The Uprooted
3/3/2011
Engl-1302.22
Essay #2
Manufactures of Yesterday, Today In The Uprooted, Oscar Handlin paints an image of the journey of immigrants leaving their villages in Europe, the rough conditions of crossing the Atlantic and the assimilation into America's economy. It is here we find the country engulfed in the industrial revolution powered by an endless supply of labor forces in water powered plants, a work ethic that we still witness today. Immigrants came from Europe of an old society that fell apart in the wake of a modern world that left millions homeless. The previous stability of agriculturists were the staple of a continent and impervious to change. Peasants farmed their lands as individuals connected to a village that viewed itself as a whole. Not only did the land united them, but after generations as a clan, blood ties between families played a role in the acquisition of land and the moral imperative to pass it to their descendants. Marriage was expected and negotiated by professional matchmakers. It not only united a couple but the entire wellbeing of two families, their land and dowries. The traditional household roles were to be fulfilled as the father took his place as the authority over family and land. The wife reared her babies and tended to the garden, livestock and provisions as their children took on chores according to their age. Extended family, without the privilege of land, would be taken in along side servants to aide in the many jobs the land brought to operate as an economic whole. Villagers worked together with the women tending to work inside the home as they gossiped and the men helped each other in exchange. The land was allocated in strips and was used by the whole community for grazing & wood as it held no boundaries. Each strip was divided into thirds in accordance of each season and the family that toiled in its soil lived off of its bounties. The village's stability was threatened by an increasing population of
Engl-1302.22
Essay #2
Manufactures of Yesterday, Today In The Uprooted, Oscar Handlin paints an image of the journey of immigrants leaving their villages in Europe, the rough conditions of crossing the Atlantic and the assimilation into America's economy. It is here we find the country engulfed in the industrial revolution powered by an endless supply of labor forces in water powered plants, a work ethic that we still witness today. Immigrants came from Europe of an old society that fell apart in the wake of a modern world that left millions homeless. The previous stability of agriculturists were the staple of a continent and impervious to change. Peasants farmed their lands as individuals connected to a village that viewed itself as a whole. Not only did the land united them, but after generations as a clan, blood ties between families played a role in the acquisition of land and the moral imperative to pass it to their descendants. Marriage was expected and negotiated by professional matchmakers. It not only united a couple but the entire wellbeing of two families, their land and dowries. The traditional household roles were to be fulfilled as the father took his place as the authority over family and land. The wife reared her babies and tended to the garden, livestock and provisions as their children took on chores according to their age. Extended family, without the privilege of land, would be taken in along side servants to aide in the many jobs the land brought to operate as an economic whole. Villagers worked together with the women tending to work inside the home as they gossiped and the men helped each other in exchange. The land was allocated in strips and was used by the whole community for grazing & wood as it held no boundaries. Each strip was divided into thirds in accordance of each season and the family that toiled in its soil lived off of its bounties. The village's stability was threatened by an increasing population of