Summary Of Laura's Descent Into The Neighborhood

2.3 Laura and the low class neighborhood
Laura’s descent into the neighborhood marks her plunge into the truth of working class living conditions. As mentioned before, she has little knowledge of the reality of the working class due to her influenced observation of the neighborhood and her isolated upbringing, which is distinguished by its negativity (343). Her awareness of the true plight of the lower class emerges when she learns of Mr. Scott’s death. Through this circumstance, she is forced to acknowledge the reality of working class people for the first time (342). The impressions which Laura has gained through her short journey through the neighborhood are not authentic due to her prejudiced and isolated upbringing. Her description of the poor neighborhood as “disgusting and sordid” (343), is due to a taught stigmatization of lower class people. Her descend into the neighborhood is orchestrated by her mother, and also marks the final stage of
While Dada-Büchel interprets the apology as a “disapproval of the careless and shallow Sheridan manners (Dada-Büchel 51), Dunn understands it as the reaffirmation of Mrs. Sheridan’s taught social code of upper class society (Dunn 205).Her apology for her hat is an act of enforcement of societal rules as she is inappropriately dressed. Unlike to the beginning, where Laura had to be led in by the widow’s sister (348), she exits the building without aid (349), marking her change in personality. However, as mentioned before, the miscommunication between the siblings also signifies the preservation of established power structures, therefore upholding the structure of the class differences (Dunn