Comparing Social Class in Baby of the Family and Black Girl Lost Essay

Social Class in Baby of the Family and Black Girl Lost      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Socioeconomic indicators such as education, income, and occupation are measures of social class (Social World). The novels Baby of the Family (Ansa, 1989), and Black Girl Lost (Goines, 1973) are examined to determine the intricate role one's environment plays in dictating the type of life one leads. "The class you are born into and raised in, class is your understanding of the world and where you fit in. It's composed of ideas, behavior, attitudes, values, and language . . ." (Social World). The contrast will analyze the affect assimilation, resistance, and the environment has on social ranking.    "Ratios of people of color, as well as women, are often much lower in socioeconomic status" (Social World. In Black Girl Lost, Goines' Sandra is born to a dysfunctional family in dismal surroundings. She is a product of a single parent home of which is headed by her mother, Sandie. According to research, women who are heads of single parent homes tend to incur increased stress, lack of social support, and financial strain (Social World). These factors could be arguably what drove Sandie to retreat into alcoholism. It is the common belief that the environmental situation one is born into is replicated. Sandy desperately avoided any comparison to her mother to dispel the cycle. "I just don't like for anyone to call me Sandie. That's my mother's name, and I don't want to use her name no way" (Lost 31).    In Baby of the Family, Ansa's Lena, the youngest child of a middle class family, is born into a life of privilege with all the advantages of wealth. The novels contrast by giving an account from either side of the spectrum; growing up privileged verses gr... ... that one is born into greatly affects social class in society. The strong contrasts between Lena and Sandra's situation show how assimilation calls for the abandonment of old lifestyles and conformity to the mainstream ideals. Environmental surroundings, ethnicity, birth, and the degree of assimilation all affect where one will end up in regards to socioeconomic ranking.       Works Cited Goines, Donald. Black Girl Lost. Los Angeles, California: Holloway House Publishing Company, 1973. Ansa, Tina McElroy. Baby of the Family. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1989. Graham, Laurence Otis. Our Kind of People. New York: First Harper Perennial, 2000. Salins, Peter D. Reason Magazine On Line 1997. http://www.reason.com/9702/fe.salins.html Brown Nathan, et al., Living in a Social World 1998. http://www.muohio.edu/~psybersite/stereo/