Examples Of Poverty In Ordinary People

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“The real measure of your wealth is how much you’d be worth if you lost all your money.” (unknown). All families are not perfect, they all have problems that they struggle with daily, they all go through tough times that cause unhappiness, but the thought that these factors have no affect on rich people is completely untrue. In Judith Guest’s Ordinary People and Jo Goodwin Parker’s “What is Poverty” both address how two families relationships, happiness and daily struggles are affected by the amount of money they have, which shows that the more money a person has does not necessarily make that person happier. In this world the stereotypical thought is that the more money one has the better off they are, although they might look good from …show more content…

Calvin is starting to think about how he is getting drunk much more often and he isnt as happy as he used to be. “He has noted this about himself lately: that he drinks too much when they go out. Because drinking helps. It has gotten him through many evenings, either deadening the pain or raising him above it to where small events seem pleasurable and worth recording. It isn 't likely that this will happen tonight”. (Guest 59-60) Calvin is talking about how he is getting drunk and how he has noticed it has been happening much more often. Even though he grew up in an Evangelical home and is very proud of where he is at in life right now, he is realizing that his life is not as great as he thought it was. He is not as happy as he used to be. Even though he has everything materialistically, he is still not happy. He is so unhappy to that he has to drink to get through his life, he is just now starting to realize that is a problem. The mom in What is Poverty is thinking about what the future looks like for her kids. “Poverty is looking into a black future. Your children won 't play with my boys. They will turn to other boys who steal to get what they want. I can already see them behind the bars of their prison instead of behind the bars of my poverty. Or they will turn to the freedom of alcohol or drugs, and find themselves enslaved. And my daughter? At best, there is for her a life like mine.” (Parker) The mom in What is Poverty is sad thinking about her children 's future. She knows that because of her, her children do not have a bright future like many other kids do. Her children do not go to school, her children do not have friends, and she sees that her kids are going to grow up to be in the same position as her. Not only is this mom not happy right now but she is also not happy about the future

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