Hallway Hangers Chapter Summary

Author and sociologist, Dalton Conley, is a Caucasian boy who grows up in a predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhood in the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the 1970’s and 80’s. In his book, Honky, he tells us a unique view through a young boy’s eyes uncovering the way in which individuals are perceived in social reality, and how some groups of people are classified. He also speaks about how some groups get better opportunities and privileges then others. This book is a very powerful autobiography, according to his book, written by, “not your typical middle class white male.” (prologue, p. xiii) He goes on to say that he is middle class, even though his parents didn’t have any money and that he is a white boy, even though he grew up in an inner city housing project where mostly everyone was Black or Hispanic. Dalton speaks about his experience as a white boy exploring his definition of race and class and saying that, “race and class are nothing more than a set of stories we tell ourselves to get through the world, to organize our reality.” (prologue, p. xiv) He describes his childhood as a “social science experiment, Find out what being middle class really means by raising a kid from a so-called good family in a so-called bad neighborhood.” (prologue, p. xiii)

The achievements for which the graduation speaker praises recent graduates from the narrator’s school differ from the narrator’ hopes for herself and her classmates in the aspect of success and achievements. The speaker praises the whites when it comes to being successful in their field of endeavor and always given the priority in many facets of life. He even gave the bragging rights for them. He made them feel the racial discrimination where whites are being favored over the blacks like them. They get all the attentions and assistance unlike the colored people who are not given the good opportunities for their future. The whites make sure that they are superior in every step of the

Leroy Berry grew up in “Black Philadelphia”—a community where “structural inequalities and racism” creates “a unique Afro-American…subculture” (Lane 226). Growing up in “the streets” caused him to realize that he never wanted his kids to go through what he did, and he strived to get out. Due to the awful education system given to urban black youth, Leroy Berry realized he could not get out of the “hood” through his education alone and realized he had to excel in basketball to even attempt to leave. This migration up in society is a plight many black citizens face. “In the modern American economy…it has grown difficult, perhaps impossible, for any large block of citizens to move up as a group. And it is hard to predict whether all this will change in ways that improve the position of the nation’s impoverished blacks” (Lane 366). Leroy Berry didn’t believe he’d ever get out of the environment white America provided for black urban youth.

In Ain’t No Makin’ It, author Jay MacLeod explores a study of two different groups of young males, the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers, in housing projects called Clarendon Heights. MacLeod explores these two extremely different groups over a long course of time to see how they develop from teenagers to adults. MacLeod comes to find that the Hallway Hangers, which is a group of mostly white men, are completely uninterested in education and completely interested in drugs and alcohol. These young men have no desire for a better life. The Brothers, on the contrary, are a group of mostly black men who believe in the American Dream, and will do anything to pull themselves out of poverty. They attend school and stay away from drugs and alcohol, with the hopes of achieving greatness one day. Through norms, values, and ideology, readers can understand MacLeod’s central findings in his study and see the effects of social reproduction.

The Hallway Hangers and the Brothers both figured out that education was not as important as they thought. The education system did not provide them with connections, cultural skills etc. By having these skills or connections they wouldn’t be in the lower class they’re in now. They would be in a better economic state of achievement as planned. Shorty quoted it best in one of his interviews with McLeod. “Hey, you can’t get no education around here unless if you’re fucking rich y’know? You can’t get no education...And you can’t get a job once they find out where you come from, ‘You come from Clarendon Heights? Oh, shit. It’s them kids again.” (McLeod 2009: 122).

How is it possible that two young children from seemingly similar backgrounds could have such opposing futures? Each coming from the poverty of the streets of New York City and yet somehow, one will be successful and the other will commit suicide. This is exactly the case in the novels Ragged Dick, written by Horatio Alger, and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, written by Stephen Crane. Both set in the rough streets of New York City in the mid 1800’s, the novels follow the lives of two poverty-stricken youth, Dick and Maggie. While the two appear similar on the outside, their fates are nothing short of opposites. Upon the reading of each novel, one must ask themselves, what is the American Dream? Is it either of the lives led by these two

“Poverty is an anomaly to rich people- It is difficult to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell.” (Bagehot, inequality.org) Rick Bragg’s All Over But The Shoutin’ depicts an inequality in Alabama that is not commonly spoken of: the struggles of a white family in the 60s and 70s. While Bragg and his two brothers were raised by an impoverished single mother, his dream to one day live as though he were ‘middle class’ carried him. Bragg grows up to write for the New York Times and eventually buy his mother a new house. Throughout the memoir Bragg expresses his belief that one’s future is not defined by their past. This statement holds true for Bragg and others in his life. All Over But The Shoutin’ is proof that where someone starts in life has little to no effect on where they will end up.

