OBE #2 Those Critics Were Silly!
“Hotel Homes as a Public Nuisance” written by Paul Groth is a piece about the negative views on hotel and downtown living. Groth starts out by explaining who the people against hotel living were, the type of backgrounds they came from, and why these people thought this concept was so terrible. The people who were against this type of urban living were those from upper-middle class families who had grown up in a suburban lifestyle. They felt as if living in the downtown environment took away from family life and the roles women and men were supposed to uphold.
As I was reading this piece I actually found it quite humorous, I know that it was written at a time where it made sense to most people, but to me it sounded very silly. Women were seen as lazy, irresponsible and selfish just because they lived in an environment where they did not have to cook, clean and provide for a family? I wonder what these critics would think of women today! The men that lived in the hotel environment were seen as men who never had to have a woman around to wait on them, which in turn suggests that these men would never have to find a wife. Not having a wife supports the idea of not having a family, which I will now go into.
One of the main focuses of this piece was the strain put on families and family development by living in a hotel. Groth states, “People who felt…that home and family were the ‘crucible of our happiness’ saw the notion of people living alone, or family groups living in uncharacteristic ways, as a clear danger to several aspects of the Victorian middle-income family (208).” One of the downfalls these critics saw was the inability to have children, or if a family did have children, the inability to keep a proper eye on them. One of the reasons of this was the fact that there was no yard for the children to play in and no positive community for the children to submerse themselves in.
I feel as if this article can easily be described as anti-urban. Throughout the discussions we have had in class, a city is a densely populated place with many different types of people who interact on an impersonal, but daily basis. What comes to my mind when I think of a city is precisely what the critics of hotel living do not like; independence, or freedom, from the strict rolls you have in the suburbs or small towns. For me the whole idea of a city is the ability to be able to be anonymous. Just like Jane Jacobs mentioned in her piece about the ability to speak with people about important things, yet not have to necessarily be extremely emotionally attached to them. These critics of this life basically think it is a complete evil to want independence and to want to be free of what society thinks a woman or a man should do. Groth states that, “…the distractions of living downtown rendered people selfish and self-centered (211)…”
I think it is great that people were becoming independent, at least in the sense of not having to live up to societal rolls. Yes, it may be a bit selfish but why would these critics want a selfish person to have a family? This would just end up in more problems that are intensely worse than being selfish for a little bit in your life. I think it is great to take time for yourself and take care of your needs and wants, because maybe someday you will not be able to do this.
-Kate Cichy