History 476

Devine

Spring 2016

World War II & Youth Study Questions

Tuttle, Daddy’s Gone to War – Chapter 3

1. In what ways did home front children react to their fathers going off to war? How did reactions differ based on the age of the children?

2. How did the reaction of mothers to their husbands’ departures influence the reactions of homefront children?

3. What were some of the ways mothers dealt with the absence of fathers during the war? How did wartime mothers become heroes in the eyes of their children?

4. How did the war affect the emotional lives of families? In what various ways were young children in particular affected?

5. Why might World War II be called the “Grandmother’s War”? How were young children affected both positively and negatively by spending so much time with grandparents and other “surrogate parents”?

6. How did letters and other communications help sustain the relationships between homefront children and their absent fathers?

7. How did young children’s attitudes about the war change as the years passed? Overall, what does the author believe was the most significant impact of the war on homefront children?

Palladino, Teenagers – Chapter 5

1. How did the realities of world war change the lives of teenagers and place more demands on them?

2. According to the author, why did the nation need its servicemen to be “boys”? Why did the very qualities that had marked boys as “delinquent” previously become desired and even “heroic” in the wartime context?

3. How did the NYA prepare young people to contribute to the war effort? Was there more to the NYA than just job training? Why did both parents and teenagers see the NYA as the answer to their problems (if for different reasons)?

4. What challenges did female NYA trainees face?

5. As the war progressed, why did the government change its tune and encourage teens to stay in school? Why was continuing one’s education considered a contribution to the war effort?

6. Why did teens fail to respond to government efforts to keep them in school? Why did training programs such as the “High School Victory Corps” (p. 72) have little appeal?

7. Rather than studying, how did young teens prefer to participate in the war effort? What contributions did they make?

8. How did “doing without” affect teenagers’ lives and youth culture during the war?

9. What were “V-girls”? How did their own self-image differ from the way that adults saw them? Why did they attract national attention?

10. How did the reaction to the “V-girls” reveal the persistence of the sexual double standard?

11. Why does the author say that the “V-girls” precipitated a “sexual revelation” rather than a “sexual revolution”?

12. What factors caused the tensions between pachucos and mainstream white society? Why did both sides distrust each other?

13. Why did juvenile delinquency become a cause for concern during the war? What did the government due to address the situation?