Interpretation of 'Sunday in the Park'

This story is about two small families with different social backgrounds. We are presented to a conflict between the two fathers of the families, and their completely different behaviour towards each other. I want to discuss their individual reactions. People say that one should stick to one’s own class, but is that true?

The name of the story is “Sunday in the Park” and is written by an anonymous writer. It takes place in a beautiful afternoon on a playground just outside a city. The first family that we get presented to consists of a father called Morton, a child called Larry and the mother of the child. Larry was playing in the sandbox with another child called Joe. When Joe, for the first time, throws a shovel of sand at Larry, the mother of Larry sticks up for him, but she does not succeed. Second time Joe throws sand at Larry, the mother is more strictly and tells Joe to stop doing it. When she does that, the father of Joe, whom is sitting on a bench a few feet away, are just encouraging him to continue, and points out that “This here is a public sandbox.” (l. 48 p. 2). Now Morton, Larry’s father, is asking the other man to be reasonable, and this is where the conflict arises. At this point of the story we have already been introduced to the two different social classes.