Patrick McEvoy-Halston 1

Whose Hour?: Generational Conflict in Lillian Hellman’s Children’s Hour

Summary: I think it is appropriate to think of Lillian Hellman’s Children’s Hour as a problem

play. (This will not be a presentation on lesbianism.) The foremost problem it presents audiences
with: how should different generations relate to one another? I am most interested in exploring
how different theories of child care, audiences—to a lesser or greater extent—would have been
familiar with in the 1930s, would have played in their “appreciation,” assessment of the
problematic child, Mary. (I am also interested how contemporaries may have viewed the sort of
schooling regiment Mary rejects.) Given that in the 30s, respectable elders were no longer right
sport for a younger generation, I am also interested in exploring how the play works to suggest
how those who might have been flappers had they been of right age in the 20s, might effect their
freedom from an older but never more righteous and assertive generation amidst the “family is
all important, and all you’ve got,” 1930s.

Plotting:

1) I will begin by discussing why I think it odd critics (especially American ones) of the
play seem so ready to dismiss Mary as simply an evil, selfish, spoiled brat. I will briefly
explore how America was viewed by the British before the revolution, and how the
revolution seemed to have determined the True American to be one who was willfully
anti-authoritarian. As some psychohistorians believe that the main difference between
the British and the Americans in the revolutionary period was one of child rearing
practices, I will also introduce childrearing in this section.

2) I will discuss how America’s first psychologist, Stanley Hall, and (very briefly) its first
pediatrician, Emmett Holt, differed in their views of the child, and in their views of how a
child ought to be brought up. Both were popular; both seemed in complete contrast to
one another: Hall seemed to be all about leniency, about the child’s natural genius, while
Hall seemed to be all about taming the child’s wild instincts.

3) Since he was the most popular child expert in the 20s, I will explore John Watson’s
Behaviorist training for children, his view of the plasticity of children, his disinterest in
introspection, training as a matter of punishments and rewards, stimulus and response, his
lack of interest in getting to the know the child—seeing through his/her “eyes,” his scorn
of Dewey.

4) John Dewey. Pragmatism. Hater of “Medieval Education.” I will look at Dewey’s take
on stimulus and response training of children. Specifically, I will introduce his very
influential 1895 article, “The Reflex-Arc in Psychology.” I will explore how his article
influenced many to view children as active agent, to reject Lockeian, empirical
psychology. In essence, I will explore why when one reads Dewey one can be reminded
of the American Revolution and the True American, of why one can be reminded of
Mary.
 Patrick McEvoy-Halston 2

5) Finally, I will explore why the 30s can be seen as empowering environment for the
elderly, why the decade differed so differently from the 20s in the prevalent view of how
the older generation ought to be treated.

Relevant Publications and Dates:

• 1925: John Watson, Behaviorism.

• 1928: John Watson, Psychological Care of Infant and Child
• 1904: Stanley Hall, Adolescence.
• 1894: Emmett Holt, Care and Feeding of Children.
• 1851: Charles Darwin, Origins of Species.
• 1871: Charles Darwin, Descent of Man.
• 1890: William James, Principles of Psychology.
• 1896: John Dewey, “Reflex-Arc.”

Discussion:

I’d prefer it just go as the situation seems to lead it, but:

1) I read Mary as being quite similar to Emperor Jones—at least as he is characterized

before he enters the forest, yet it seems as if when critics look at Jones they see much to
smile at and even admire, yet with Mary, they have tended to see naught but evil. I am
interested in knowing if you see why I think she could have but wasn’t imagined as the
sort of an aggressive, innovative, spontaneous character (a Huck Finn type) rather than as
a spoiled, malevolent child.

2) I have chosen to not discuss lesbianism in this presentation, but I do think that lesbianism
might readily be conflated, in that is as an “action” which makes one seem irredeemably
bad to an older generation, with theft in this play into the same general category—
badness. Agree?

3) I have discussed Dewey’s belief that we need to act in order to be free. What do you
think of my characterization of the 20s as a period in which this philosophy was enacted,
and the 30s as a decade which—to some extent—might have deemed suffering as the
most situationally appropriate path to righteousness and freedom?

John Dewey Quote:

 Patrick McEvoy-Halston 3

Origins of Species 1851

Descent of Man 1871

 Patrick McEvoy-Halston 4

G. Stanley Hall, Dewey took courses with him when he was applying evolution to child
development. Also tended to focus on the individual not community, “old” psychology, Locke,
passively acted upon.

William James: Principles of Psychology 1890. Saw the nervous system as well adapted for
adaptive action and viewed the conscious mind as adaptive in character, enabling old habits to be
reorganized in novel circumstances Evolution, Psychology, and John Dewey's Critique of the Reflex Arc
Concept, by Eric Bredo
The Elementary School Journal © 1998 The University of Chicago Press 452

James used the notion of the reflex and the triadic relation between stimulus, idea, and response to organize much
of his thinking including the idea that ideas culiminate in, and get their significance from, action.

