During the 1950s minority groups were treated terribly. Minority groups had less right and had certain roles and expectations that society wanted them to follow. The two groups I’m focusing on are Women and African Americans.Women were considered nothing more than household servants but they were considered an aspect of society. Blacks on the other hand were not considered as a part of society and the white people wanted nothing to do with them, similar to the mean people of china or undesirables of India. Both of these aspects of 1950’s life are showcased in the poems of Langston Hughes and Anne Sexton. To illustrate this point we’ll take a deeper look at Anne Sexton’s poetry.
Anne Sexton’s poetry describes the roles and expectations for women during the 50s. Women had fewer rights than men at this time, and their lives were…show more content… The first expectation for women in the 50s was that they must wear fancy clothing that was often similar. Anne Sexton describes this in her poem Life in 1958: “Am I approximately and I. Magnin transplant? I have hair, black angel, black-angel-stuffing to comb, nylon legs, luminous arms and some advertised clothes.” (6-10) Here, Anne Sexton is comparing the way women dressed in the fifties like a mass produced store mannequin. She is saying that any woman could be swapped out for another and they would look completely the same. The second aspect of women’s lives in the 50s was the insistence of a supporting role at home. Anne Sexton tells about this feeling in her poem The Fury of Cooks: “Give me some tomato aspic, Helen! I don't want to be alone.” (35-36) The main female character of The