Divorced Women In The 1950's

As humans, we often have a propensity to think that we will automatically have long, fulfilling relationships with little to no effort, and quickly. This is obviously not true; Americans alone have a divorce rate of up to 50%. The problem with this situation is that it tends to result in a stigma against divorced people, and focuses unnecessarily on divorced women. Divorced women get the house, they get the car, they get the kids. Divorced women get, get, get, while their male counterparts do nothing but lose, lose, lose. In the 1950’s, however, their roles were reversed, with the sympathy still in favor of the male members of the household. Men got everything in a divorce: the house, car, kids, money, and everyone’s sympathy. A divorced woman …show more content…
She had a drink prepared for her husband before he walked in the door, would sit quietly until he was ready to speak, and continually tried to offer him comfort when she saw he was distressed. Yet, Patrick Maloney, her late husband, yells at her before telling her greatly upsetting news, before callously telling her not to make a scene because “It wouldn’t be very good for my job.” Any person would find this news very upsetting, and making her pain about him would drive us over the edge. Temporary insanity is a rare phenomenon, but her husband’s callous disregard and knowing what would happen to her as a divorcee caused Mary Maloney to plunge into a state of madness. She wrongly perceived herself as having no choice but to kill her husband. After hitting her husband with the murder weapon, a leg of lamb, Mary recalls that “She came out of it slowly, feeling cold and surprised, and she stood for a few minutes, looking at the body, still holding the piece of meat tightly with both hands.” This does not sound like the actions of a cold blooded murderer. It rather sounds like someone who did something not even themselves expected, as if they were detached from their body. It appears that Mary is in shock, unable to believe what she may have done, as many insane people do when told of their