What Is The Central Argument In Keeping Close To Home

"Keeping Close to Home" by Bell Hooks presents the central argument that individuals should return to their roots and connect with their family and community to find a sense of belonging and identity. Bell Hooks reflects on her experiences growing up in a working-class family in Kentucky and how this shaped her sense of self and her relationship with the world. The text argues that understanding one's history and connecting with one's family and community can empower the individual's present and future. The central argument is that maintaining connections to one's family and community is essential for personal growth and identity formation and for empowering the individual to face the world's challenges. We see this through Hook's use of logos throughout the story as

She describes feeling out of place and disconnected from her peers, who came from more privileged backgrounds and had different life experiences. Hooks describes," Studying at Stanford, I began to think seriously about class differences. To be materially underprivileged at a university where most folks (except for workers ) are materially privileged provokes such thought ".The detail shows not only her use of logos but how she explains to the reader how she feels out of place or disconnected from others. She also describes the feeling that her cultural background and identity were not valued or respected within the university setting. Hook goes on to say," It is easier to downplay them, to act as though we were all from privileged backgrounds..or to pretend that just being chosen to study at such an institution meant that those of us who did not come from elite were already in transition toward it." Hooks tries to emphasize to the reader that she felt like her cultural background or even financial status would not be valued in such a respected school as the one that she is