Essay on Esther's Path to Fulfillment

After World War II, the nation was blooming. Everything was growing, people were going to college, and wealth grew. The idea of the perfect American life was developed, this included a husband that worked and a wife that stayed home and took care of the house and children. To look at how women are affected by this perfect life I am analyzing “Governor Adlai Stevenson Tells College Women about Their Place in Life, 1955” and “Good Housekeeping: Every Executive Needs a Perfect Wife, 1956”.

The Persian Empire is arguably one of the greatest and largest empires ever in the history of the world. It was in place from approximately 550 to 334 BCE in Asia Minor and Persia. Throughout the time the empire was in place there were multiple kings that ruled it changing the cultures of the people living in the empire. The Book of Ester is a book from the Hebrew Bible written during the fourth century BCE that tells the story of a Persian king Achashvairosh. In the story information is given on how Persian Kings were able rule their vast empire for such a long period of time. The Persian Kings that ruled the Persian Empire were able to do their job successfully, deal with problems they faced, and keep their empire culturally vast because

The book of Esther tells the faithfulness of one woman and her uncle. It is only one of two books that contain the heroism and bravery of a woman heroine. The story of Esther accomplishes two profound things, the first: “To demonstrate God’s providential care of his people, even those outside the land of Israel, and 2) to commend the observance of the feast of Purim by relating how it originated” (Breneman 289).Unlike the rest of the Bible the story of Esther does not directly state or talk about God, but instead shows God’s plans for all of our lives and how in all frightening moments of life, He remains faithful to those who trust and have faith in Him. “In spite of the omission of any name for deity, there is no other book in all the

Before 1939, the “ideal woman” was the devoted housewives whose sole purposes in life was to be devoted to her husband, raise the children, and keep a tidy house. However, all

Can an orphan become a queen? It sounds imaginable, however, this is the story of Queen Esther. God had a purpose and a plan for Esther. She was a humble woman that leads and assisted her people. Just like the steps from the book The Servant Leader, Esther’s life included five steps of a servant leader. She ran with great purpose, upended the pyramid, raised the bar, blazed the trail, and built on the strengths (Leah, 2010). She accepted and used her position for the good of her people. Queen Esther was a servant leader that selflessly placed the Jews before herself and even at the price of possibly losing her life. Moreover, she bloomed into an influential and authentic leader by placing the Jews above herself. The book of Esther is about Esther being a servant leader.

When we are young we play house and we play doctor, we pretend we are husbands and wives to the kids we play with. Marriage is imbedded into our minds at a young age and we value marriage as we get older. We see examples of marriages through personal experience, the TV, and through the media, but how much has marriage changed now compared to the 1950’s? The idea of marriage has been altered and improved since the 1950’s because of feminism, views about individualism, and views of same-sex marriage.

In accordance to Betty Freidan, the 1950’s suburban housewife was “the dream image of the young American woman” ; it was the ultimate feminine fulfillment . Friedan exposes in her book, The Feminine Mystique that women were dissatisfied with their primary role of housewife, a phenomenon present throughout Western societies that Freidan identified as “the problem that has no name.” Today across contemporary Western societies, many women have the choice to enter the workforce, however the common notion that a woman’s predominant role as a housewife is still prevalent. This adds complexities to women’s lives as they attempt to juggle the double burden of paid and unpaid work, a barrier that reinforces women’s subordinate role in society and in many cases prevents women from obtaining

Esther had 2 parents, both born in Warsaw, Poland. She grew up with 3 sisters and 1 brother. Her family immigrated into Frankfurt, to be able to provide a better education for their children. They soon moved to Munich. They moved around a lot, but finally settled back into Frankfurt. The Ebe (original name) family lived in a small apartment, in Frankfurt.. In regards to religion, the Ebe family went to a Polish synagogue, in Frankfurt. They went to their synagogue almost every day.They always enjoyed celebrating Jewish holidays with each other. Esther and her other siblings went to a very well known Jewish school. She enjoyed school, until Hitler came into power because they started to get blamed for everything that Germany had been through.

