This story begins with a man immigrating to the United States in order to take advantage of the seemingly endless work opportunities and ends with another man, generations later, striving to control the very socioeconomic system into which his grandfather, the earlier man, was unknowingly thrust. As this story line follows individual characters, it addresses the large ideas - family, marriage, money, children - facing each individually that, in turn, bind all together as a whole. Encircling all of these ideas, this novel relates the strive for security, particularly the strive for security in the socioeconomic system of capitalism. In Part 4, Chapter 9, Bell examines two varying generational perspectives. These perspectives grant us insight into how both views on the capitalist system

So it goes. It’s too bad the niggers had to come. They never bother me, but some of my neighbors have moved, especially the ones with daughters. The men are always getting drunk and fighting, and you hear women screaming during the night. They all live together like so many animals. And so dirty! (330)

"So it goes." With this statement, Dorta demonstrates that she views her situation as very natural. This remark also begins to express the helplessness that she feels in the system. Dorta has been successfully assimilated into the capitalist system. She has found her place on the social ladder. She holds a grudge against those above her, the Irish, for being above her and for expressing the same disgust of her and her nationality that she shows toward blacks. Dorta is firmly hanging on her specific rung of the ladder.

With the final statement that Dorta makes, Dobie joins in the discussion. Dobie, Kracha’s grandson, embodies for us a different generational perspective. To begin, he responds to Dorta’s assertion that "They all live together like so many animals. And so dirty!", with "They’re poor" (330). Dobie allows the blacks’ economic state to be a reasonable excuse for their behavior. This one statement seems to display that Dobie is at least slightly empathic to the socioeconomic position that the blacks are in, a position Dorta really has more experience with. Dobie continues by replying once again to Dorta:

Some topics in this essay:
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