Commentary On The Frontline Documentary Two American Families

1) In 2-3 sentences, what is Cherlin’s main point in this chapter? Are you convinced by his argument? Why or why not? Cherlin’s in his introduction explores the changing dynamics of working class family in America.

Even though some would think that poor families cannot succeed because of financial issues, many paths can lead one to a successful life. Although money may help lead to a successful live Jeanette and Brian show that your will and drive to succeed is much more important than a lifestyle. Many paths can lead to success, in Jeanette and Brian’s case they grew up with little to no money and didn't always have food to eat. Alas, this didn't stop them from being great Jeanette grew up to be a successful journalist. Some of the problems that Jeanette had was she had a lot of bullies, she was picked on in Battle Mountain, Walls and Arizona.

Surrounded by distress and terror, family was a source of security, broken as it may be. Another instance would be an excerpt from an authentic story called "The Power of Light." This tale is about two Jewish children named Rebecca and David struggling to survive during the Holocaust. They were orphaned and left to perish in unsanitary/unsafe conditions; the sound of their growling stomachs grew familiar, warmth was but a distant memory, and they were likely constantly disheartened by angst. And yet, they still managed to overcome dilemmas.

The story demonstrates how emotional scars from losing a loved one causes a family to become dysfunctional. By demonstrating how relatives

Dr. Murphy (n.d) asserts, “Money is the number one source of disagreements in the early years of marriage. Money stress is the number one cause of divorce. Lack of evidence showing a relationship between material wealth and happiness” (p. 5). Bill shared that once in his parent’s marriage there was a discussion of divorce as his mother was not happy with their family’s lifestyle. His mother said that money was his father only way of showing love.

In the 1970s a typical family would survive off of the fathers working income while the mother stayed home with the children. But what most people don't realize is that the male-breadwinner family was invented only 150 years ago, to solve an earlier crisis of work, marriage and family life (Stephanie Coontz

She begins by talking about her college experience of how her own professors and fellow students believed and “always portrayed the poor as shiftless, mindless, lazy, dishonest, and unworthy” (Paragraph 5). This experience shocked her because she never grew up materialistic. She brings up the fact that she is the person with the strong and good values that she has today because she grew up in a poor family. In culture, the poor are always being stereotyped.

The breadwinner-homemaker family, the norm since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, is being replaced by a new norm of diversity” (Schulte). Family life in the 1950s is one of the most looked back upon generations, because it was so closely following the second World War, and was the beginning of the Baby Boomer generation. Because a lot of the soldiers were returning from the war to their wives to have children, the

Gonzalez defines a blended family as “a family in which a new spousal relationship is formed (either as a result of a divorce or death of one parent), resulting in the joining of either one or both parents’ child or children” (148). This article discusses the topic based on the most common type of blended family, which is a remarried family. Approximately 50% of all Americans have some kind of step-relationship. Being a part of a blended family has become more common as well as the significant issues related to family adjustment and maintenance of them. In the majority of instances, blended families start with little awareness of what to expect.

One tragedy has led to the destruction of a family and their

In the article “How I Discovered the Truth about Poverty” Barbara Ehrenreich gives her view in poverty and explains why she think Michael Harington’s book “The Other American” gives a wrong view on poverty. She explained that Harrington believes that the poor thought and felt differently and what divides the poor was their different “culture of poverty.” Ehrenreich goes on to explain on how the book that became a best seller caused so many bad stereotypes on the poor that by the Reagan era poverty was seen as “bad attitudes” and “faulty lifestyles” and not by the lack of jobs or low paying jobs. And they also viewed the poor as “Dissolute, promiscuous, prone to addiction and crime, unable to “defer gratification,” or possibly even set an alarm clock.”

Racial Equality: A Raisin in the Sun In the 1950’s racial discrimination was a huge factor in the lives of African Americans. Lorraine Hansberry’s book, “A Raisin in the Sun,” helps people imagine the struggles that a standard African American family would have to endure. In the novel, the Younger family has poor housing conditions, badly paying jobs, and have given up hope of ever escaping their circumstances.

No matter the amount the poor or George and Lennie put into what they do it seems that they are forever stuck being low class. When one hits that line of poverty it is almost game over for that person; the chances of them moving up the economic ladder is pretty slim for them, especially for the time. In modern times, here in the us it is said that “ There's a 7.5 percent chance someone born into the bottom fifth of America's income distribution gets to the top fifth,” (Smialek). As for staying stuck in their class, on average about 43 percent of people remain in the bottom percentile (“The Numbers Show…”). Compared to the rest of the world this is very low.

Family members may or may not be biologically related, share the same household, or be legally recognized” (Raney, 2015:6). In the series Modern family, it shows the dynamics of a 21st century family and how traditions and culture has evolved over the years. As opposed to “nuclear family” “No longer does the traditional family consist of two parents and two children; instead, more diverse and shifting family structures are becoming the norm.

It was harder for the Young family to do simple things, but they overcome their obstacles and stayed true to themselves throughout the