators in the home made possible the opening the fridge door aimlessly and trying to decide what to eat (something I do often). It made often the tradition of lighted Christmas trees in each home, showing that electricity was found even in the beginning to function as more than just a practicality. In a survey about their most prized possessions Americans named their appliances and lamps, something we take for granted now and certainly don’t consider prized or precious. What I found most infuriating about this chapter is the expectations forced on women to do more housework, faster, and completely without help from the men or children. The linguistic aspect of electricity as an “invisible slave” is also interesting as it gives a connotation of mankind as the master of electrical technology and appliances, when in a way, it just made society (especially the women) slaves to it. --Anna Collins

====== Pursell, 116-143 ======

===== Maines, Socially Camouflaged Technologies =====
This essay was incredibly interesting. The physicians at the time "may have been handicapped by their failure to recognize that penetration is a successful means of producing orgasm in only a minority of women; thus treatments that did not involve significant vaginal penetration were not morally suspect.It is also interesting, but not surprising, that morality plays a huge part in the treatment women can/cannot receive. (120)" I'm surprised that even in the early 1900s that notion was still considered to be medically true. Maines also mentions drug paraphernalia on a few occasions, stating that "as social values and legal restrictions shift, the social camouflaging of technologies may be expected to change in response, or to be dispensed with altogether...(128)" It will be amusing to see how the marketing changes for drug paraphernalia as legal circumstances also change. -Angie Sanchez  
==== Document A -- Taylor ====

In the document by George H. Taylor, the patent for the “Improvement in Medical Apparatus” is explained. In this explanation, the working for the new machine are explained, but the most interesting aspect of this document is the language that Taylor uses. The uses of the machine are “to produce effects on different parts of the human body similar to those produced by rubbings with hands . . . .” Taylor is using what Rachel Maines calls social camouflage. Social camouflage is taking commodities that are usually for illegal or taboo uses and sells them on the mainstream market. To do this they use a phrase such as the one Taylor used to seem innocent to the everyday person, but truly marketing for illegal use.   -Anna Brooks 
==== Document B -- Snow ====

==== Document C -- Eberhart ====
In the document by Noble M. Eberhart, the author gives a brief description of what type of qualities are need for a full functioning vibrator. A vibrator that properly works according Eberhart must, “.  . . have sufficient power, be capable of delivering an even stroke, both deep and penetrating, as well as medium or light; be capable of quick adjustment from the light to the heavy stroke” (135). I think that this document gives a good perspective on the process of making a marketable vibrator that consumers will want to buy. I never knew the true backstory of how the first vibrator was invented and the reasoning behind it actually fascinated me because it brings to light of how people had a tool to apply for the own sexual needs and desires. Moreover, the document does a decent job in explaining the proper ways a consumer can successfully use the machine. The vibrator machine would help treat hysteria, menorrhagia, menorrhagia, and uterine diseases (140).- Rachel Kosmacki 
==== Document D -- Covey ====

While I am not sure of the sound practice of vibrotherapy, I actually find it funny how a poorly understood reaction to the stimuli of vibrations spawn a sudden health spa/clinic similar to our own actions of creating businesses around a new health or business trend. The habit of creating a livelihood out of a fad apparently isn't something too new. However, I am actually interested in vibrotherapy as a segway into modern massage techniques and if this form of therapeutics was a gateway for more modern tactics. Thomas Lanier

Edit summary

Note: By editing this page you agree to license your content under the following license: CC Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International