In his research Jay Macleod, compares two groups of teenage boys, the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers. Both groups of teenagers live in a low income neighborhood in Clarendon Heights, but they are complete opposites of each other. The Hallway Hangers, composed of eight teenagers spend most of their time in the late afternoon or early evening hanging out in doorway number 13 until very late at night. The Brothers are a group of seven teenagers that have no aspirations to just hang out and cause problems, the Brothers enjoy active pastimes such as playing basketball. The Hallway Hangers all smoke, drink, and use drugs. Stereotyped as “hoodlums,” “punks,” or “burnouts” by outsiders, the Hallway Hangers are actually a varied group, and much

“In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate” said Toni Morrison. If so, is American Dream only for the White people? In a society where racial inequality was prevalent throughout the country, non white people, especially African Americans were treated severely. Such phenomenon, known as the social reproduction is closely examined by Jay Macleod in the book “Ain’t No Makin’ It”. Macleod closely examines two groups of working class teenagers in Massachusetts. One group, known as The Hallway Hangers, filled with white boys, and the Brothers, composed mainly of African American boys. By laying out multiple social theories and bringing in several sociologists’ theories, Macleod reveals his thoughts on why social reproduction occurs in the United States and why an American Dream is something that only few people could achieve. MacLeod shows that race, along with with class are directly proportional to people’s aspirations. If they belong in the lower class, they would automatically achieve less, no matter how hard they try. This means, working class children usually end up having working class jobs in the future. In order for people to get one step closer towards success, they must learn and develop their own cultural capital. One’s social background such as access to proper education determines one’s class within the society and has huge influence on one’s future life.

In the essay “Kenwood 1964,” Frank B. Wilderson Ⅲ explains his tough life at home. The author starts by explaining his mother and father’s unhealthy relationship toward each other and how their personalities clash, which affects the whole household. His parents are very hard on him and his siblings, mentally and physically. They believe they’ve underappreciated their hard work. Before they bought their home, the family had been questioned and judged because of the color of their skin, it was said to them by the seller “I’ll have a black mark against me forever, that I can never come back to Kenwood” (Wilderson 33). After his mom and dad put in a lot of work, proving themselves and money shuffling, they were capable of receiving

As the United States developed and grew, upward mobility was central to the American dream. It was the unstated promise that no matter where you started, you had the chance to grow and proceed beyond your initial starting point. In the years following the Civil War, the promise began to fade. People of all races strived to gain the representation, acknowledgement and place in this society. To their great devastation, this hope quickly dwindled. Social rules were set out by the white folk, and nobody could rise above their social standing unless they were seen fit to be part of the white race. The social group to be impacted the most by this “social rule” was the African Americans. Black folk and those who were sympathetic to the idea of

“In 2011, at every education level, white workers were more likely than black workers to be in good job –one that pays at least $19 per hour, has health insurance, and has some kind of retirement plan” (Jones and Schmitt). The American Dream promises equal opportunity and acceptance for every citizen in America, but sometimes that does not seem to be true to people of an opposing race. Although some people claim that America still provides access to the American Dream due to all of the different opportunities that our government and schools offer, others believe there are some setbacks that can occur while trying to achieve one's goals; such as equality struggles within race and gender.

Living in Harlem established suppressed and fearful identities for the two brothers. For most of their lives they lived in a black and poor neighborhood of Harlem where there was abundance of potential but they’re threatened by the drugs and violence of the urban ghetto. Growing up in such an environment encouraged the narrator to become more understanding of the surroundings, he suspected his own students to “be popping off needles every time they went to the head,” and comes to the

Here, in the United States, the “American Dream,” is a popular belief. There is a strong relationship between hard work and success. In this perfect scenario, those who put in multiple hours are on the road to success and can move up the social ladder. Thus stating, one could be thrust into the lowest of the social status, and with some hard work, one can elevate into the world of the social elite. As a demonstration to this global view of the United States, immigrants from all over the globe have made the excursion to the “land of opportunity” in beliefs of better education, employment, government, communities, religious freedom, and lives for not only themselves but the generations that come pursuing behind them. All of this survives based on a game of social stratification – a diagram on how to successfully obtain the American dream. This observation of social class is based on many mechanisms, some of which is bestowed to people at birth, and not rewarded for hard work and dedication. The class system at play in the United States has become incredibly complex – it no longer has the fundamental class values of our forefathers. Those trying to move up in the social ladder of America are often caught replication the actions of the rich and famous, but this alone cannot make them part of the higher social class. Some think that there are simple rules to follow to climb higher into another social class ladder, but there is more to being upper class than just talking the talk or having the right identity.One way to look at class is the model developed by Janny Scott and David Leonhardt's article, “Shadowy Lines That Still Divide,” in The New York Times. They assert that “one way to think of a person’s position in society is to imagine a hand of cards. Everyone is dealt four cards, one from each suit: education, income, occupation and wealth, the four commonly used criteria for gauging class” (Scott and Leonhardt 27). While being sure on these four criteria, a basic understanding of a person’s predicted class can be made. While this model works fine for providing an elementary level of perception, it must be recognized that a person could rate well on this scale and still be in a different class than those

The concept of the American dream has been related to everything from religious freedom to a nice home in the suburbs. It has inspired both deep satisfaction and disillusioned fury. The phrase elicits for most Americans a country where good things can happen. However, for many Americans, the dream is simply unattainable. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams,” Dexter Green, a hardworking young man born into the middle class, becomes wrapped up in his pursuit to obtain wealth and status in his life. These thoughts and ideas represent Dexter’s fixation on his “winter dreams,” or, the idea of what the American Dream means to him: gaining enough wealth to eventually move up in social class and become somebody, someday. As Dexter attempts