Grace

Grace from American Rust is another example of a working-class woman who dreams of something more than what she currently has. Grace, who gave up the opportunity to move up the socioeconomic ladder for her son never gave up her dreams of eventually being able to have that opportunity once again. In the beginning of the novel, readers would often see her seriously considering making major changes to her life in order to move out of the working class. When thinking about potentially going to college we can see her saying to herself, “Why not, she thought. Even if it takes six or seven years, you could just start now” (45). Even after years of saying she will go back to school, saying she will move out of the trailer, saying she will leave Buell and not doing any of those things, Grace maintains that the idea of her going to college is at least a possibility, highlighting this kind of optimism that is associated with working-class life. Even in the most desperate of times, dreams of a better future do not completely leave working-class people. This is especially impressive because of the imposition of fixity. Amber Hollibaugh says “there is no path out of a closed system” (36) in reference to working class people not being able to leave the working class because they do not know about opportunities outside of what they have been exposed to and yet people like Grace who continue to dream about more remain.