Critiismn of idea that psychology could be built on idea of stimulas and response. In vogue cause nervous sensory
side and motor side. Mental life as a linear casual experience. Sensatio cause motor. Mind body dualism. Child
reaching for a bright candle and being burned. Child is reaching for the candle, not triggered by seeing candle.
Goal directed action. Not a reflex, continued action. Volition will. Transformtion of orignal stimulus. Originail
stimulus new significance. What the child makes on an event depends upon what it is doing. Acts as coordinated.
Series of sensorimotor cycles. Creates its own sensation while it reponds. Depends upon what already doing.
Stimulus is actually an act of one’s perception. Way of it but also attracted. Learned. Making its character as a
stimulus unclear. Coevolving in an environment it helped to create. Act to change not just adapt, still uncommon
today.

Social activism.

Teacher cetnreed and behavriotists. Lesssons and vlues set up by the teacher. Or behaviorists as adapting to lessons
and evaluations of adapting to structure of reinforcement contingencies.

Structure of organism is irrelevant –skinner

Anything can be perceived a million different ways, must explore inner workings. Neglects need to restructure
environment. Environment given. Evolution as a dance in which partner reponsds aback.. feedback.

Dynamic. Drama. Affair. View for behavior as goal directed. Volition. Reorganize old habits in new
ciircumstances. American Exceptionalism, a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831, has
been historically referred to as the perception that the United States differs qualitatively from
other developed nations, because of its unique origins, national credo, historical evolution, and
distinctive political and religious institutions.1

American exceptionalism is the idea that the United States and the American people hold a
special place in the world, by offering opportunity and hope for humanity, derived from a unique
balance of public and private interests governed by constitutional ideals that are focused on
personal and economic freedom.

Political science defines it as presence of unique traits in the United States, such as a tradition of
anti-authoritarianism, individualism, the failure of socialist parties, the geographical separation
of The Americas from the rest of the world, and high levels of religious influence, particularly
Christianity, that do not correlate with national characteristics in either the similarly developed
nations of Western Europe and Scandanavia, or in communist states or the Marxist-influenced
populations of Latin America.
 Patrick McEvoy-Halston 5

Some critics denounce American exceptionalism as a form of ethnocentrism.

Some interpret the term to indicate a moral superiority of Americans, while others use it to refer
to the American concept as itself an exceptional ideal, which may or may not always be upheld
by the actual people and government of the nation. Dissenters claim "American exceptionalism"
is common ethnocentrism and little more than crude propaganda, that in essence is a justification
for a America-centered view of the world that is inherently chauvinistic and jingoistic in nature.
Historians and political scientists may use the term to simply refer to some case of American
uniqueness without implying that an innate superiority of Americans resulted in the development
of that uniqueness.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Causes in their historical context

o 1.1 Puritan Roots
o 1.2 The American Revolution and Republicanism
o 1.3 Immigration and the availability of resources
o 1.4 Political stability
o 1.5 The Cold War
• 2 Arguments for American exceptionalism
o 2.1 Republican ethos and ideas about nationhood
o 2.2 Opportunity and meritocracy
o 2.3 Political rights
o 2.4 Frontier spirit
o 2.5 The American Revolution
• 3 Resources
o 3.1 See also
o 3.2 External links
o 3.3 Further Reading

o 3.4 Footnotes
[edit]

Causes in their historical context

American exceptionalism is often described as a term for a popularized cultural mythos that
delivers a benevolent explanation for why and how American society succeeded. In essence it
claims that a "deliberate choice" of "freedom over tyranny" was properly made, and this was the
central reason for why American society developed "successfully." Some look skeptically upon
this view as simply another example of a tendency within local societies to develop their own
natural national folklore. With this opinion, American exceptionalism is one of many national
exceptionalist movements.
 Patrick McEvoy-Halston 6

The origins of the concept and the usage of the term have changed as the the United States has
changed as described below.

[edit]

Puritan Roots

The earliest ideologies of English colonists in the country were the protestants of the Puritan
settlers of New England. Many Puritans with Arminian leanings embraced a middle ground
between strict predestination and a looser theology of Divine Providence. They believed God had
made a covenant with their people and had chosen them to lead the other nations of the earth.
One Puritan leader, John Winthrop, expressed this idea with the metaphor of a "City on a Hill" -
that the Puritan community of New England should serve as a model community for the rest of
the world. His metaphor is often used by proponents of exceptionalism.

Although the Puritan worldview of New England itself changed dramatically, and although
different Protestant traditions were strong in the Middle Colonies and the South, the Puritans'
deep moralistic values remained part of the national identity for centuries and arguably remain so
today. Although American exceptionalism is now primarily secular in nature, a portion of it
stems from America's Puritan roots. The Religious Right, including evangelical and
fundamentalist groups that have a heritage similar to Puritanism, currently are major proponents
of exceptionalism.

