The
term ‘class’ has been used since mid-19th Century to describe the
stratifications of urban/industrial society – as in upper/middle/working. It
was based on differentiation by income level and the cultural signs and markers
of such. The term also has associations with Marxist theory (mid 19th C) and
the inevitable “class struggle” as the motor of history. In 2002 50% of
families earning between $20,000 and $40,000 pa called selves middle class –
meaning that the largest portions of the US population was the lowest. One book
that demonstrates the issues of poverty in the States is the book, The Glass
Castle.
One
of the many reviews on this book it by a company called: Goodreads. Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and
book recommendations. Our mission is to help people find and share books they
love. Goodreads launched in January 2007.
“The
Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and
redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional
and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father
captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to
embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive.
Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't
want the responsibility of raising a family.
The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They
fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New
York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their
children prospered.
The Glass Castle is truly
astonishing--a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal
family.”
A key take on
the book, is the comment in the second to last paragraph, as it highlights what
so many children have to go through in the States – from past to now. Many do
it in silence which is the saddest reality of the book.
Picture - also interactive online review
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