Mayra J.

Diaz

Ms. O’Keefe

American Literature

31 May 2017

The fear within America

Intro

Fear comes from outside sources or past occurrences that bring you emotional unbalance.

It perpetuates from dangers, pain and threats that are brought upon yourself or your

surroundings. America, as a society and country, has its own fears. These fears come from past

experiences, from the unknown, and from not feeling as though we are the greatest country.

Within a society fear comes in different forms as well. It comes from the news, from higher

authority, and from any sort of media. It perpetuates through the media and through others to

bring more fear to a group of people -- our society. America and our societies have seen fear one

to many times, so we’ve become obedient to the news and media when they tell us to beware of

something or someone. We want to protect ourselves, so we listen and do. Fear is a way to

control people, it causes so much tension to Americans that we soon become ignorant to reality.

What was 1950s America afraid of and why?

1950s America had fears that consisted of: housing policies, people of different race, and

higher authority. They were afraid of these things because they knew their lives were in the

hands of others and they had no control over that. In the novel ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s

Nest’ it states, “About the only time we get any letup from this time control is in the fog; then

time doesn’t mean anything. It’s lost in the fog, like everything else” (Kessey, 78). Americans
and the characters in this novel both face similar fears. They’re afraid of a higher authority and

they both search for something they can find comfort in (in this instance it’s the fog). Americans

find their comfort in secret. By this, I mean that most Americans would rather become naive to

situations than to acknowledge them. We are the reason that our fears from the 1950s are still

fears we have today.

How is fear created and perpetuated within a society?

When fear begins, it overpowers and runs through a society. Fear perpetuates through

society because of Americans themselves and it’s created through media, news, and higher

authority. During the 1950s, America was filled with discrimination, segregation, and racism. A

document titled ‘How We Built the Ghettos’ states, “In 1984, ”he writes, “the white-to-black

wealth ratio was 12-to–1…But over the next 14 years the wealth gap began to grow once again,

until it had skyrocketed up to 19-to–1 in 2009” (1). Although this doesn’t directly show

discrimination, people can see that African Americans never made higher success; Whites have

always overran them. Another quote, following the previous one, states, “A large part of this, he

explains, has everything to do with housing discrimination: Disparities in homeownership are a

major driver of the racial wealth gap…” (1). This quote does mention housing discrimination and

also states that it’s a major reason for racial wealth gaps. This is a big part of why most

minorities rent from whites nowadays -- because in the 1950s they were the ones mostly given

mortgages, rather than the minorities. Americans were afraid because they knew things would’ve

became worse if they fought back. Their fears grew and perpetuated through society because

they were being held in for so long and were not being acknowledged aloud.
What was 1950s America afraid of and why?

Americans continue to have some of the same fears even in today’s society. The fears

American deal with usually come from the same source -- media. Americans are constantly

facing manipulation and confinement in their own country. “I hide in the mop closet and listen,

my heart beating in the dark, and I try to keep from getting scared…” (Kessey ). This novel, One

Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, correlates to Americans in today’s society. It shows how we

always try to remain strong, but that doesn’t stop our minds and our hearts from still

experiencing fear. As humans we already have our own personal fears; however, as a society our

fears are usually all drawn from the same source.

How is fear created and perpetuated within a society?

These fears Americans are facing are never ending because we continue to let them

control our lives. We allow these fears to overrun us and exist in our communities. During the

1950s some Americans would try to fight back and make their voice heard, but it never resulted

in anything good. Most Americans still face the same fears from then and now. “Blockbusting

inspired tremendous violence and anti-black sentiment, especially from working-class whites,

who were often outbid by blacks, but couldn’t afford suburban housing outside of the city”

(Bouie 4). Blockbusting were realtors that convinced African Americans to move into white

neighborhoods, so the prices would drive down. This is eventually how ‘renting’ started. African

Americans were discriminated against, and whites were manipulated by realtors and media. All

Americans were convinced of one thing or another. The media wants us to be scared of one

another, and create seperation, discrimination, and segregation. Our fears are constant because
we allow them to be. Americans are letting their fears dictate their decisions and their way of

acting.

What was 1950s America afraid of and why?

Our country is diverse and beautiful, but as Americans continue to hide their voices and

fears our country is becoming separate and ugly. We are becoming our fears. Ken Kesey's novel

states, “She stops and nods at some of the patients come to stand around and stare out of eyes all

red and puffy with sleep. She nods once to each. Precise, automatic gesture” (). The Big Nurse is

the novel can represent today’s government and media. They’re both overpowering,

manipulating, and secretive. The media only projects what they want society to fear. If a city is

known as being violent, then the media will continue to project this. They will never show the

good in that city; however, if a city or a suburb is known as being non-violent and calming, then

the media keeps it this way. If this particular city or suburb has a suicide, protest, violent act,

drugs, or any negativity the media does its best to never make that known. Today’s society is

very messed up and scary and Americans are aware of this, yet we are doing nothing to help

ourselves and one another.

Conclusion

Americans have a variety of fears, but we do not acknowledge them. We are letting the

media and government dictate our decisions and our minds. We may think we are in control, but

we aren’t. Our world is slowly, but surely crumpling. If we don’t make peace with one another,

then the only thing we have is war and negativity. As Americans we should be United as one.

We cannot live in a broken country because that will become our greatest weakness -- as a
country we are separate, but as a country we’ll crumple as one if our fears continue to overpower

us.