Character decision that reflects the 1950's

In the movie Mona Lisa Smile Betty follows everything that she is suppose to do and thinks the role that women play in society is the way to go. In the movie Betty makes a decision where she makes her husband read a poem that he doesn't want to read. Betty doesn't care at first, but when she talks to her mom about it her mom gets furious and tells Betty that she needs to make her husband read that poem. Betty listens to her mom and talks her husband into reading the poem. Her husband reads the poem, which is Betty's favorite poem. The poem is suppose to show how he feels about Betty, but because he is being forced to read it, it shows that there is not real love between the two of them. This is how it was in the 1950's, everything had to go a certain way and people got married just for the heck of it even if there was not true love between the couple. The 1950's were seen to be the perfect time, but in reality it was just a society run by tradition and not but true love.