One Family has two main themes of emphasis. Firstly, are the struggles of a black welfare family with a single mother, and the racial and economic disparity they face. There is a particular emphasis toward the malfunctions of government and social programs which attempt to elevate that economic disparity, but because of larger systemic problems regarding race and the identity of those on welfare, the struggle to leave the welfare cycle seems hopeless and with that finding social serenity beyond the impoverished and dangerous community and house which Mrs. Black and her family live. Secondly, despite the fact that Mrs. Black and her family are on welfare and economically disadvantaged, they are no different than you, I, or Nancy Sirkis. It is the systems and circumstances that found Mrs. Black, and then ultimately her family in their situation of poverty and the struggle which goes with that. But they are a family who wish for hope, happiness, and prosperity nonetheless, and do the best they can to find happiness and love in their destitution. Though a sense of economic hopelessness is present in Mrs. Black's attitude, hope for happiness and love in her family and children is still very present, and Sirkis makes clear that they should not be pushed aside and othered because of their economic status.
“For Mrs. Black and myself, the turning point came in the course of a conversation when we discovered that we were the same age. I had assumed she was older; she had assumed I was younger. At that moment the gulf between our worlds was revealed at its widest: she with fourteen children and little hope for the future; I with one child, a husband, and attainable dreams. We sat in silence facing each other - two people, one white, one black; one richer, one poorer - two women” (Sirkis 15).
“MICHELLE-nine years old…
I wish for a bike. I wanna take it outside and ride it…
I love God an my mother an my father an my little brother.
I love my whole family” (Sirkis 103).
“Care or don’t, you still the same. You still got no money. You still got no food. So what’s the difference if you care or don’t care? That don't put money in your pocket or food in your mouth” (Sirkis 69).
One Family can be related to Du Bois’ “Darkwater, ‘The Damnation of Women.’” Du Bois, through poetic prose, discusses the consciousness of black women and mothers. The identity of the black mother, Du Bois categorizes, is split not only in its intersection of woman and black american, but in being a mother self-identity is lost. Mrs. Frances Black very much experiences an exemplification of this theorizing. Put under the stress of being a victim of the welfare system and unable to achieve economic stability, Mrs. Black is faced with an othering identity. But she is also the mother of fourteen children, ten of which live with her, and she must take care of. Not only might her identity fracture under the stress of her circumstances, but the task of taking care of all her children and making her house a home divides her further.