[edit]

The American Revolution and Republicanism

Another event often cited as a milestone in the history of American Exceptionalism is the
American Revolution. The intellectuals of the Revolution (Thomas Paine's Common Sense is the
best example) for the first time expressed the belief that America was not just an extension of
Europe but a new land, a country of nearly unlimited potential and opportunity that was being
abused by the British mother country they had outgrown. These sentiments laid the intellectual
foundations for the Revolutionary concept of American exceptionalism and was closely tied to
republicanism, the belief that sovereignty belonged to the people, not to a hereditary ruling class.

[edit]

Immigration and the availability of resources

Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States during a time of unprecedented growth. The
United States was often seen as exceptional because of unlimited immigration policies and the
vast resources of land and land incentivization programs during much of the 19th century. Even
though those programs are for the most part in the distant past, popular attitudes within the
United States often link patriotism and nationalism to them; many hold the view that the country
is unique today because of what was done back then. Others countries that have had unlimited
 Patrick McEvoy-Halston 7

immigration and incentives for land exploitation until it is no longer of economic benefit include
Australia and Canada.

Some associate the phrase with the term Manifest Destiny which was employed by Democrats in
the Jacksonian Era to assert a divine right to occupy much of North America.

Some associate the phrase with rampant materialism and consumerism. The unprecedented
availability of natural resources and the drive to utilize them are the root causes of American
exceptionalism for those who hold these views

King George wanted the colonists' money. The British national debt had risen to alarming levels
during the war years and so in 1760 the Crown began a series of economic initiatives designed to
extract more revenue from the colonies. These policies were 'justifiable', the reasoning went,
because the colonists were enjoying the benefits of the peace that had been won.

James Otis

In theory, Great Britain already regulated the economies of the colonies through the Navigation
Acts, but widespread evasion of these laws had long been tolerated. Now, through the use of
open-ended search warrants (Writs of Assistance), strict enforcement became the practice. In
1761, Massachusetts lawyer James Otis argued that the writs violated the constitutional rights of
the colonists. He lost the case, but John Adams later wrote, "American independence was then
and there born."

In 1763, Patrick Henry argued the Parson's Cause case. Clerical pay had been tied to the price of
tobacco by Virginia legislation. When the price of tobacco skyrocketed after a bad crop in 1758,
the Virginia legislature passed the Two-Penny Act to stop clerical salaries from inflating as well.
In 1763, King George III vetoed the Two-Penny Act. Patrick Henry defended the law in court
and argued "that a King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his
people, degenerated into a Tyrant and forfeits all right to his subjects' obedience."

In 1764, British Prime Minister George Grenville's Sugar Act and Currency Act created
economic hardship in the colonies. Protests led to the boycott of British goods, and to the
emergence of the popular slogan "no taxation without representation," in which colonists argued
that only their colonial assemblies, and not Parliament, could levy taxes on them. Committees of
correspondence were formed in the colonies to coordinate resistance to paying the taxes. In
previous years, the colonies had shown little inclination towards collective action. Grenville's
policies were bringing them together.
 Patrick McEvoy-Halston 8

A milestone in the Revolution occurred in 1765, when Grenville passed the Stamp Act, as a way
to finance the quartering of troops in North America. The Stamp Act required all legal
documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards in the
colonies to carry a tax stamp.

Colonial protest was widespread. Secret societies known as the Sons of Liberty were formed in
every colony, and used propaganda, intimidation, and mob violence to prevent the enforcement
of the Stamp Act. The furor culminated with the "Stamp Act Congress", which sent a formal
protest to Parliament in October of 1765. Parliament responded by repealing the Stamp Act, but
pointedly declared its legal authority over the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”

This exaggerated depiction of the "Boston Massacre" by Paul Revere was designed to inflame
opposition to the military occupation of Boston.

The sequel to the Stamp Act was not long in coming. In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend
Acts, placing taxes on a number of common goods imported into the colonies, including glass,
paint, lead, paper, and tea. In response, colonial leaders organized boycotts of these British
imports. On June 10, 1768, the Liberty, a ship belonging to colonial merchant John Hancock and
suspected of smuggling, was seized by customs officials in Boston. Angry protests on the street
led customs officials, fearing for their safety, to report to London that Boston was in a state of
insurrection.

British troops began to arrive in Boston in October of 1768. Tensions continued to mount;
culminating in the "Boston Massacre" on March 5, 1770, when British soldiers of the 29th
Regiment of Foot fired into an angry mob, killing five. Revolutionary agitators, like Samuel
Adams, used the event to stir up popular resistance, but, after the trial of the soldiers, who were
defended by John Adams, tensions diminished.

The Townshend Acts were repealed in 1770, after much colonial protest, and it was still
theoretically possible that further bloodshed in the colonies might be avoided. However, the
British government had left one tax from the Townshend Acts in place as a symbolic gesture of
 Patrick McEvoy-Halston 9

their right to tax the colonies—the tax on tea. For the revolutionaries, who stood firm on the
principle that only their colonial representatives could levy taxes on them, it was still "one tax
too many". This resulted in the Boston Tea Party.

Nineteenth century Scottish lawsuit. Great Drumsheugh Case. Safe medium for exploring
personal issues.