Reader; All American Experience, Amusing the Million, Coney Island Frolics:
What I noticed while reading these last three sources was the way that Coney seemed to strip away all identifying characteristics of the people who attended the parks. Thats not to say that they became mindless automatons, but rather that their individual culture and social class seemed to dissipate in lieu of the festivities of the park.
In the All American Adventure, Lilly Daché says, "'What would Mam say, if she knew that I smiled at a strange young man I never saw before. This is what she warned me about, No nice girl would ever think of doing such an unladylike thing'" (2). We see that the park takes Lilly out of her natural comfort zone and rigid social code to enjoy the freedom of the amusement. Her previous culture is stripped away in favor a relaxed society loosely bound by the search of entertainment.
Likewise Thompson comments, "People are just boys and girls grown tall. Elaborated child's play is what they want on a holiday. Sliding down cellar doors and the make-believes of youngsters are the most effective amusements for grown ups" (6). For Thompson's case, the adults suspend their airs of maturity and become children once more. Yet another level of their identity stripped away.
Finally Fox makes note, "If it were not for the men who accompany them it would he impossible to recognize them as the same persons who but a little while ago entered those diminutive rooms" (1). The woman who go to Coney to bath strip away the makeup and the fashion of the time to become nearly different people. They shed the entrapment of their old lives and culture for the freedom offered at Coney.
So then, is this freedom from prior culture and status a good or a bad thing (to put it rather elementary)? How should we view this trait of Coney Island in a historical perspective? And what does it show us about the changing nature of American culture?
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