Untraditional Families Naomi Gerstel and Natalia Sarksian have shed new light on the subject of minority families and their differences to the traditional nuclear families in their essay, “The Color of Family Ties.” According to their work, those of White descent make up most of all nuclear families which can be described as a father, mother and children all living in one household. Gerstel and Sarkasian point out that it is not always the case that, “Black and Latino/a, especially Puerto Rican families are more disorganized than White families, and that their families ties are weaker,” as they are often thought of by those in politics or the media (62). In fact Gerstel and Sarkasian write, “Blacks and Latinos/as, are as likely as Whites-and in some ways more likely-to be supportive family members” (63). This is evident in Roger Jack’s “An Indian Story” and Melvin Dixon’s poem, “Aunt Ida Pieces a Quilt.” Both these writings exhibit great examples of minority, untraditional families with very strong ties and supportive relationships and yet it is arguable that one family is lacking in kinship. “An Indian Story” by Roger Jack is a story a young boy who many refer to as Jack and his nonnuclear family. When Jack is just a young boy his mother dies then his father remarries and starts a new family, which makes the boy uncomfortable with his living situation so he decides to go live with his late mother’s sister, Aunt Greta. It is apparent that even before he decided to move with Greta, Jack was very close to her when he states, “I walked to Aunt Greta’s house and asked if I could move in with her since I had already spend so much time with her anyway”(53). This is our first example of the strong ties to extended family in this story. As the story progresses we learn that Greta has sacrificed not only for her nephew but for her father as well.
Greta had been married