Response to “The Men We Carry In Our Minds"

Sanders’ essay describes women as victims, which is not how I would describe women during the time period. I agree with Sanders’ that women, in any period of time, do strive to be everything and do everything, I consider it a woman’s nature. Married women, especially during the late 1940s and 1950s, had priorities that were viewed similar to a male’s job. The priorities could have been cleaning or cooking, but that doesn’t make the work less superior than a man’s job. However, a woman wasn’t able to receive additional education as easily as we are now. The women attending college in the mid 1960s were from wealthy, powerful families striving to carry on the legacy that the men in her family established.
Sanders’ title says it best, “The Men We Carry In Our Minds,” is the generalization of a working man, that young men will strive to be one day. Living up to the title, Sanders’ envisioned a difficult life for himself by becoming similar to the men he knew, struggling laborers with aging bodies and families to care for. Sander’s was able to break the mold by attending college. The women he met there enlightened Sanders to the realization that he had been confined to the small town attitudes from where he was raised. I have alternate views then Sanders, pursuing additional education was expected to be in my future as a child. Sanders’ essay described his realization of his small mindedness he was oblivious to, I support with the topic of Sanders’ essay, small mindedness is intolerable ignorance.