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Claire Horn

CAS 137

Rhetorical Analysis Essay

War: Master of Breaking Female Gender Norms

Men in uniforms with guns. Explosions. Blood. Chaos. Death. These are the

images that probably come to mind when someone says the word war. It is easy to think

of war as being confined to the field of battle and to forget the effects of war on the home

front. But what happens to society when the men march off to fight and leave the women

at home? During the Civil War, it is estimated that around 2.75 million men fought in the

war (“Who was the …”) and during World War II around 16.1 million people served

(World War II Facts). All these men left their homes to fight in the war, leaving their

wives, daughters, and sisters behind to take care of themselves and to be compelled to

take on greater roles in society. In a culture that was still firmly entrenched in the

patriarchy, this exodus of men from society had a major impact on the roles women were

expected to take on during the war. One of two artifacts that I will be analyzing is a

cartoon from the Civil War published in 1863, which encourages women give their

husbands an extreme ultimatum in order to compel them to enlist. The second artifact is a

Kleenex ad from World War II published in 1944, which encourages women to convince

their husbands to let them get wartime jobs. In similar and contrasting ways both artifacts

argue the need for women to break traditional roles and societal norms of the time

through questioning and trying to compel their husbands, to promote the war effort. The

artifacts utilize the Kairos of wartime, reference to commonplaces, and appeals to pathos.
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Although published during two different wars, both artifacts capitalize on how the

war disrupts normal society. During the Civil War, women had very few rights and were

supposed to be completely subservient to their husbands (Bryan). Similarly, in the 1930s,

although women could vote and enter into the workforce, they were still expected to rely

on their husband as the primary provider of the family (Chafe). However, both of these

expected roles were discarded when the men went to war because society demanded that

women help with the war effort any way they could. This meant urging women to

question their husbands and to act immediately. In the Kleenex ad, the response to a

husband’s objection to a wartime job is that, “women must take jobs or our war effort

will bog down.” The use of the italicized “must” creates a sense of urgency by

emphasizing the idea that immediate action is necessary or the war effort will suffer. This

same sense of urgency is evident in the Civil War cartoon, conveyed through the use of

the ultimatum “Either you or I, sir.” The ultimatum forces a decision to be made now, not

put off until a more convenient date. The underlying message presented is that the army,

the war effort, needs soldiers now, so either I will join up or you will. This attitude from a

woman was unheard of at the time because it contradicted the idea of an subordinate

wife. It is this sense of urgency for the war effort that gives the women presented in the

artifacts the ability to question their husbands without any negative social repercussions.

The women’s breach of societal rules is allowed because of the urgency for action, the

Kairos, which wartime generates.

This Kairotic urgency would be useless without the references to certain

commonplaces evident in each artifact, however. The major commonplace that both

artifacts call upon is that the ends justify the means, if the end benefits the war effort. In
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the case of the Kleenex ad, the idea that the end of benefitting the war effort justifies

women working during the war is shown through the husband’s opposition. The husband

asserts, “I can support our family,” and this conveys the belief of the time that the

husband should be the breadwinner and that women in the workforce was normally

frowned upon. However, in the context of the ad, it is the husband who is portrayed as

wrong because he wants to hinder his wife from work, work that will benefit the war

effort. In the Civil War cartoon, a wife is portrayed standing over her husband and

threatening to go herself and fight in the war if he does not. In a normal time this would

be shocking, scandalous, and against the idea that a wife is subordinate to her husband

(Bryan). However, although it may still be shocking, it is acceptable in this cartoon

because the cartoon’s purpose, its end, is to benefit the war effort by compelling men to

enlist. This mentality of the ends justifying the means during war time allowed these

breaches, the portrayal of a wife as dominant to her husband and a wife going against her

husbands wishes, in women’s roles to be acceptable and even encouraged it in order to

benefit the war effort.

Lastly, both artifacts use pathos appeal to the pride of the viewer, both in men and

women. The artifacts differ in how they appeal to pride though. In the Civil War cartoon,

the appeal to pride appears to point out men’s lack of pride of that would force their

subordinate wives to offer to go to war in their place. While this may have been the

primary thinking of the cartoon, it still unintentionally appeals to the pride of women as

well. There is still a woman standing over her husband and basically asking him if he is

as tough and as willing to contribute to the cause as she is. Though not its intended

purpose, the cartoon shows women they can be stronger and braver than their husbands
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and they can be proud of it because it benefits their cause. This radical idea of promoting

women’s pride is allowed because it serves to motivate the husband to act by appealing to

his pride. The Kleenex ad is slightly different in the way it appeals to pride. Similar to the

cartoon, it calls out men’s pride but it does so by saying men’s abundant pride is

hindering the war effort and “It isn’t a question of pride!” Instead of poking men’s pride

the ad states that pride has nothing to do with the war effort, you can still be a proud man

and let your wife work to benefit the cause. In fact, the add suggests that husbands should

be proud of their wives working because the women’s work “… means winning the war–

saving the lives of our boys!” This also implies that women should be proud that their

work helps win the war and save lives. This was an effective appeal during World War II,

and not only did women take jobs but they served in military and nursing corps. In fact,

around “350,000 American women served in uniform…”(“History At a Glance…”). The

ad does the unthinkable for the time by calling out the fact that it is a husband’s pride

hindering the war effort and promoting women’s pride, in order to ensure that everyone,

no matter what gender, contributes to the war effort. Though it was uncommon for both

time periods of the artifacts, the questioning of men’s pride and promotion of women’s

pride is justified in order to promote actions that will benefit the cause.

In conclusion, both the Kleenex ad and the Civil War cartoon justify encouraging

women to break societal norms through Kairos, commonplaces, and pathos because it

will benefit the war effort. The radical breaking of norms is allowed because in the end it

helps win the war. Though they come from different time periods, both symbolize a

revolutionary turn in societal norms. In both cases, women were not completely content

with going back to the way things were after the war. After the Civil War, women began
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to fight for suffrage and expand of the feminist movement that had begun with the

abolitionist movement before the war. After World War II, women were forced to return

to their homes even though some wanted to continue to work (“History At a Glance…”).

After learning what they were capable of and experiencing a bit of freedom, women

could not go back to the restricted roles society expected of them. The wars may have

ended for men, but the war for women’s right to vote and equality had just begun.
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Works Cited

Bryan, Dan. “The Antebellum Home and Women’s Culture (Part2).” American History

USA, 22 March 2012. www.americanhistoryusa.com/antebellum-home-

womans-culture-2/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017

Chafe, William H. "World War II as a Pivotal Experience for American Women.”

Women and War: The Changing Status of American Women from the 1930s to

the 1940s, edited by Maria Diedrich and Dorothea Fischer-Hornung, pp. 21-34.

New York: Berg, 1990. Encyclopedia. www.encyclopedia.com/social-

sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/women-early-mid-20th-

century-1900-1960-social-and-economic-conditions. Accessed 4 Oct. 2017

“History At a Glance: Women in World War II.” National World War II Museum New

Orleans. www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-

resources/research-starters/women-wwii. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017

“Who was the Common Soldier of America’s Civil War?” HistoryNet.

www.historynet.com/civil-war-soldiers. Accessed 4 Oct. 2017

“Women and the Civil War.” Teaching with Primary Sources – MTSU, Library of
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Congress Teaching with Primary Sources.

library.mtsu.edu/tps/Women_and_the_Civil_War.pdf. Accessed 27 Sept. 2017

“World War II Facts & Figures” World War II Foundation.

www.wwiifoundation.org/students/wwii-facts-figures/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2017