In "Coming to Class Consciousness", Hooks tells a personal story in order to show how people become conscious of their class. In the story, Bell Hooks writes of how she always wanted nice things such as a pretty dress or a good college education, but how she was denied these opportunities from her own family. Her desires were always diminished by her mother. Although her mother may have been trying to not set Hooks up for disappointment, she did it in a very harsh way. Bell started to believe the problem was that she was undeserving of nice things, not that they simply could not afford these nice things.
She talks of the racism she experienced, and how she recognized that the white girls had life much easier. She bonded with other girls of the working class, and her thoughts were expressed how whenever an opportunity came about, she would question how her parents would feel negatively about the opportunity. Like Jensen, Hooks shows how families and communities seem to encircle the same class through generations. Hooks had many opportunities to change classes, but her parents somehow always held her back. This may come from an ultimate respect for the family or an underlying shame for improvement as reflected in "Some General Values of Working Class Culture".
Hooks stories can be seen in the working class today and students may feel like they will only ever be as good as their parents are. Many working class students seem to be forced into the higher education they are in. They may have gotten into better schools, but feared disappointing their family. They may feel like they are leaving their family behind if they move far away or feel as if they should not go to a good school because their family members did not get the opportunity, and therefore, the student does not go as well. I believe that students of all classes seem to be entrapped in this way in their given class. Those of the upper class often remain in the upper class because because their family may always have the means to do so. If their child chooses a career of the middle class such as secretarial work, their parents may still give them the tools to remain in the upper class such as how to choose a proper fitting suit or how to show authority over others even if in a lower scale job. Therefore, opportunities for advancement seem to fall into the laps of those who were born into the upper class while these opportunities are not given to those of other classes. In the most minimal ways, class is encircled.
Kelsey, I agree that our families do trap us when we are young. The expectations are often clear but not visible. For hooks' mother it seemed to be more of a fear that she would lose her daughter and that the outside world, the world of academia, could be frightening and dangerous. Perhaps her mother had her own fears and passed them on?
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