Ain't no making it

The book "Ain't no making it" is an interesting story of the different cultural aspects that are present in the world and the American society today. The author Jay MacLeod takes an interesting approach by looking at a low income housing, and seeing the different perspectives of the younger generation of boys within the community. The language of the two different groups (the brothers and the hallway hangers) were completely different. I think the contrast between the two groups are very different, even though they groups come from the same cultural background. The values of the groups are especially different. The Hallway Hangers seem to focus more on the things that could potentially help them get through the day. They feel that the image of being bad is the way that they can get through life. They smoke cigarettes, drink beer, and are psychologically dependant on marijuana. They may be psychologically dependant on other drugs as well. The Hallway hangers comprised of mostly white members. There are a few members that are African American. I thought that they might want to move on from the situation they were in, and would want to make a change in their life. However, they feel that they can't because of their socio-economical stature. They feel hopeless and feel that they are stuck in this situation, and will always be in this situation. Not only do they feel this way, they feel that success in school means that you don't be long in the neighborhood. Almost like, the people who are trying to get out of their situation are "shit heads" and don't belong, even if they are of the same socio-economic background. However, the boys of the the Hallway Hangers do have a sense of a cohesive unit. The boys depend on one another as if they were a tight nit family.

This is a contrast to the boys of the Brothers. The Brothers are a more focused group of brothers that want to make a change in their life. They feel the need to change their economic status and to get out of the ghetto as much as possible. This is caused because of the racist commentary that they endure every day. They do well in school, sports, and social life. They feel that failure is their fault. They view the Hallway Hangers as a group of low life punks that are simply lazy. The Brothers seem to have more of a focus and see to know where they are going and how they can get there. Although they have such positive outlooks on life, the boys are not as cohesive as the Hallway Hangers. They would fight for one another, but they also live lives outside of the group as well. They have steady girlfriends and sports that take priorities in their life.

I feel that these contrasts are so interesting. I find it interesting that the Brothers who are mostly comprised of minority groups are more motivated to change their life and get out of their low-income situation. In contrast, the Hallway Hangers feel that because they have been in this low-income situation for so long, there is no way they are going to get out of this. They feel that crime, drinking, and doing drugs is the only thing they will know how to do. It is always perceived the opposite way around. I think this goes to show that it has nothing to do with race, but has to do with class and socio-economic status.