Compare & Contrast 2 literary work (2 different genre) - Essay Example

Although White families have higher possibilities of receiving emotional and financial assistance for their extended family, Black families take a more practical approach in supporting their extended families as Blacks usually have lower socio-economic status; hence, they less financially capable to provide support for their extended families. Gerstel and Sarkisian argue that cultural inheritances are the reason behind the dissimilarities in the way White and Black families support their extended families.

In contradiction of the common notion, family ties do not concern much about culture, but it concerns more about socio-economic status. According to studies, people who earn similar amount of income and holds the same educational attainment and background have the tendency to use family ties correspondingly regardless of the race they considered themselves in. Extended family relationships are common among families with lower socio economic status. Perhaps, this is because people with lower income require assistance from outside the nuclear family.

While Gerstel and Sarkisian present a strong argument contention suggesting the relationship between family ties and socio-economic status, much less, social class, the authors ensure that socio-economic status is not the lone determining factor. . In Roger Jack’s “An Indian Story”, he subtly contends that there is no ideal or absolute standard to what composes a family, or what should constitute a family. In the story, Jack shows how races cannot be a determining factor that supports the idea that family orientations differ according to race such that Indians, just like all other races, employ the same perspective to both nuclear and non-traditional families, like extended families.

Also, the reading suggests that a family is not a social unit that encompasses a stationary arrangement. It cannot only contain a mother and a father; it could also include aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins, and others. Roger Jack is trying to convey that a family is not a pre-determined component of the society; and what is more important is to help children in understanding that “what the family provides for its members is more important than the way it is structured” (Hare and Gray 4).

Aunt Greta treats his nephew like her own son, so much that she accepted him when he asked to stay with her. But despite this unconventionality, Aunt Greta and her nephew are able to create a healthy family. According to Hare and Gray (5), when parents in nontraditional families encourage strong and healthy ties among between its members, it is more likely that the children would feel more secure. Aunt Greta and his nephew get along perfectly just like a traditional nuclear family with a mother, a father, and children.

They travel together and talk just like best friends. Aunt Greta shares her own stories and past experiences to her nephew without any hesitation or reservations (Jack 455). Indeed, the best that a family can offer cannot only be found in a traditional