RUFUS AT THE DOOR

    The short story Rufus at the Door clearly has social classes laid out. The people of the town are part of the middle class. The inmates of the insane asylum are portrayed as part of the lower class, even though they all came from family of middle class citizens. Focusing on the character of Rufus, the audience perceives him as part of the lower class because of his lower mental ability and his inability to take care of himself. Rufus is put into a social class solely on only these qualities. When the social classes are looked at based on emotion and happiness, the situation of story are reversed. Throughout the story the voice of the boy is always pointing out how Rufus is constantly smiling. “...his hands clasped behind him, his eyes directed at a point slightly above the passing people, his face locked in its customary grin.” (Hassler, 24) Throughout the quote above, Hassler uses imagery to help describe the scene he is picturing. He clearly explains an image of what Rufus looks like. Rufus is loved very much by his mother, he is happy, and he always has a grin on his face because of this sense of love. He has a sense of pure happiness that no one else in the town has. Looking at the social classes from a view of emotion, we can see that Rufus has risen above the rest of the town and become part of the upper class. As soon as Rufus’s mother passes away, we see Rufus fall back down in the social class, and once again become part of the lower class because his happiness from love no longer exists. The story helps show the power that society’s idea of upper, middle, and lower class has. 

        To revise this paper, I changed around some of the ways that I worded things in order to make it easier for the reader to understand. I also went back and analyzed more in depth on the quote I used. Overall, I did not change the main format and layout of this piece. I chose to use this piece of writing for my blog because out of all the stories we read, this one seemed to click the best. It kept me interested and didn't lose my attention. After the first page, I already had an idea of what I wanted to write about because the social classes were clearly laid out to me. I could tell that Rufus was going to be portrayed on the lower class from the start.