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Lädt ... Honky (Original 2000; 2001. Auflage)von Dalton Conley
Werk-InformationenHonky von Dalton Conley (2000)
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This intensely personal and engaging memoir is the coming-of-age story of a white boy growing up in a neighborhood of predominantly African American and Latino housing projects on New York's Lower East Side. Vividly evoking the details of city life from a child's point of view-the streets, buses, and playgrounds-Honky poignantly illuminates the usual vulnerabilities of childhood complicated by unusual circumstances. As he narrates these sharply etched and often funny memories, Conley shows how race and class shaped his life and the lives of his schoolmates and neighbors. A brilliant case study for illuminating the larger issues of inequality in American society, Honky brings us to a deeper understanding of the privilege of whiteness, the social construction of race, the power of education, and the challenges of inner-city life. Conley's father, a struggling artist, and his mother, an aspiring writer, joined Manhattan's bohemian subculture in the late 1960's, living on food stamps and raising their family in a housing project. We come to know his mother: her quirky tastes, her robust style, and the bargains she strikes with Dalton-not to ride on the backs of buses, and to always carry money in his shoe as protection against muggers. We also get to know his father, his face buried in racing forms, and his sister, who in grade school has a burning desire for cornrows. From the hilarious story of three-year-old Dalton kidnapping a black infant so he could have a baby sister to the deeply disturbing shooting of a close childhood friend, this memoir touches us with movingly rendered portraits of people and the unfolding of their lives. Conley's story provides a sophisticated example of the crucial role culture plays in defining race and class. Both of Conley's parents retained the "cultural capital" of the white middle class, and they passed this on to their son in the form of tastes, educational expectations, and a general sense of privilege. It is these advantages that ultimately provide Conley with his ticket to higher education and beyond. A tremendously good read, Honky addresses issues both timely and timeless that pertain to us all. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)305.2309747Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Groups of people Age groups AdolescentsKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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Throughout the book, he develops friendships with the neighborhood kids, but they seem to be used as a device for comparing the lives they had and eventually led. Conley could have done a better job examining the causes of these life differences rather than merely pointing to the fact that he was very lucky because of his skin color. One example of this is when he first started school and did not receive corporal punishment when those around him did. By examining why “the other parents had requested that their children be physically disciplined,” he could have drawn on the works of Albert Memmi and the historical impacts of colonization. It is unfortunate his family could not afford to live in a better neighborhood, but they had the chance to move up. Those around him did not, and pausing to examine why for the reader would have strengthened the story. Conley writes about the advantages he had growing up, but fails to explain why such opportunities were available to him and not to others.