Race and Class

             For most white Americans race is not an issue, but merely a default category in this country's ethnic society. However, in the life of Dalton Conley many of the advantages that come with being white were denied due to his childhood living in New York's lower east side. Growing up white in an all Black and Latino society caused Dalton to have a keen appreciation for both race and class. Honky is a wonderful example of the differences of race and class in the life of a child.
             It seems that the most shocking realization that this book brings you to is exactly how much of a difference there is between race and class in that environment. Dalton learned these differences from the two most influential people in his life, his mother and father. Daltons mother, a writer from an upper class Pennsylvania family had an amazing influence upon Daltons up-bringing. Her choice of living in the projects of New York was the most dramatic experience that she could have put her children through. While it may be thought of as a poor decision, or that the racism would be reversed and the white boy would be persecuted, but this was not so. There were some difficulties for young Dalton but his race was, for much of his younger years, the furthest thing from his mind. The first chapter of the book dealt with this precisely. The chapter "Black Babies" was the story of Dalton wanting a sister so badly that he kidnapped one out of the courtyard of his complex. The fact that the baby was a black girl meant nothing to him, at that age his surroundings had caused him to have a sort of racial ignorance. "At that age the fact that my parents were much bigger than me was of much greater consequence than the fact that most of the other kids my size had darker-hued skin." (Conley, 8)
             What distinguished the Conley family from their neighbors was not necessarily the fact that they were of a different race. Moreover it was the fact t...

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Race and Class. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 18:52, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/16075.html