Very Distinct Social Class System In Uruguay example essay topic

In all parts of the world social ranking has always been an issue to people. From early history when the Romans were the major empire to present day in the United States, social classes have always been accepted as a means for people to distinguish themselves. In Uruguay, the social classes are clearly divided and define whom people marry and how they are treated. There is a very distinct social class system in Uruguay. This class distinction starts at the top with the landowners. This group is not at the top because of their wealth, they are there because they have the most land and power.

The next tier in the class system is the business class. These are the people that own and operate all the businesses in the community. Unlike the United States, military comes next in the social chain, because they hold much power and control over the community. Next come agricultural workers, who do not hold power in society because they do not own a significant amount of money or land. The bottom tier of the social system is the beggars, or "bottom feeders", They have no money, land, power or responsibilities, which in turn brings them no respect as peers. As seen in the end of chapter thirteen with the marriage / elopement of Cora, and the attempted marriage of Raquel, social classes were a major factor in who people married and for what reasons.

In Cora's case, she wanted to marry Ramiro, a young man of no social consequence and not of the family's faith. Cora's mother was also against this marriage because Ramiro had no money and didn't look respectable. Cora's mother wanted her to marry a young Jewish lawyer, who had higher social status, was respected in the community, and made a much higher amount of money. Cora was to be forced to marry the lawyer, not out of love, but out of Uruguayan society's class beliefs. The announcement of Raquel's wedding to Walter Diaz Varela surprised and pleased all the characters in the book.

Raquel's family was not well off because of her father and his actions, and they were having problems supporting themselves. Raquel's mother had to sew 15 hours a day to just get by, and this union would provide a trophy wife for Walter, and a reprieve from her mother's duties. Walter did insist on a prenuptial agreement stating Raquel and her family would get no money if they married, which offended Senora Francisca, Raquel's mother, but she ignored it because it meant they would live much better. Classes dictated everything, from where you lived to how you were treated. The higher social classes had power in their hands from the time they were born. Examples of this are Marco's father keeping him out of jail for his first 20 years, Magda's grandmother keeping her safe while she was imprisoned, through a land sale contract with General Paz.

Marco used his power through his family and as an officer and to rescue Magda from jail. When Magda was small, local schoolchildren could sense it in her when the Russian Embassy was being protested and rioted, and she ran to the defense of the senator's wife. A complete opposite to this privilege is the poor. They have no power, no rights. Gabriella went to jail, and Dan Mitrione trained his jailers on the art of torture on her and several other poor people, because they were worthless in his eyes. They ended up killing her in their training experiments, and no one ever knew, all because she had no power.

Class systems everywhere in the world dictate who and what we are. In many countries even today, including Uruguay, it dictates every aspect of our life. It's been present all throughout history, and will be in the future. Class distinctions are all we know; it's intrinsic in humanity. We need to label to understand, and what better way to figure people out than to label.