Harry Potter Poverty Essay

509 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Television stereotypes

By focusing on those who have taking advantage of others, some chose to believe poor people deserve to be poor due to media perceptions, the assumption of those in poverty not working hard enough, and through government aid. The media plays a large role in shaping society’s view of the world and those involved in the society. This especially effects those living in poverty. There is a strong stigmatism on those living in poverty. Many characters in TV that are homeless or living in poverty are portrayed as dirty, and tend to be represented as criminals in the media. In Harry Potter, the Weasley family was obviously very poor due to their large size. Throughout the books we see the family as silly and outlandish. Many of the children in the …show more content…

This notion is sadly mistaken. In her essay “Serving in Florida” Barbra Ehrenreich dropped her normal life and committed herself to the life of a typical minimum wage blue collar worker. She describes her life as continuous and physically demanding. She talks about the roboticness that you eventually take on while preforming daily tasks associated with the job she was preforming. These workers are working in deplorable and hostile work place environment’s. Working a six-hour shift with no breaks, not even for food, is honestly ludicrous. Especially when considering, at least in Ehrenreich case, they are only getting paid two to three dollars an hour. In this essay, she mentions a co-worker named Gail. Gail is overjoyed at the fact that the management at the hotel is allowing her to parker her truck in the parking lot overnight so that she has a safe place to sleep. This situation pokes holes in the theory that those who are poor are jobless bums because Gail obviously has a job but is still living out of her car and struggling to make ends meet. The fact is that those who are working minimum wage jobs cannot do anything but work. In fact, they are lucky if they can manage to go “home now and then to catch up on some email and for congical visits” (Ehrenreich 366). People living in poverty find themselves working to the bone and still being unable to dig themselves

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Dianne's Essay Framing Class, Vicarious Living

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    Professor at Baylor University, Dianne Kendall, in her essay “Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption,” published in 2005 touches on the fact that what we see from the media is a humongous influence on how we define social classes and argues that the media tends to trivialize issues of class and to downplay the existential problems poverty entails. Television shows such as “Family Guy”, and “Keeping up with the Kardashians” use frames to alter how we perceive social classes, whether it be for good or bad. These frames, in turn, affect how we think about class divisions and economic inequality, how we relate to the affluent and the poor. Class representations are filtered through a number of frames, which are organized hierarchically:

    Read More

  • Working Poor By Barbara Ehrenreich Summary

    2835 Words  | 6 Pages

    “My very ability to work tirelessly hour after hour is a product of decades of better-than-average medical care, a high-protein diet, and workouts in gyms that charge $400 or $500 a year. If I am now a productive fake member of the working class, it’s because I haven’t been working, in any hard physical sense, long enough to have

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Bell Hooks Seeing And Making Culture: Representing The Poor By Bell Hooks

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    In bell hooks’ “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor”, she discusses the portrayal and misrepresentation of poverty in our society and the methods behind the dilemma. In this excerpt, retrieved from her book Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations (1994), hooks focuses on the negative effects of contemporary popular culture and its contribution to the negative societal views on poverty.

    Read More

  • Andrew Curry's Why We Work By Barbara Ehrenreich

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    In today’s society you either have to work hard to live a good life, or just inherit a lump sum of cash, which is probably never going to happen. So instead a person has to work a usual nine to five just to put food on the table for their families, and in many cases that is not even enough. In the article, “Why We Work” by Andrew Curry, Curry examines the complexities of work and touches on the reasons why many workers feel unsatisfied with their jobs. Barbara Ehrenreich writes an essay called, “Serving in Florida” which is about the overlooked life of being a server and the struggles of working off low minimum wages. Curry’s standpoint on jobs is that workers are not satisfied, the job takes control of their whole life, and workers spend

    Read More

  • Nickel and Dimed On (not) Getting By in America by Ehrenreich

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ehrenreich wants to find a ways to improve the quality of life of the working class. While working for Wal-mart, Ehrenreich discussed unionizing with her co-workers. The purpose of the union is so the workers can get a higher hourly wage. Her downfall in Minneapolis is when she can’t find affordable lodging. Ehrenreich stayed in hotels which become very expensive. The accommodations in these hotels proved to be almost inhabitable. The rooms were small, most had no air conditioning. The windows had no screens so they could not be left open to...

