Stupid Rich Bastards Where There

¶ … Stupid Rich Bastards" where there is a lack of communication. How does this failure to communicate affect the narrator?

Stupid Rich Bastards

Today's society is at times failing to function properly because of its dividing into lower and upper classes and their inability to communicate properly. Laurel Johnson Black touches some vital points in the lack of communication present in the everyday life. By turning to her own memories in the essay Stupid Rich Bastards, the writer attempts to shed light on reasons for the respective lack of communication. Laurel describes how poor people perform under the extreme stress that they are being subjected to by the so-called Rich Bastards.

In spite of the impressive evolution that it had experienced during the last centuries, society still has problems creating a link between people from all backgrounds. While rich people manage to live well by only behaving positively to their counterparts, poor people suffer from neglect as they are being treated badly. It is not surprising that this happens, considering the fact that in some parts of the world, the authorities are mostly supporting the upper classes instead of regarding all people as equals.

This neglect towards the lower classes is going on for decades, as described by Laurel, and, what's more disturbing is that little people from the upper classes are willing to lend a hand to those in need. Not only is there a problem in establishing a program designated to provide assistance to all people, regardless of their backgrounds, but there is also a problem in communicating. Given the fact that the topic has a history, both groups have apparently abandoned any attempt to bond. A general categorization had begun, and, while the "stupid rich bastards always underestimated" the poor, the latter became prepared to accept their faith, becoming satisfied with the fact that "winning the small battles made" them "feel better about losing the war"(Laurel Johnson Black, pp. 388). This performance contributed to the general crisis, acting in favor of widening the gap between the two social classes.

Communication is one of the strongest factors that can play a part in maintaining balance in a community, and, the lack of it leads to a state of crisis in most occasions. The concepts present in the lives of the poor are the very reasons for their position, influencing them even more in staying the way that they are, blocking their evolution. The apparently normal gossip and complaints in the life of Laurel's mother had been nothing more but signs of limitation put on display by herself. Furthermore, having his children believe that rich people had been their enemies is an example of Laurel's father reacting to the limitations his life imposed on him and acting in a hostile manner against the rich in most of the circumstances.

In spite of the fact that Laurel had gotten the chance to leave her community in favor of that of the rich bastards, she found that it had almost been impossible for her to pull her "family away from the edge of the pit" (Laurel Johnson Black, pp. 389), creating the connection that the lower classes had so desperately yearned for. Becoming familiar with the environment that her community hated so much, Laurel discovered that her teachers had been the only ones that could teach her to "speak like and understand the stupid rich bastards" that controlled the way that she lived.

Teachers had apparently been the only ones able to understand both the upper and the lower social classes, having the power to perform well in both communities. Laurel considered her teachers to have dedicated themselves, body and mind, to the attempt to ameliorate matters when considering the divergences between the rich and the poor. In spite of her obvious appreciation for her teachers, she had been afraid of becoming one of them, as she began questioning "Why did they make so little money? Drive those cars?"(Laurel Johnson Black, p. 390). Clearly, in spite of all of the advantages that a career in teaching would have meant for Laurel professionally, she could not help noticing that such a career would bring her all the financial freedom that her family hoped for. The very fact that she had been raised in a poor community stood as a disadvantage for her, as she had fixed concepts relating to how one should behave in society.

Even consequent to years of studying, Laurel felt useless when she came upon an ethical dilemma having her sister begging her to use her knowledge in order to help her avoid eviction. She learnt that her intellectual capacities had been ineffective when being presented with a real-life incident. The fact that she chose to be a teacher instead of taking up law school, as her family wanted her to, had been the very thing that led to her being unable to provide the assistance that her sister needed.