The War Between the Classes
The War Between the Classes is a youth novel by the American writer Gloria D. Miklowitz .
It deals with the class and race differences in a California city with a primary focus within a school class. The central characters are a 17-year-old girl named Emiko ('Amy') Sumoto, her boyfriend Adam Tarcher, and their teacher Ray Otero. He plays the so-called Color Game with his class , in which American society can be seen to a certain extent. In the Color Game, 4 colors are distinguished, which reflect the social classes with their respective possibilities and restrictions. In this way he shows the extent to which reputation and fame depend on material things. The students process the experiment in different ways, the main character Amy is negative.
The different colors
blue
Blue is the highest socially posed color, which usually represents the wealthy citizens. Important characters, the so-called Blue's , are Amy , who is downgraded to an orange due to sabotage of the Color Games , Paul Thomas and at the end of the book also Carol Rodriguez , who is named a Blue thanks to her good behavior .
Dark green
Dark green represents the higher middle class represented by the workaholics . Before Carol graduated a blue , she was a dark green . She was the only main character who was a dark green .
Light green
Light green is the lower middle class, which is superior to oranges and subordinate to dark greens . As described in the book, these light-greens are the families who "want to keep their heads above the water" . In the book, the main people who are light-greens are Juan and Justin .
orange
Orange is the lowest ranking society in the book. These oranges represent the families who in reality do not have a father figure and mostly have problems with the law. Adam Tarcher , who is one of the main characters, has been an orange since the beginning of the Color Games . After the demotion of Amy to an orange , Amy and Adam, the two protagonists of the book, are subject to all social classes.
Teks and No-Teks
Since the Color Game deals with class and gender differences, a distinction is also made between the sexes. A distinction is made between male ( No-Teks ) and female ( Teks ) students. Since most women are disadvantaged in their job, for example, and the game wants to make these racial differences clear, the Teks are now higher than the No-Teks .
Rules of the Color Game
Each student is assigned a color corresponding to a social class - which color is decided by a supposedly random principle, which, however, was manipulated by the teacher beforehand. Blue stands for the upper class, followed by dark green, then light green and finally the orange that represents the lower class. Blue enjoys every privilege and hardly has to adhere to the rules. The lower the level, the more rules there are to obey, the harsher the punishment and the less respect one enjoys. In addition, each student must wear a bracelet that is the color of their social status and they must carry a diary with them in which feelings and experiences are recorded. This book can also contain entries on misconduct or commendable behavior. It should be added that students with lower status have to bow to students with higher status, as well as the no-teks before the teks with the same color. All game participants also receive play money in different amounts, depending on their gender and the social group drawn. The game is also played by many outside of school (the G4 justifies punishments with misconduct outside of school; friends who have been divided into different classes no longer want to meet for fear of the G4; the G4 also joins outside of school Action).
Compliance with all rules is monitored by a police force, the G4. This controls the students and punishes rules that are not observed by imposing penalties.
In the event of misconduct, students can also be downgraded within the classes or they can officially advance through good behavior in the classes. The lower classes have to show the higher classes more respect and keep a certain distance. They are also not allowed to sit next to each other in the school class. There is a fixed seating arrangement: the blue ones sit at the very front, the dark green ones sit behind the blue ones, the light green ones sit behind the dark green ones and everyone with an orange ribbon at the back.
The individual classes should avoid any contact with one another if possible.
Most important people
Amy
Emiko Sumoto is a teenager from a Japanese family. Her family, but above all her father, thinks very conservatively and is mainly attached to Japanese tradition. Amy's father constantly controls her and also wants to forbid her to meet her boyfriend Adam. Her brother Hideo also lives in the city with his American wife Sue. The contact with them was almost completely cut off by Amy's father, however, because Hideo married Sue without his consent.
Adam
Adam Tarcher is Amy's boyfriend. He and his sister Bettina are the children of the Tarcher family, which belong to the American upper class. Adam's mother is similar to Amy's father in that, like Amy's father, she has no understanding of how they feel about each other. Although Adam and Amy have only known each other for 3 months, it should be noted that they both love each other very much. He's more of the European type because he's blonde, blue-eyed, and fair-skinned, which is also an advantage in America. He belongs to the typical American image of man: the WASP , i. H. the White Anglo Saxon Protestants .
Overview of the people in the book
| person | role | Color Game Color |
|---|---|---|
| Amy | Main character of the book | Blue / Orange |
| Adam Tarcher | Friend of Amy | orange |
| Juan | Good friend of Amy, who later sabotaged the color game with her and was therefore degraded to an orange | Light green / orange |
| Justin | Friend of Adam | Light green |
| Paul Thomas | Student who uses his power as Blue and therefore stands out in the book | Blue |
| Carol Rodriguez | Former best friend of Amy, who cut off contact with Amy since Amy's relationship with Adam | Dark green / blue |
| Sumoto-san | Amy's father | does not participate |
| Mrs. Sumoto | Mother of Amy | does not participate |
| Hideo | Brother of Amy | does not participate |
| Sue | Wife of Hideo | does not participate |
| Mrs. Tarcher | Mother of Adam | does not participate |
| Bettina | Sister of Adam | does not participate |
| Mr. Otero | Teacher and leader of the Color Games | does not participate |
Others
- the book is based on a true story:
- Gloria D. Miklowitz
- I wrote The War Between the Classes after reading about Prof. Otero's college class contacting him for permission to sit in on the class, interview students and examine his workbooks. I knew instantly that this game was important in teaching tolerance for others and wanted to have teenagers examine their attidues
- I wrote The War Between the Classes after learning about Prof. Otero's school class. I contacted him to get his permission to sit in class (during the game), interview students, and examine their workbooks. I knew that this game was important in teaching tolerance and that it allowed the students to check their attitudes (towards different races).
- The book is divided into 14 chapters and has 118 pages (Klett-Verlag)
- In the appendix to the book she has published, she lists the opinions on the color game of the students from Prof. Otero's class
- The novel was filmed for school television and is available as a video