In many ways, Buddy Willard is a dangerous figure in Esther’s life had she been naive and accepting of his propositions. These dangerous traits, however, simply encompass the ideologies which many men believe to be true, particularly in this time period. Such traits are evident in the following events: his ridicule of her poetry, his implication that she should give up poetry when they have a baby and when he unsolicitedly reveals his genitals to Esther, asking if she’s ever seen a man. Though these actions seem disconnected from the masculine gender roles, they are almost direct reflections of the societal norms for men. Creative careers such as poetry tend to receive disdain and contempt from society because they engage with sensitivity which is often associated with femininity. Buddy’s dismissal of Esther’s career aspirations is a reflection of the common male opinion that creative work is unrespectable. Had Esther been naive, she might’ve agreed with Buddy and conformed to the female expectations that she must stay home with a baby. The danger that such ideology poses to Esther’s growth and conceptions about the world around her is evident in her reflection:

The book of Esther is a book of history that takes place in Persia around 464 BC to 495 BC. It is a story of Gods redemptive plan using a courageous Jewish woman born Hadassah which means hidden that is what she would become among the group of Persian women that was brought before the Persian Emperor Xerxes so he could select his new queen. Xerxes had a Persian queen Vashti whom he divorced because she disobeyed him and publicly. Xerxes was a careless a foolish ruler who allowed his right-hand man Haman to rein and rule the kingdom without overseeing his affairs himself. Now there was young Jewish orphan who was raised by her cousin Mordecai a servant to the king. When news spread that all beautiful women be brought before the king. Mordecai

The book of Esther began with King Xerxes needing to pick a new queen. Beautiful women came from all over 127 provinces to his palace in the hope that they would be chosen as queen. He selected Esther, who was from the tribe of Benjamin. She decided to keep her Jewish identity hidden from the king. Esther was an orphan who was raised by her uncle, Mordecai. The king appointed a man named Haman as Prime Minister, and Esther’s uncle, Mordecai, refused to bow down before Haman. Haman was infuriated by this and he asked King Xerxes for permission to destroy all of the Jewish people. He said to the king, “There are certain people, scattered and spread out among the peoples in all the states of your kingdom, their laws are different from other peoples and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not worth it for the king to leave them alive” (Esther 3:8). The king agreed and ordered for all of the Jewish people to be killed. Mordecai heard about the order and told Esther that she had to change the kings mind. Esther ended up revealing to the king that she was Jewish, and said that Haman was an enemy. The king was angry and ended up hanging Haman. The king appointed Mordecai as his new Prime Minister, in the place of Haman. Mordecai granted the Jewish people the right to defend themselves against those who try to harm them. The Jewish people were saved and successfully defeated their enemies throughout the provinces.

Esther, an early secular novel, never mentions God but is Scripture (included in the canon). A Jewish historical novel that portrays Judith, who saves her people through honoring vows, praying and creative action; has been rejected/accepted in Judaism and Christianity so that it is Scripture/not Scripture depending on the applied canon (list of authoritative/sacred works). For Protestants’ it is not (Countryman; Coogan 8). Disparity in treatment of these works is attributable to the evolution of the Hebrew/Old Testament canon. In fact, only the Torah has generally been accepted since Old Testament times.

At first read the book of Esther is a story of a Queen who was able to achieve a heroic act that saved her people from being destroyed. However as you examine the story it’s more than a historic story of triumph, but through the actions of the characters in the story it becomes a blueprint for many aspects of leadership. By examining the different dimensions of the leadership traits of King Ahasuerus, Haman, Mordecai and Esther will represent the different facet of developing into a leader.

Esther’s sense of alienation from the world around her comes from the expectations placed upon her as a young woman living in 1950s America. Esther feels pulled between her desire to write and the pressure she feels to settle down and start a family. While Esther’s intellectual talents earn her prizes, scholarships, and respect, many people assume that she most wants to become a wife and mother. The girls at her college mock her studiousness and only show her respect when she begins dating a handsome and well-liked boy. Her relationship with Buddy earns her mother’s approval, and everyone expects Esther to marry him. Buddy assumes that Esther will drop her poetic ambitions as soon as she becomes a mother, and Esther also assumes that she cannot

World War II had just ended a few years ago, marriage and birth rates dramatically increased, and the divorce rate was declining. It was nicknamed the baby boom. The ideal family of the 1950’s was the dad was the head of the household, he brought the paycheck, the mom did the cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children and the kids were well-behaved and courteous. In the 1950s the age for marrying had decreased from 24 for men to 22 and 21 for women to 20. This was due mainly to the war which caused uncertainty in young couple’s lives. Many women took wartime jobs and they got to experience a sense of freedom they had never known before, when the war was over they were pressured to return back to their domestic roles. Eventually being someone’s bride and wife was once again the goal of most women but one-third of women still made up the work force. The 1950s is viewed as a time of conformity for both men and women. Women were much pressured to keep the family entity strong and together. The way to do this best was by remaining at home to take care of her husband and children, and refusing to pursue a career or go in the work force, or so they said. Working women were paid much less than men and were still regarded as meek and inferior beings. Also, a common stereotype about women was that they went to college to get a “Mrs. (pronounced M.R.S.) degree, meaning a husband” (PBS.Org). Many women had other aspirations in life but because of society and media at that time a husband was far more important than anything