Primary Source Focus Questions - Essay Example

Primary Source Focus Questions The Cult of Domesti and the Consumer Revolution Referring to Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, what qualities made a good servant and what duties were expected of domestics? What qualities made a good mistress? What does Beeton infer are some of the most typical problems that exist between masters and servants? What do Beeton’s instructions about the management and duties of household servants tell us about how life in modern urban societies has altered over the past century and a half?

The qualities of a good servant include observance and the invariable acquisition of the mistress or master’s character traits (Clark 415). Duties that masters and mistresses expected from their servants include retaining honesty and overall morality in the house. According to Mrs. Beeton, one of the most important qualities of a good mistress is her ability to engage her servant. Another quality is informing her friends and relatives of an empty house through friendly domestics and a relatively lasting willpower (Clark 415).

Beeton says some of the most typical issues that exist between masters and servants are decadence and somewhat disposed attitudes towards each other. Beeton’s instructions tell modern readers of the radical change in relationships between household owners and their house cleaners within a span of hundred and fifty years. However, the instructions do not portray any contemporary relevance since this culture was completely abandoned during the twentieth century.The Ladies Paradise1) In The Ladies Paradise, how is the department store personified (i.e. portrayed) and what do you think this says about the new culture of 19th C consumerism?

What challenges and advantages did shop-girls like Denise face? The writer gives the department store the features of a monster-like apparatus and personifies it. The book portrays the department store as a “continual cascade of materials” flowing alongside the rumble of a river (Zola 36). This portrayal of the department stores paints the image of the 1800s Parisian department store by using numerous definitive pictures. These pictures allow Zola to make an unambiguous comparison between what a customer views at the store and what took place behind the curtains.

Challenges Denise faced as a shop girl include supporting her orphan siblings by working at the kid’s section of the store and the store’s uninviting working conditions. However, Denise benefited from the “match of progress” and her immunity to shopping desires (Zola 41).Modern Thought and Culture in 19th C Europe2) How, specifically, did Darwin’s theory of evolution challenge traditional belief systems and enlightenment ideas of reason? The theory of evolution challenged conventional belief systems by crossing the margin between religion and science by stressing that species changed over extended periods (Clark 421).

This theory questioned creationism and challenged the idea of a benevolent being creating the universe within a span of seven days. In addition, the theory of evolution challenged enlightenment ideas of reason through the mechanism of natural selection. The evolution concept transformed the notions of the ancient history of human beings, reprimanded the church, and reduced human beings’ perfection in contrast to other animals (Clark 424).3) What does Nietzsche’s madman mean when he screams God is Dead and why have we (humans) killed him?

Why were others not receptive to the madman’s message? From Nietzsches perspective of wanting others to abide by their own moralities, what benefits can you see to the death of GOD? The madman in Nietzsche’s work makes an acknowledged reference by screaming “God is dead” to imply the opposition of facile interpretation. The madman’s scream is not an abstract statement or literal position on the current status of God (Clark 491). Instead, the madman diagnoses modern anthropology to refer to the current state of human beings.

The madman means people’s faith in God and adherence to his teachings on morality and spirituality are dead. In Nietzsche’s view, human beings have “killed God” because of the enlightenment age, which has seen a drastic decrease in the need for a God (Clark 491). Human beings after this age thrive in a complex structure of livelihood and society that has a rational answer for virtually any problem.4) Psychologically, what does Freud believe is the most important element in determining human behavior?

How might contemporaries have found this unsettling? Freud believes the most important element in determining human behavior is the unconscious aspect of thought patterns and behavior. According to Freud, human beings are not completely conscious of what they think and frequently make decisions for reasons that have little to do with conscious discernment (Clark 495). Freud discredited the idea that people could garner knowledge regarding themselves and their world and have logical control over both Contemporaries found this element unsettling because it opposed the then rampant positivism, particularly in the West.

The idea of the unconscious influence n thinking was revolutionary for contemporaries in that Freud suggested that consciousness occurred in layers and consisted of thoughts created “below the surface” (Clark 495).Works CitedClark, Charles. Sources of Western Society, Second Edition Volume 2: From the Age of Exploration to the Present. Los Angeles, CA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010.Zola, Emile. The Ladies’ Paradise. Berkley: University Of California Press, 1992.