18th century differences in gender roles

Men: The German men had important roles in society and were known as the main source of income for families.  They were able to get jobs and make all of the rules for their family.  They were responsible for making all of the final decisions in the family.  They were able to buy land and property because they were the ones who made all of the money.  They were able to vote during the elections while the women could not.  Men were the “stronger” sex – intelligent, courageous and determined. By nature, they were supposed to be aggressive, ruling over their wives and owning all property. Men were the primary wage earners and the public face of the family to the rest of the world. They had abilities that far exceeded those of women, and had the opportunity to better themselves by pursuing education, accessing professional fields, and becoming involved in political activity.

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Women: Were known as second class citizens and had few rights.  The women did not have very much control over anything except the children.  They normally stayed at home and worked on household chores because they were not able to get jobs.  Their main concern was in keeping the man of the household happy because women were seen more as tools rather than a human being.  They also were not able to fight in wars unless they worked as nurses but it would be rare for the women to be near the frontline.  Another popular job that women would have was prostitution which was one of the few ways a woman could earn an income.  Some women were able to continue to manage homes, farms and shops but others were unable to survive on their own and forced to abandon their homes and follow their husbands with the army. Women who traveled with the army were known as camp-followers and did so for many reasons: inability to provide for themselves at home; fear of attack; eviction by troops; desire to be with husbands; the attraction of a paying job and rations (even if their pay and rations were minimal), or in some cases as sutlers selling to the army. Well over 20,000 women followed one army or another and transformed camps into small towns. In some ways, women were an important element because they carried out tasks such as laundering and nursing (both of which were paid) which men were unwilling to do and without which the army would have been even more seriously depleted by disease. In addition, women performed duties as cooks, food foragers, spies and water carriers (all unpaid).

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Class activity Wed Oct 13 etc.

1.  Danielle Ostendorf
      Overall Appearance: 30/30-- Very well organized.
      Completeness: 20/20 -- All posts appear to be present.
      Writing: 20/20-- Tons of information.
      Images: 10/10-- Lots of photos spread throughout the blog.
      My Criteria: 20/20-- The easiest blog to look at and immediately become interested.

     Overall Score: 100/100

2. Kelsey Kubiak
     Overall Appearance: 30/30-- pretty easy to look at.
     Completeness: 20/20-- All blog posts are present.
     Writing: 20/20-- Tons of information!
     Images: 8/10-- very good use of pictures, but some posts didnt have pictures.
     My Criteria: 18/20-- Very organized blog, but some posts had a little too much writing and not enough pictures to keep the readers interested.

     Overall score: 96/100

3. Alexia Ball
     Overall Appearance: 30/30-- Very well organized.
     Completeness: 20/20-- All items Present.
     Writing: 20/20-- Tons of information!
     Images:  6/10-- The beginning posts had few pictures.
     My Criteria: 17/20-- The blog could have benefited by providing more pictures to keep things interesting.
   
     Overall Score: 93/100

Class discussion about All Quiet of the Western Front

During class on Wednesday we reviewed the book, ALL Quiet on the Western Front.  We reviewed topics such as how Himmelstoss gained power, how identity is gained and lost, and the authors success of the book. 
Corporal Himmelstoss was a postman before the war, and he did not have any power and his job required him little intellectual knowledge because all he had to do was find an address and give them the mail.  He used the military to gain power, and he let all the new recruits know that he was superior by humiliating them.

Many of the soldiers during the war lost their identity because the military changed their view of the world.  The war scarred everybody fighting and Paul's entire generation lost their identity.  Many people became adrenaline junkies and the civilian life wasn't suitable for them anymore.

The authors success of the book is based on how Remarque told the story of the war.  He showed how brutal the war really was, and thats why so many people bought the book.  The book was in such high demand that production of the book could hardly keep up.  The original book was translated to other major languages such as english and french and millions of copies were sold.

When i wrote my review of the book I talked about how Paul and his friends were influenced by their teacher to join the military. Then after the first time they went to the frontline they went in with 150 men and only came back with 80.  Then I talked about how Paul's friend got shot in the thigh and had his leg amputated so Paul's other friend wanted to take his boots.  Then i talked about how they went to the frontline to set up a barbed wire fence and how Kat always can tell when a shelling of an area will occur and sure enough the bombing begins.