    Read More

  • The Glass Castle Stereotypes

    1391 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many of these groups utilize surveys and other census data to compile a greater amount of statistics. These studies find that a large amount of Americans that are in poverty today actually have far greater privilege in household appliances and conveniences than did those in poverty in previous years. According to surveys from 2012, 80% of households in poverty have air conditioning as compared to only 36% of all homes in 1970. About 75% have one vehicle and around 31% have two or more vehicles. Over two-thirds also have cable/satellite TV and DVD/VCR machines(Sheffield). Some commentators chalk this up to the devaluation of goods and the commonality of many of these household appliances but others see this as an increase in quality of living. Most people thinking of poverty also think of hunger and malnourishment. In the memoir, we see that the kids often go hungry do to lack or mismanagement of money by their parents. A quote from the book, “When other girls came in and threw away their lunch bags in the garbage pails, I’d go retrieve them” displays the struggle the writer had in finding enough

    Read More

  • People Like Us: Social Class In Americ Tammy's Story

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    Poverty is a worldwide social problem that effects billions of people and in the video clip People Like us: Social Class in America: Tammy’s Story we are able to get a deeper look into just one of the many heart wrenching cases. Tammy’s story is a documentation of the life of the Crabtree family in Waverly, Ohio, a family that lives in rural poverty. The Crabtree family consist of the mother Tammy and her four children in which only two are featured, Beau and Matt. Tammy is the only money-earning member of the family with a minimum wage job at Burger King. This amount of income leaves them below the poverty line in the United States, which classified them as an impoverished family. In the video clip the Crabtree family discusses various negative effects of being below the poverty line including not having enough money

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Serving In Florida By Ehrenreich

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    In her narrative, “Serving in Florida”, she describes life as low income American through her experiences as a hotel maid. Ehrenreich vividly describes the inhumane working conditions in which many Americans must endure in order to survive. Employees are fearful of losing their jobs if they do not meet the certain demands of managers who unfairly exert control on them. In addition, Ehrenreich addresses a common misconception among Americans, that those living in poverty are not hard working people, she proves this to be an unfair portrayal of the underprivileged. Ehrenreich works alongside Maria, a Hispanic woman who is the housekeeping manager and Carla, an African American woman who is also a maid. Carla and Ehrenreich are given nineteen rooms to clean with one half hour break. Carla suffers from joint pain which causes her to move slowly. Ehrenreich notes that Carla’s slow pace will probably result in the loss of her job at the hotel because of the other immigrant workers who are much faster than she. Even Carla is fully aware that she is not valued as an employee, “She broods, too, about all the little evidences of disrespect that come her way, and not only from management. ‘They don’t care about us,’ she tells me of the hotel guests; in fact, they don’t notice us at all unless something gets stolen from a room— ‘then they’re all over you’” (277). Individuals such as Carla are extremely hard working, but despite their strong work ethic, low income citizens are seen as disposable by their employers. Not only are they looked down upon by their employers, but they also are treated with disrespect by the people in which they serve. The guests make automatic assumptions because she is from a lower class standing. They assume that she must degrade herself to theft in order to survive because she is not as fortunate. The

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Article Seeing And Making Culture: Representing The Poor By Bell Hooks

    739 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor” by Bell Hooks, one of Hook’s primary purposes for this article is how people view the poor in a negative connotation because of the media. In the article Hooks views the lower class and the higher class different than most. She starts off her article talking about the poor are now being represented. One of her first arguments is talking about the labels the poor has and how poverty places a part in that.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Loewen's 'The Land Of Opportunity'

