Secrecy and the Family

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the influence of secrets on the family. It discusses the relationship of social status to family secrets and describes the important distinction between secrecy and privacy. It also looks at how social statuses, norms and expectations contribute to family secrets. The paper presents a number of family stories that illustrate how secrets can affect a family as a whole.

From the Paper:

"Margaret Castle was raised by a middle-class black family in Barbados. The origin of her family, however, is very complicated. She was adopted by the Castles right after her birth. The Castles were distant cousins of her real mother Lucy. "Lucy's father, Michael Rose, was white Barbadian whose grandfather was a salve holder. Lucy's mother, Ruth, is black and descended from slaves. Michael Rose, a respected landowner and deacon in his church, fathered many out-of0wedlock children with several different women." Lucy whose skin was a right color was raised as white and Michael's favorite child. When Lucy got a pregnant of a working- class black man's child-Margaret, her father Michael pressured her to give up the baby. "Fearing her father's wrath and longing for his approval," Lucy gave the baby to the Castles. Margaret had never known her true background until an outsider talked about her real mother inadvertently. She says, "'For many years I never spoke to anyone about it. It was consumed by anger'"(Imber-Black, 1999;p.74-76)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hovde, E. & Maysles, A. (Director). (1975). Grey Gardens. [Motion Picture], United States: Portrait Films. Imber-Black, E. (1999). The Secret Life of Families. (Paperback ed.). New York: Bantam Books. Kieslowski, K. (Director). (1990). Decalogue 7: Thou Shalt Not Steal.
• [Television series]. Warsow: Polish TV. Newman, D. M., & Grauerholz, L. (2002). Sociology of Familes(2nd ed.).
• Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press. Roy, A. (1998). The God of Small Things. New York: Harper Collins Book.

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