Each country has different characteristics that make them unique. However, there are some elements that do not change. One of these is working class. In these two novels; The Commitments and Rumble Fish, working class is represented from two points of view. The first one is the way families are conformed.
In the first novel the family type was nuclear: two working parents and siblings living together in a house, where the father was the head of the family. At the contrary, Rumble Fish showed a dysfunctional family. That means, a drunk father (that did not accomplished his role as father), a mother who left her house and two lonely boys, that had to find what they did not have in their house on the streets. Although, family types do not have a particular social class, in these novels are a helpful tool to understand why the main characters behaved in the way they did.
The second point is the relationship between the characters. The manner they talked and the words they used were characteristics of working social classes. For example, in low classes education is a privilege that not everyone can afford. Therefore, the vocabulary that people have is not enough to keep a conversation without using curse words.
To conclude, The Commitments and Rumble Fish showed the different characteristics of the working class either in Dublin or United States. Moreover, these novels summarized the differences between the same social groups, allowing the reader to have a more complete idea about the background of the main characters.
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