Henni, the narrator of the story, as well as the majority of her friends and family living on Stella Street, fit into the middle class category. This is clearly evident when Henni informs the reader 'We're not rich but were not poor' (Honey, 2000 p.135). The author portrays the middle class families in a very positive way. Donna, who is a middle class family friend of Henni, 'plants something in every piece of junk that can hold even so much as an egg cup of soil' (p. 7), and also has compost in the garden (p. 8), which in this day and age, with the encouragement of recycling, is seen as a thoughtful thing to do. Donna works at a social service office and has kids in need staying with her occasionally (p. 24). This selfless behaviour positions the reader to look at the middle class in a positive way. The happy nature of the middle class people displayed in the book is a significant motivator to view them as the ideal socioeconomic group. As Henni is of middle class, it is likely that the reader will sense they are being presented with a biased viewpoint. "Narrators are sometimes termed unreliable when they provide enough information about situations and clues about their own biases to make us doubt their interpretations of events" (Culler, JD 1997 p.88). However, Henni is portrayed as an honest girl during her interrogation by the police officers when she says 'this is what really happened' (p.67), after her sister Danielle had lied to them. At the start of the first chapter, Henni writes 'I'm the tallest girl in our school. I'm not the oldest or the cleverest or the prettiest or funniest but I sure am the tallest which nobody can deny' (p.5). This rather unflattering self description positions the reader to believe Henni's account of events right from the start of the book. The narrator speaks highly of the middle class characters in Stella Street, but rarely of the people from the lower and upper economic classes.
The lower class are the least represented in the book. There are hints within the text that the Brown Boys are of a lower class than Henni and her friends on page 72, where they are described as 'trouble' and because they lie to the police (p. 70). Mr. Burgess the dog catcher is also portrayed to be of lower class. Henni does this with statements such as, 'He probably worked as a garbo for two weeks then he probably got a bad back and the Council pensioned him off into this job' and 'he would have been the school bully. For sure' (p. 43).This both suggests his lower class and creates a negative image of his character due to Henni being so convinced he was a bully. Henni also mentions her belief that '[Mr. Burgess] was probably a not very good criminal' when he was younger. The lower class within Stella Street are portrayed to be in trouble with the law and are looked down upon by the public.
The Phonies, an upper class couple, are also depicted in a very negative way. The reader is made aware of the Phonies class status by the amount of money they have. Spending 'In round figures...$356,000' (p.53) on a new car and the drastic renovations of Aunt Lillie's house. The Phonies are shown to be untrustworthy, sending their guests off courteously with 'bye bye Daaaalings' (p. 18), only to shout 'NEVER again!' after they had left. The Phonies throw 'perfectly good stuff' (p. 20) in the bin. This is in comparison with Donna's recycling of all sorts of things, such as a 'merry-go-round swan' and 'an old cart' (p. 7) can be seen as a very negative thing. This is backed up by the narrator of the story, suggesting that to 'give it to the Salvos or the Red Cross or the op shop' would be a better option. The author explores events that the reader is likely to come across in their life, such as a conflict of some sort with an unfriendly neighbour, possibly about the boundary of their property (See. p. 22), or coming across unfriendly, money-driven people similar to the way the Phonies are portrayed. Culler writes, '[Narrators] expose the predicaments of the oppressed in stories that invite readers, through identification, to see certain situations as intolerable' (p. 92) The author seems to be using techniques closely related to this theory to get the implied reader on the side of Henni and her friends.
The closure of the novel is the departure of the Phonies from Stella Street after their money laundering scheme was uncovered. This suggests to the reader that upper class people may have come across their fortune illegally. Further building on the already negative image we have been presented of the class. Lower class people are displayed as troublesome, and the middle class are presented as the favourable party. At the end of the novel we are presented with a 'happy ending' with the arrival of the new family to the street, replacing the Phonies at number 45. The family is of middle class also, evident in the instant connection between Frank and the two sisters and by the occupation of their mother, 'a potter' (p. 174). This ending seems to aim towards solidifying the idea that 'middle class' is the favourable class, and that an all-middle class neighbourhood is a happy neighbourhood. Culler states, 'We find it very hard indeed to avoid conceiving of our lives by patterns of fictional narratives' (1997 p. 92). Stella Street is a great example of this. It demonstrates how a well written and entertaining story can convince a reader of a certain ideology, in this case the middle class being the favourable socioeconomic group.