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    The only type of media left out of Loewen’s article is social media and the younger generations are major consumers in the twenty first century. Watkins article uses the specific social media platforms Facebook and Myspace. Facebook typically had white users that were considered middle class. However, Myspace users were usually Black or Latino and came from the working class. People use social media to interact and trends of social stratification are apparent. TV is not interactive so the division of classes should not be as obvious, but “Poor people are more likely to watch TV.” (Loewen, 204). Hooks feels that “Television shows and films bring the message home that no one can truly feel good about themselves if they are poor.” (Hooks, 434). He uses Pretty Woman as evidence for this and says that the show portrays the ruling class or rich as “generous, eager to share, and as unattached to their wealth in their interactions with folks who are not materially privileged.” This sends a stronger message than interacting with others of a social media because it is not reality. TV can really send the wrong message to the poor or the rich. The privileged may get the idea that they have to take care of the poor, when the poor are hardworking people with values and morals just like the rich. From this the poor may see themselves as not as competent in society. Hooks mentions that self-esteem issues

    Read More

  • Seeing And Making Culture: Representing The Poor: An Analysis

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hooks pointed out that many of his professors insinuated that there were negative stereotypes of being poor. Moreover, that self-esteem is linked to financial wealth; women he met with were on government assistance, but chose to get further in debt to appear to have money, never wanting to be labeled poor. Hooks was raised to believe that morals and values made one rich; that one could have all the money in the world but still be poor because of their attitude. Who’s accountable for why people in our society are poor? It’s seems a vicious circle that is hard for poor kids to escape. Many people with low incomes are “intelligent, critical thinkers struggling to transform their circumstances” (Hooks, p. 488) There are many resources, such as theaters that are empty all day, to pay it forward and help the less fortunate gain skills from college students and professors sharing their knowledge. Barbara Ehrenreich’s “How I Discovered the Truth About Poverty” questions why negative stereotypes of untrustworthiness in poor people. Because of this mistrust, the introduction of drug testing for government aid was passed. Why are those negative connotations associated with poverty? “Poverty is not, after all, a cultural aberration or a character flaw. Poverty is a shortage of money.”

    Read More

  • Harry Potter Argumentative Essay

    679 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since the first segment of the series was released in 1997, Harry Potter has been challenged by churches and parents due to the practicing of magic by children found within the books. The books have been removed from school shelves, discouraged by churches, and censored by parents. It is claimed that Harry Potter is devilish, satanic, and encourages children to practice the occult, damaging their religious views (LaFond). Therefore, many parents keep their children from reading the book series. Yet, Harry Potter has been such a positive influence on my so many lives. Evident through the movies, theme parks, stores, and much more, J.K. Rowling’s series has been an overwhelming success for many reasons (“Because it’s his…”). In order to encourage

    Read More

  • Race and Prejudice toward the Culture of Poverty

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    The culture of poverty resonates from the social theory that elaborates on the cycle of poverty. This theory suggests that the poor do not lack resources but have acquired a poverty- value system. The marginalization of the poor due to their social status of an individual, has created a society that is a society based on the income or wealth they become class conscious. From the paper, it becomes apparent that the culture of poverty creates a prejudice attitude towards a group of people, as it encourages them to think that people are poor or rich because it is what they want. This paper has used examples of different times in history, to support its arguments.

    Read More

  • The American Dream In Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out Of Carolina

    2006 Words  | 5 Pages

    Something is missing, there is something beyond charity and hard work that restrict those in the lower class from living opulent lives. In Bastard out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison presents the themes of poverty,

    Read More

  • The Causes and Effects of Poverty

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, sometimes actions take place that changes a person’s outlook on life and as you can see poverty is one that can have a huge effect on not only one person, but also the people around him/ her.

    Read More

More about Harry Potter Poverty Essay

Open Document