Interpretation Of Little Boxes By Malvina Reynolds

The American Dream has always been synonymous with family, financial stability, and a well-kept home. However, following WWII, the traditional American Dream has shifted to encompass a new set of ideals from those forced to deal with the consequences of a rise of suburbanization, the mediocre man’s interpretation of the American Dream. With suburbanization comes a comfortable mass-built house, a comfortable income, and 2.5 children, but for many people, this new American Dream became more of a nightmare. In her 1962 song “Little Boxes,” folk singer, Malvina Reynolds, delivers a sharp critique of the new bourgeois in post-WWII America who chose to embrace conformity and its acceptance of the new standard for the American Dream and “all look

Seeger’s cover of Reynold’s song was widely popular, breaking through the Billboard Top 100 in 1964 and maintaining its position on the charts for 8 weeks that same year (“Pete Seeger Chart History”). The style of the song is simplistic, similar to folk music of the 60s, and, in Reynold’s version, features only her vocals and an acoustic guitar. Additionally, the lyrics of the song are very repetitive, and I felt like the song has a “nursery-rhyme” quality to it, due to its repetition and overall simplicity. The song was widely popular following the release of Seeger’s cover, and even made the term “ticky-tacky,” which is used in the song to describe the shoddy materials the houses are made from, a popular catchphrase in the 60s (“Little Boxes”). A unique aspect of the song is its vast number of covers. The song has been covered by over thirty different musicians and groups since its initial release. Well known groups and artists such as The Shins, Linkin Park, Randy Newman, and Elvis Costello have all released covers of the song, allowing for fans of those musicians to discover the song when it otherwise might have faded into obscurity (“Little Boxes”). Furthermore, in 2005, the song was first used as the theme song for the widely popular Showtime show, “Weeds.” (“Little Boxes”). “Little Boxes” has withstood the test of time and managed to

The need for suburbs following WWII was due partially to a rise in migrants in America who needed homes, a need for jobs for returning Veterans, and the introduction of “low-interest home [mortgages]” (“Suburbanization in the United States After 1945”). These houses were designed to be produced in mass quantities, meaning that the quality of the building materials used in these houses was far from exceptional; however, many of the houses interiors were equipped with “up-to-date appliances, mechanical systems and utilities” (“Suburbanization in the United States After 1945”). Additionally, early suburbs cultivated a sense of assimilation for new residents. Suburbs provided “Italians, Poles, Greeks, Jews, and other European-Americans” with a way to more easily homogenize with white Americans, leading to a racial divide in suburbs amongst races and ethnicities who were unable to pass as white (“Suburbanization in the United States After 1945”). Once the European ethnic groups integrated into the white suburbs, they found that they could “[attain] symbols of white, middle-class status, such as college educations, pensions, [and] small businesses” (“Suburbanization in the United States After 1945”). As reflected in Reynold’s second verse, “the people in the houses/All went to the