Polyestra's upbringing seems to be contained by the walls of the box thinking of her parents. The idea of obtaining genuine happiness as the American dream is thrown out of the picture. In it's place is a supperficial way in which to be at the top. "Jumping class" to reach some sort of affirmation that their lives are worth something is the idea that is pushed onto Polyestra by her parrents.
Through money, clothes, education, ediquet, and primarily appearance and presentation Polyestra's parents believed that a better life would be the result of such a struggle. Despite being raised to not accept things as they truely are, Polyestra has developed a grander awareness. She is a painter, poet, rock singer, and filmmaker. All of these atribute to a hightened sense of understanding of people. Instead of being stuck in the mindset of her parents, she broke free and used her upbringing to draw from and related to many classes with her art. In a way she has "jumped", but more less jumped out of classes and into reality; where the American dream is seen in many lights.
At the end of polyestra's story she humbly settles into her class to which she belongs, keeping bread on the table "not for fear of choking, ...or money, but to eat". This shows that she has come to terms with her circumstances and is okay with passing down bits of her culture to the next generation. So each American will have things passed down to them from their class, but the status of their happiness does not have to be measured on such a scale as the class scale.
Ford, Marjorie. Polyestra. "The Just-Add-Water Kennedys and the Barbecue Bread Violence". The Changing World of Work. Perarson Education, Inc., 2006. 164.
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"Instead of being stuck in the mindset of her parents, she broke free and used her upbringing to draw from and related to many classes with her art. In a way she has "jumped", but more less jumped out of classes and into reality; where the American dream is seen in many lights."
ReplyDeleteI think you make an excellent point here, as you do with your other posts. You're off to a strong start with the blog assignment (you already have Wednesday's blog done!). By the way, you don't need to include a works cited entry in your posts.
I find it interesting to hear what children of single parents think of Tyree and McGinn's essay. You seem to be very pragmatic about the future. Whatever works, works.
Speaking of, keep up the good work.