Hector Irizarry

Mrs. Carroll & Mr. Kelly

American Literature

11 June 2017

Why is fear something to be concerned about in the world?

In Americas history there has been many controversial eras. One of the more

controversial eras is the decade of the 1950s. Even though people thought that America might

have been a stable standing country domestically, that was not the case because of their part in

the Cold War with the Soviet Union and their parts in containing communism in foreign

countries such as Vietnam. Americas efforts in these foreign issues caused the country to

dramatically fall domestically in its personal issues inside the country, as blacks were still being

treated unfairly because of the color of their skin. Society was too perfect for people to grow up

successfully without mental stability and the ability to not believe what people want to believe

which all resulted in the cause of focusing too much on containing communism which lead to

less freedom domestically due to the less enforcement of equality since America wasnt worried

about its personal issues. Furthermore, what Americans were most afraid of in the 1950s was

the being judged because of any physical characteristics that stood out from the perfected norms

in the society, beliefs people had that were different from the majority group of people, and not

being able to fit in. Also, what creates fear in a society is the media and the way they advertise
news and make issues bigger than they are and derive people from the bigger issues that are

occurring in the world.

In addition, the first fear citizens of the 1950s had was being judged on the color of their

skin. Evidence, to support this is from A Raisin in the Sun and it states, WALTER: What I am

telling you is that we called you over here to tell you that we are very proud and that

this(signaling to TRAVIS) Travis, come here (TRAVIS here crosses WALTER and draws him

before him facing the man.) This is my son, and he makes the sixth generation our family in this

country. And we have all thought about you offer LINDNER: Well, good . . . good--

WALTER: And we have decided to move into our house because my fathermy fatherhe

earned it for us brick by brick. (MAMA has her eyes closed and is rocking back and forth as

though she were in church, with her head nodding the Amen yes.) We don't want to make no

trouble for nobody or fight no causes, and we will try to be good neighbors. And that's all we got

to say about that. (He looks the man absolutely in the eyes.) We don't want your money. (He

turns and walks away.)...LINDNER (folding up his materials): Well if you are that final about

it... there is nothing left for me to say (He finishes, almost ignored by the family, who are

concentrating WALTER LEE. (At the door LINDNER halts and looks around.) I sure hope you

people know what you're getting into. (He shakes his head and exits.) (Hansberry 3.1). The

reason this piece of evidence supports my thesis of people being judged based on the color of

their physical characteristics is because in A Raisin In The Sun it states how the family of the

Youngers, who are black, have received a check for the death of their father and they finally

decided to buy a house since it benefitted the whole family and not only one of them. As the play

continues and they buy the house in a white neighborhood the house realtor, Mr. Lindner, wants
to buy their newly purchased house from them because as during the 1950s blacks were racially

segregated into neighborhoods because the government and people believed blacks caused all the

problems in America and if a black family were to move into the neighborhood it would lead to

white people leaving neighborhoods because of the racial segregation between blacks and how

violent and troublemaking they would be to a community. Mr. Lindner wanted to buy the

Youngers house because he did not want the white families to move out of the neighborhood and

make the neighborhood look bad because the Youngers have moved in which explains why at

the beginning of the play Beneatha and Walter wanted the check for their own use and not buy a

house so they can give themselves equal opportunity and not feel less than white people. This

was a fear for people in the 1950s because blacks could not get the same opportunity as whites

as blacks were believed to cause all the trouble in America because of the color of their skin gave

them the easy blame for whites as when blacks moved to an all white neighborhood it would

make the neighborhood red-lined or bring down its reputation.

Another fear people had in the 1950s was being judged on beliefs that were different than

the common norms in society. Evidence to support this is from the poem America and it states,

I'd better get right down to the job. It's true I don't want to join the Army or turn lathes in

precision parts factories, I'm nearsighted and psychopathic anyway. America I'm putting my

queer shoulder to the wheel (Ginsberg 85-88). The reason this shows what people were afraid of

this is because they could not believe what they want as Ginsberg throughout the poem points

out his own personal beliefs and Americas flaws as a country he shows how judgmental

America is and this quote shows it as he offers to help change America and become open minded

he says he is putting his queer shoulder to the wheel which shows he is gay and at the time in the
1950s many citizens were taught that being gay was a sickness. Ginsberg recited he was gay to

mock that and show that he is not sick minded it's just what he believes or likes as a human being

and he says this to show this is a fear people have because they cannot openly express

themselves. Causing him to state this so that people understand how gay people are not any

different than straight people in society.

