Assignment on Life Choices about the Bricklayer’s Son

 It is important to understand that life is not the same for everyone; hence different people go through different experiences depending on their social class and status. The short story “Bricklayer’s Son,” written by Alfred Lubrano, is a story about a family, with a struggling lifestyle which is lower in its social status. It is the story of writer himself, who belongs to a poor family, where they don’t have too many luxuries of life. His father is involved in a blue-collar work of bricklaying, where he wanted his son Alfred to stay away from this lifestyle, and study well to become a better person. It is not something new to hear as parents do have a wish for their kids to have a better life, especially when their own life has not been a good one. The parents from a poor or lower middle class family always want their children to have better education, and achieve something substantial in their lives. It means that people belonging to the blue-collar section want to move towards a white-collar section of society.

However, it is important to understand that the struggle from blue-collar to white-collar is not the only thing to focus on in this story; rather it has another important factor to look at, which is the relationship of kids with their parents. Parents have an important role to play in the lives of their children and if they don’t realize this thing, then consequences can be severe for children as they need the support and guidance of their parents. Alfred Lubrano’s father was a bricklayer and it is no surprise to know that they had low family income, and lifestyle was not good. But still, his father wanted him to attend college and be involved in a profession, where he could earn a decent salary so that he can easily support his family. His father did not want his son to struggle like him; rather he wanted his son to become a better man in the future to become a better father. However, Lubrano has a few other ideas in his mind and wanted to stay in the profession of his choice. It is quite interesting to mention here that I have witnessed a similar kind of story, where one of my friends, who belonged to a poor family and wanted to become a singer but his family situation and the financial situation did not allow this to him. 

            Thus, this story is about a troubling relationship of a kid with his father, whereas it is also showing that when there is a lower social class of a family, then they have to face a variety of issues like they don’t have support and guidance to move forward in middle class society as the rules there are not clear to blue collar families.

           It is so sad to discuss any story where people are poor and don’t have enough means to live a better lifestyle, having basic luxuries of life. The author of the story was also living a life where the situation was not in their favor. His father was a bricklayer and we all know that bricklaying job is not a high paying job at all. But his father worked as hard as he could to make sure that Lubrano completed his education to get a good job and better work opportunities in life. His father wanted his son to get a job, which could provide him a handsome amount to support his family better than him. Lubrano knew that his father was right because when people don’t have a better social status and class, then they are deprived of so much in their life, as Lubrano said in the story that “My dad has built lots of places in New York City He can't get into colleges, condos, office towers. He makes a living on the outside. Once the walls are up, a place takes on a different feel for him, as if he's not welcome anymore” (pg. # 7). This passage shows that when people don’t have a high social class, then they don’t have various privileges to enjoy. 

However, Lubrano has his ambitions, and he was having a passion, which was different from what his father wanted him to do. Thus, both the father and the son had differences in this regard but these differences were not too large to find a solution. He also pointed out these differences in a polite manner in the story like at one point he said that “Related By Blood, we're separated by class, my father and I” (pg. # 7). They had a difference and Lubrano chose to pursue his idea of life, and went into the white-collar world of journalism and writing. It has been mentioned earlier that the story is the autobiography of the author, which means that Lubrano went on to become a successful writer in a field, which he liked the most. For a moment, if we think about Lubrano following the guidelines of his father, then maybe no one would have heard his name ever. It means that Lubrano had a passion to do something, and luckily he stuck to his task. But it is not easy to do for many others. They have to respect the will of their parents to support their families. 

The parents from a lower social class don’t understand the fact that when their kids have some passion to follow, then they should allow them because when people are allowed to work with their passion and choose a field of their choice, then they can achieve big things in life. The issue with the poor class is that they keep working to earn as much money as possible to get better but their status never changes. Lubrano said in the story that “Blue Collar Rule No.1: Make as much money as you can, to pay for as well as life as you can get” (pg # 9). This is what I also saw in the case of my friend. His father was a factory worker and worked extra shifts to earn some extra money but their financial situation never improved. He wanted to become a singer and he had great talent in this regard but his father never allowed him to pursue his passion. But he did not leave his passion and continue to struggle on many fronts. Now, he is a good singer, who gets local concerts and music events to sing, and I think he will get more recognition over time. The story of my friend is very much identical to the story of Lubrano as both faced issues in the relationship with their fathers, but still chose their passion. 

It is quite inspirational to see such people around, who are passionate about their life and dreams. It is always good to remain in touch with people, who believe in achieving something unreal by going against all the odds. If we see the life stories of several famous personalities in the world, one thing is always common in their story: they were chasing a big dream, and no one else believed in their ideas. They asked for something, which was not understood by people at that moment. So, they were discouraged, and very little support was received by those famous and successful personalities. But they did one thing that they never left their dreams behind, they never left the idea, which they always had in their mind, and this is where they were different than the others. The majority of people leave their journey towards their big dream in the halfway, and when they decide to leave the battleground, someone else comes and conquers the world. My friend was also doing the same, and if he will keep working hard, he will surely chase his dreams in life.

           In conclusion, after analyzing the story of my friend in the context of Alfred Lubrano’s story, it can be said that life is a cruel thing for people from the lower social class. They don’t have the luxury to make better choices in life as life does not offer any considerable options. For instance, in accordance with a 2020 report on Class Mobility in America, it can be seen that the difference between low and medium class people has not really changed over time. Even though there have been differences, these are not large differences, which indicates that necessary work must be done on pushing people from low class to medium class, to live a better life. But still, the ones like Lubrano and my friend, who continue to work hard and pursue their dreams, achieve those dreams in the end. Thus, Lubrano’s story shows the value in the hard-working life of blue-collar people and he writes to show respect or that community even as he leaves it. It means that any social class issues and relationship differences are smaller problems, which can be tackled to move forward in the right direction.