Gender expectations during WWII

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Gender Expectations during WWII
WWII broke out in 1939 and raged on until 1945, when the aggressor, Germany, and its allies were finally defeated. The war was mainly fought in almost all parts of Europe and some parts of Asia. However, its disastrous effects were felt throughout the world since almost every country in the world was involved. The aftershocks were real as men who had gone to the war returned home seemingly beleaguered and a pale shadow of their former selves. Without a doubt, it had far-reaching consequences, especially in the family context. The novel Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf shows that the lives of millions of people were irredeemably altered, and people lived fearing for the worst. In the novel, Giles muses to himself that "any moment, guns would rake that land into furrows" (Woolf 29). Thousands of men were conscripted into the war and were forced to fight far away from their spouses. Due to the war, lots of men found themselves unable to perform the roles they were accustomed to. Some of the roles that experienced a shift included those provisional roles, that of being prisoners of war, the procreation role, and the role of being heads of families.
 Since time immemorial, one of the main roles of men has been to provide for their families in one way or another. Conventionally, they have been the breadwinners for their families. For instance, according to Woolf, we see Giles arriving home from London, where he works to provide for his family (26). However, this aspect was drastically altered when the Second World War broke out. Many men found themselves out of jobs after the companies they were working for were forced to close down due to security concerns. Others lost their sources of livelihood after the companies they were working for were either destroyed or taken over by enemy soldiers. In addition, many men were conscripted into various armies and were constrained to fight in faraway places (Korieh 9). While fighting in far-flung areas and quite removed from their families, these men found themselves executing roles that were new to them. Many other men lost their jobs after getting displaced by the raging war (Ballinger 366). In some cases, men found themselves in refugee camps and were completely stripped of their ability to earn a living. Last but not least, some men found themselves with no family to fend for following the extermination of their entire families.
Some men found themselves playing the unfamiliar role of being prisoners of war. They were held in concentration camps run by enemy troops and were subjected to horrendous experiences. Actually, those who survived, for many perished, found it hard to talk about their experiences (Makepeace 3). Despite being forced into hard labor, they were starved. In some camps, the situation got so dire that the captives resorted to cannibalism (Makepeace 3). Many others were subjected to physical and mental torture, conditions that some never recovered from. It is an open secret that many men literally lost their mental faculties after witnessing the summary extermination of their loved ones. Those who were recaptured while trying to escape were thrown into isolation which is one of the w...