'Sunday in the Park': Class Hierarchy Analysis

The buildings, the treatments and the disciplines, everything is different from the man in the gutter to the man on Wall Street. Some people might be born with a silver spoon in their hand, others have worked for every single accomplishment throughout their life, and the rest has been their own guardians and has taken life with a hard grab. One of the major themes in “Sunday in The Park” is the difference in the class hierarchy in society when we look at the narrator’s family and the man at the bench. There will always be a lower class and an upper class. The way they treat one another differently and likewise differ from each other will always be an option destiny puts in their hands.

In “Sunday in the Park” we become aware of the spread of social order between two men in New York City. The narrator’s husband, Morton is reading at the bench. He doesn’t read some silly or irrelevant comics like the man on the bench does, but he reads the Times Magazine with a big enthusiasm while enjoying his family’s company. It’s an important paper, which declare about the world around him and focus on more than the unremarkable everyday life that they’re living. On the other hand, the man on the bench is “just” reading his witty comics, because that’s all he bothers to do 5.30 on a Sunday. He doesn’t glimpse for his son while laughing at his comics, he assumes that the child can take guardian of himself, while the narrator’s son, Larry has eyes laid on him through out the whole scene. The two boys in the sandbox are both well-being, but in two different ways. The man on the bench’s son has confidence in himself, well knowing that his dad is near him, but that he can handle an upcoming scene on his own. Larry is more insecure and needs somebody else to acknowledge a situation for him before he knows how to react. This is also a way to see the difference between the two classes.