The third reason that people were afraid of in the 1950s is being able to fit in. Evidence to

support this is from Catcher In The Rye and it states, Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that

one plays according to the rules.Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it. Game, my ass, some game. If

you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then its a game, where there arent any hot shots,

then whats a game about it? Nothing. No game (Salinger 8). This shows what people were

afraid of in the 1950s because in The Catcher In The Rye it revolves around Holden Caulfield

who is troubled teen who struggled to grow up on his own because he was never able to get help

to fit in and because of that it lead to him giving up in school and in life trying to fit in with

everyone which instead lead him to the beliefs that everyone is phony to him. This shows that

people in the 1950s were afraid of being judged because they could not fit in due to people like

Holden. They were told life must be played by the rules to fit in and if you were not a hot-shot

then you will have a hard time finding commonality with society. In the end, it lead people to

fear judgement of not being able to fit in because society was in belief to being perfect and

people were scared of not fitting in because they did not meet societal norms as Holden

experienced in the book.

 Furthermore, the next reason is directed towards what creates fear in a society which is

by media making issues bigger than what they are. Evidence to support this is from Dubious

Dangers on Roadways and Campuses and it states, In the late 1990s police and reporters

treated all variety of highway mishaps as road rage. One evening in 1998 the lead image on local

news shows in Los Angeles was a car that had been sliced in half by a truck on a freeway. The

fatal accident had been caused by the driver going up an exit ramp in the wrong direction, but

reporters and highway patrol officers labeled it another case of road rage (Glassner 5). The

reason this evidence shows that media had created fear in a society is because as it is able to be

seen media over exaggerated the issue of road rage and made it seem like the biggest roadway

violence and deaths and seemed to ignore or derive people from bigger issues like roadway

violence being caused by inexperienced drivers or drunk driving. This piece of evidence shows a

car accident that the media curved the truth and made it labeled as a result of road rage violence.

This was done so to increase road rage popularity and bring people a new type of fear on an

unlikely issue. The reporters believed it was not big and once the media starts making it a big

deal it causes people to be scared of it. Since the media portrays fake news causing people to be

scared of a wrong issue it causes an issue when there isnt an issue.

Moreover, another way the media causes unnecessary fear to people is by posting fake

news about issues that are not necessary to make known. Evidence to support this is from Tall

Tales & Overstated Statistics and it states, To its great credit, the New York Times did

eventually run an excellent series of articles on downsizing in 1996. In one of the articles the
authors noted off-handedly and without pursuing the point that about 50 percent more people are

laid off each year than are victims of crime" (Glassner 4). This supports why the media is a fear

to people because it shows Glassner's fear is supported by false media because the New York

Times posted this refuting the previous reports of work violence are the main risks of working

because being laid off your job is half more times more likely than getting violently harmed in

the workplace showing how dramatic the media made this issue since it's not even the highest

risk for an employee which makes people scared because workplace violence is not even a real

threat to employees and the media tries making it so people worry about it and increases the

popularity of the issue and the source it came from despite it being false.

Finally, the last way the media creates fear is focusing on an issue that is unlikely to

happen and covering up the bigger issues people need to worry about or give notice too. The

final piece of evidence is from the Duck and Cover Bert The Turtle video stating, Duck and

cover! We all know that the atomic bomb is very dangerous. And if it's used against us, we must

get ready for it as we are ready for any other dangers that surround as all the time (Raymond J.

Mauer. Bert The Turtle. Robert Middleton, Anthony Rizzo, Archer Productions, 1952). The

reason this video shows why the media was the main reason for posing a fear on a society is

because despite this video being used in the 1950s it uses similar techniques to news sources now

by focusing on issues that are not necessary like the threat of being atomic bombed by the Soviet

Union instead of being more aware of the domestic issues like racial segregation for blacks in

neighborhoods and how unequal their opportunities are with the white people of America and

also the beliefs of gay people being ill or have a disease because they do not like the opposite

gender which reflects how media instilled unnecessary fear in a society because being atomic
bombed is so unlikely to happen that the media chooses to focus on it rather than fixing equality

issues of gays and blacks in the decade of 1950s making people afraid of the wrong thing which

is being bombed and not worrying about equality for all citizens of America.

To conclude, people during the 1950s people were afraid of being judged on their skin

color, their beliefs and feelings, and not being being able to fit in with common majority of

people in America with their perfected norms and beliefs of how to act and be. Also, what

created fear in a society was the media and the way they choose to block out certain issues and

cover them up with unusually weak issues that have little to no affect on the safety or wellbeing

of America which created a fear into people who did not experience a type of fear that they had

never worried about making it worse for people to overcome these false fears inspired and given

by news sources trying to gain popularity and be talked about more often and possibly give news

sources more profit. Lastly, what I have learned from fears in a society is that fear is based off of

the unequal judgements and respect people or groups of people have for each other whether its

citizens or news sources it is all based on selfish motives and what the majority feels is the right

thing to feel, believe, or to make notice too.