Chris Gardner Sociology

Chris Gardner who is a salesman and a father based in San Francisco struggles a lot in order to make a good future for his five year old son, Christopher, and for himself. He uses all his savings to invest in bone-density scanners that are portable. He is able to sell most of the scanners. During that time, his family is going through financial problems and his investment enrages his wife, Linda, who is already alienated and bitter. The wife works as a maid in a hotel thus she does not make much money. Due to their unstable financial status, their marriage is eroded despite the fact that they both care for their son. His son is at the age of five and he has to raise him all by himself since his wife leaves him.
While trying to sell the scanners

in downtown, Gardner comes across Jay Twister who is Dean Witter Reynolds’ manager. During a short ride in a taxi, Gardner gets to impress Twister by solving a Rubik’s cube. Gardner has no money to pay the taxi fare and he results to running in order to avoid paying the fare. He then boards a train but one of his scanners gets lost in the process. He develops a relationship with Jay and it helps him in becoming an intern stockbroker. On the day that precedes the interview, Gardner decides to paint his house with the aim of delaying his moving out since he has difficulties in paying his rent. In the painting process, a police greets Gardner at the doorstep and he is taken in the station for him to pay the accumulated parking tickets. He has to spend that night in jail and that contributes in complicating his schedule since he was to go for an interview the following day. However, he is able to arrive at the office of Dean Witter’s on time. Despite being in shabby clothes, the interviewers are impressed by him and he gets the internship.
Linda is not happy with the internship that is unpaid and she eventually leaves for New York. Gardner states that she is not capable of raising their son all by herself thus she decides to leave Christopher with Gardner. Further, Gardner is set back when the IRS garnishes his bank account since for the income taxes that are unpaid and he and Christopher are evicted. They become homeless and penniless as well. Sometime later, he finds the lost scanner and after repairing it, it is bought by a physician and that completes his scanners sale.
The limited work hours disadvantage Gardner. However, he maximizes the profits and client contacts in order to earn the broker position. Despite the problems that are facing him, Gardner does not disclose his situation to his colleagues. He earns the broker position he is so excited about that. Later, Gardner forms his multi-million dollar firm.
There are various sociological problems that are identified in this movie.

One of them is poverty. The movie succeeds in showing how poor Gardner is. His financial state makes his wife very angry to a point where she decides to leave him. He is also poor thus he is not able to pay taxi fare and that is why he decides to run in order to avoid paying the taxi fare. Due to poverty, Gardner is not able to pay his house rent. He also has income tax that is unpaid and that is why he is forced to spend a night in jail. He further becomes homeless after he is evicted and that is why he and Christopher have to spend nights in the subway. Being poor causes him great problems since some of the misfortunes that he comes across are as a result of poverty. The movie helps in showing how poverty can affect

people.
Unemployment is also one of the sociological problems that are in the movie. Being unemployed cause Gardner to think of making an investment. The investment exhausts all his savings and that makes his wife angry. He also earns internship that is unpaid for thus he still has to struggle in order to make ends meet. However, he later gets employment after going through a lot of suffering during his unemployed period since he had a very big financial problem.
Separation is also one of the sociological problems.

Gardner gets into a great financial problem and that really irritates the wife. She alienates herself but it comes to a point when she decides to leave Gardner. Gardner has been going through a lot of problems already and he is disturbed when his wife leaves since he is left to raise their five year old son all by himself. The son is also affected by the situation since it is very hard for a five year old child to grow up without the mother. His wife is not supportive and that is very wrong since it contributes in killing the motivation that Gardner has. Walking out also shows that she does not approve the decisions that are made by Gardner since it is evident that she is not pleased by what Gardner does. He goes through a lot of problems while raising their son all by himself but he does not give

up.
Homelessness is also a sociological problem in the movie. Being homeless has a lot of risks especially since there is a little kid. That is because criminals often victimize the people that are homeless. That helps in showing that Gardner and his son always lived in fear of being attacked by the criminals. The homeless are always at a risk of being robbed and assaulted and that shows that they always lived in fear since being homeless is very risky.
Being abandoned is also a sociological problem. As an infant, Gardner was abandoned by his biological father. Therefore, he had a hard time growing up. His wife also abandons him when he has financial problems. However, he vows that he will always be there for his son no matter what. That is why he really struggle in order to ensure that he gets to secure a bright future for his son.
Unhappiness is also a sociological problem that is evident in the movie. Due to his financial status, Gardner is always unhappy. That is because he is always faced by challenges in most of the cases. Every time it tries to get better, something spoils the moment thus causing him bad luck. However, he is able to overcome all the problems and he also tries to hide the fact that he is suffering.