Life back in the 50's

(Mathis)

In 1947, the world was just coming out of World War II and the Great Depression. Life was a lot harder than today. As it was described in the book, students who misbehave were frequently molested by their teachers and it was perfectly normal, as much for the children as the adults. Duddy has been punished many times yet it doesn’t seem to stop him from misbehaving. Medicine was not as evolved as today. Mr. Macpherson’s wife was ill from a disease where doctors could barely do anything. She eventually died due to a lack of proper treatment for her illness. St-Catherine Street and St-Laurent Boulevard were a place controlled by the Mafia. Drugs were being sold, prostitution was prominent, cops were corrupted etc. Duddy’s father is a taxi driver in Montreal and often drive prostitutes to their job or with people who paid for them. Job norms were also not the same. Duddy worked in his uncle's dress factory at the age of thirteen. In today’s society, no one is going to hire someone so young, especially in a factory, where machines can be dangerous and were even more dangerous in 1947. Women didn’t have as many rights as today. It was never mentioned a woman had an important job, like a teacher at Duddy’s high school, the only time they were mentioned, either it was a minor job, like working in a factory or a hotel, or they didn’t have any job at all. They were staying at home taking care of the children most of the time. Talking about children and family, they were big. Every single character in the book has at least one sibling as far as we know it. Today you can encounter many different people who are an only child, but the more you go back in time, the more you realize your ancestors had many siblings.