A comparison of the gender roles of men versus women shows the belief in prejudicial attitude, which was an essential part of the 1940’s era, and the preconceptions that shaped the point of views of the author Scott Russell Sanders. These preconceived notions of yesteryear complicate relations between young men and women of today. The author wonders how deep the past goes, and he contends that it goes even deeper than speech. In the essay, “The Men We Carry in our Minds” Sanders reflects on his childhood of how he perceived men and women.
Women’s roles in society has changed dramatically in just thirty short years. He speculates the women’s movement of the 80’s has been predetermined. His experiences as a child of the 1940’s era led him to believe in sexism of both genders. The roles of men were to work hard and laborious in his observation. This type of hard work ethic physically broke down a man’s body. The men who labored with these bodies had forearms ropy with muscles, their nails of their hands were black and split, and marked with scars. Heavy lifting had worn out their backs and stomachs were strained from hernias. It was not until college that he reveled in the idea that women did more than just live in comfort and leisure.
To understand the grievances of a woman baffled him. Women read books, were interested in art, music, and literature. They did not have to work in factories, mines or even go to war. Women to the author stayed home, raised children, ran