Francis Ford's Children revisited--Amanda via Robin

For this post I have chosen to take a look at Beechy Francis Ford’s “Children”. I chose this picture because I thought it tied in very well to our discussion on “raced bodies” verse “classed bodies”. Depicted in this painting are three children. Two of what seem to be an upper-class family and one from a low income family. This picture seems more to be portraying the difference between “class” bodies. All of the three children seem to be of the same race, however the two children of the wealthy family are seen as well dressed, warm, and cheering. Where-as the other child is seen as very skinny, hunched over almost as in pain. He is dressed in raggy clothes that do not even fit him. I find it very interesting the fact that the artist has chosen to depict children in the picture as “class” bodies because a child has little to no control of how well-off they are. It is in the parents’ control to which their children grow up. The children are almost financially innocent, yet the artist has made a clear distinction between upper and lower class. Who is to say which child is born into a rich family verse a poor family? And does one born into a lower class family really destined to end up like their parents? I do believe that children born to wealthy families have a “head start” compared to those from lower income families- they have better access to a good education system, better healthcare, and many times better surroundings. For example, take a child born on the streets of a ghetto compared to that of a wealthy business family. History has shown that the child born from the poor family has less of a chance to succeed financially. Now I do not mean to stereotype, but there is a high crime rate in poorer areas. Is this because they are less educated? I can relate to this fact based on the people I have interacted with. I grew up in a wealthier family and have attended private school until I came to college. However, many of my friends in the surrounding neighborhood did not have healthcare and had to attend the public school. Today, many of them have still not attended college. This could be because of the poor public education system or the fact that an individual could not afford college. Whatever the reason may be, I still had a sort of “head start” on life. Now, this is not to say that I did not work hard, however, things were at my disposal.