The song encompasses many themes of 20th century America. During this time, there was a huge influx of immigrants. With this, the idea of what an American is began to change- both in positive and negative ways. The song speaks to the expected assimilation of the new Americans- which has the expected connotation of leaving their "otherness" behind as they become American. It also speaks to the divergent experiences of the different groups of immigrants. In New York, the Ellis Island experience was, for lack of a better word, more welcoming. Yes, new Americans had to answer 29 questions and be medically fit, but that was a much more gracious welcome than Chinese immigrants felt at Angel Island. The west coast immigration station was designed to detain and discourage immigration from China altogether. In all, the song represents the very real push and pull that all Americans experienced during the massive increase in immigration.

In this historical context, the best sources will be photographs. This is an excellent resource to begin to feel what life for a new immigrant to America might feel like. I would also encourage the examination of primary documents such as the Chinese Exclusion Act. Political cartoons would be a superior resource to begin to understand the immigrant and nativist side of the immigration debate in America at the time. I feel these would give a most rounded glimpse into this version of America.

The instant coffee speaks to the greater need for innovation during World War II. Our soldiers need to eat and food producers were tasked with creating a palatable and shelf stable food source. They rose to the occasion. Once the war was over, those producers want to continue to create those foods, but now had the challenge of convincing Americans that prepackaged food is worth buying and eating. This leads to innovation on the marketing front as well as the food front.

The key limitation in analyzing advertisements in terms of women's roles in society is context and generalization. The advertising wants to speak to the female consumer, so they have to have some understanding of women's roles. That said, it is over generalizing to say that ALL women want A. It is over generalizing to say that ALL women behave B. Advertising also falls short in connecting to regional familial situations. Advertising is meant to hit a large, broad audience. While this can work, it doesn't address society in Florida as compared to society in California, Minnesota or Wyoming. With this mind, examining only advertisements only provides a partial picture of the greater knowledge we are trying to gain.

The dishwasher represents a bigger picture look at the WWII US and post WWII US economy. It represents a turn from the war time only war production to consumer goods. This was a necessity in order to keep the workers employed. War was good for employment as factories needed every able body to be on the production line turning out equipment for war. With the war over, all of those workers become unnecessary. To prevent a disastrous unemployment spike, the factories turned their eyes to producing new and modern goods that would be desired by the pubic which in turn would keep the need for the labor force.

In particular, the kitchen debate really sets the tone for the divide during the Cold War. Both the Americans and the Soviets were unwilling to try to see things from the other's perspective. It is ridiculous that the Soviets would look at the dishwasher as a loss of social value and morality. It is equally ridiculous that Americans would see the Soviets as heartless/soulless.

This image relates to the key for the US being able to win World War II, the home front. While fighting is critical, soldiers cannot fight if they do not have the necessary equipment. By taking on a posture of sacrifice at home, the US was able to out produce its enemies. For example, Americans agreed to limit their consumption of certain goods (rationing) in order to have enough of those good for the soldiers. This not only included food, but doing without new items during the years of the war. No new cars were produced during the war. Simply put, people at home adopted a concept of self sacrifice for the war because they understood the soldiers were also making sacrifices to win the war and preserve democracy.

From this module, key questions would include:
Why would people voluntarily reduce their consumption? Why would people be willing to break rationing and sell their rationed goods on the black market? What challenges do you think people would have faced at home under rationing? To me the largest question is this- we can look back and know that Americans did make the sacrifice of personal comfort to win the war by collectively agreeing to ration. In our current society, if we were faced with a similar situation, World War III, would we at home be able to pull together and sacrifice as our grandparents did?