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Literature poverty essay
Literature poverty essay
African american literature
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People with a lower socioeconomic status convey the impression that they rely on their culture to help them with the world or their lives. Which, in turn, shapes what they value. For example, in “Everyday Use”, the mother states, “I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style” (SB page 64). The mother has a low economic status and she believed that the quilts could help Dee but Dee, who has a higher socioeconomic status thinks the complete opposite. This shows that people with less attachment with money will decide to rely and value on cultural items (quilts specifically in “Everyday use”) to aid them in life. Another example, in “My mother pieced quilts”,
The lngles family from Little House on the Prairie, a popular television series, demonstrates the working class. Mr. Ingles works while Mrs. Ingles takes care of the household duties. The family displays a genuin e happiness. They have no modern utilities, but they have each other. They have a strong love within their family, and worldly materials serve little importance to them. A typical family today displays tremendous difference s compared to the Ingles family. Jealously and competitiveness play a major part in showing these varia...
Quilt making in the African American community has a long history dating back to the 18th century and has been important for ways of communicating social and political conditions. During the time when African Americans were enslaved, quilting became a popular way of communicating safety to African Americans escaping their way to freedom, up north. The tradition of Quilting was past down form generation to generation, by mother’s to daughter’s as a way of teaching the daughter about the past and giving them a valuable skill that could add to their lives. In the series Bitter Nest by Faith Ringgold, Ringgold’s communicates her life experiences with her daughters though using the art of story telling, traditional African materials, the art of quilting, and elements of art to make a unique story-quilt that appeals to African Americans of all ages.
Inter-reliant poverty comes with its own stresses- and certainly isn’t the American ideal- but it’s much closer to our evolutionary heritage than affluence.” (Junger 21)
Many people at one time or another will face some-sort of economic hardship; however it is safe to say that many people do not really know what extreme poverty is like. The Treviño family knows first hand what it is like to work in tedious, mind-numbing jobs for a very little paycheck. The life of a migrant worker is not anything to be desired. Simple things that most would take for granted like food variety, baths, clean clothes, and beds are things that Elva learned to live with. “We couldn’t have a bath every day, since it was such a big production. But [mom] made us wash our feet every night” (125). A simple task to any normal person is a large production for a migrant family that doesn’t have any indoor plumbing. People living in poverty do not often have a large wardrobe to speak of which means that the few clothes they own often remain dirty because washing clothes is a production too. “Ama scrubbed clothes on the washboard while the rest of us bathed. She took a bath last while the rest of us rinsed and hung up the clothes she had washed. This was the only oppor...
In ?Everyday Use?, Alice Walker chooses to develop the idea of poverty by focusing exclusively on the environment in which her protagonists live. Setting attributes, such as the ones used to describe the house in which the protagonists reside, enables us to better understand the theme. In fact, the dwelling does not even have any real windows. Instead, it has holes cut in the sides, like the portholes of a ship, but not round and not square, with rawhide holding the shutters up on the outside. Then, Walker proceeds with inside description of the house as she points out that the protagonists use benches for their table instead of chairs because they cannot financially afford any. Further, the author supports the theme by providing us with some physical description of specific objects. The use of quilts that ?Grandma Dee? sewed from the scraps of her dress and the churn that Uncle Henry whittled from the wood is not derived from the protagonists? intention to preserve ?family values? but rather from a necessity to ?survive?.
In "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, two sisters want the handmade quilt that is a symbol of the family heritage. Alice Expresses what her feeling are about her heritage through this story. It means everything to her. Something such as a quilt that was hand made makes it special. Only dedication and years of work can represent a quilt.
The quilts were pieced together by Mama, Grandma Dee, and Big Dee symbolizing a long line of relatives. The quilts made from scraps of dresses worn by Grandma Dee, Grandpa Jarrell’s Paisley shirts, and Great Grandpa Ezra’s Civil War uniform represented the family heritage and values, and had been promised to Mama to Maggie when she married. However, Dee does not understand the love put into the making of the quilts, neither does she understand the significance of the quilts as part of her family heritage. It is evident she does not understand the significance of the quilt, having been offered one when went away to college declaring them “as old-fashioned” and “out of style”. She does not care about the value of the quilts to her family, rather she sees it as a work of art, valuable as an African heritage but not as a family heirloom. She wants the quilts because they are handmade, not stitched with around the borders. She tells Mama, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!... She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use… But, they’re priceless!.. Maggie would put them on her the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!” (317). The quilt signifies the family pride and history, which is important to Mama. She makes the decision to give the quilt to Maggie who will appreciate it more than Dee, to whom she says, “God knows I been saving ‘em for long enough with
In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, we hear a story from the viewpoint of Mama, an African American woman, about a visit from her daughter Dee. Mama, along with her other daughter Maggie, still lives poor in the Deep South while Dee has moved onto a more successful life. Mama and Maggie embrace their roots and heritage, while Dee wants to get as far away as possible. During her return, Dee draws her attention to the quilt. It is this quilt and the title of the piece that centers on the concept of what it means to integrate one’s culture into their everyday life.
Poverty on social conditions affects everyone in every part of the world, no matter if they are rich or poor. First of all, everyone is divided into some sort of social class. The most known classes are the economic classes- the lower class, the middle class, and the higher class. The lower class goes through arduous labor all day and night to earn decent amounts of money to provide for themselves and their families. Most likely, they are the only source of income for the entire family. The higher class works hard to keep up or raise their high social status. They also work hard so they don’t loss their social rank, which permits them to hold a higher power over the middle and lower classes. Similarities of decisions made by characters in these two literary works will analyzed to understand the meaning behind the actions and influences of the social classes on each other.
"They neglect their children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high” (221). Barbara Ehrenreich uses juxtaposition by comparing the working and upper class to implore sympathy; she makes the working class appear as victims, which brings empathy and guilt among the upper class. Society doesn’t see low wage workers by their genuine attitude towards their paying customers, but as an outcast because of their occupational status. However, one individual changes the way upper classes view the working class in the form of a book. Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, brings the audience into her personal journey as an intentional low-wage worker. Ehrenreich accentuates how society views low-wage workers: she highlights how society sees low-wage workers as drug and alcohol abusers, she reveals how society set up traps to prove that low-wage workers are liars and thieves, and shows how society creates a psychological effect, which affects how the working class views themselves.
Bell Hooks Seeing and Making Culture:Representing the Poor she talks about how throughout her life she felt poor and how thinking that can affect the way that you see things. How the poor are looked down on and it lowers self-esteem but I feel like this can relate to working-class also. Being from working class I can see how self-esteem can be lowered by others because you lack certain materialistic things. I went through it but sometimes like she said we try so hard to get those things and make it appear to others that we have money and in doing so we go in
To say the least, it isn’t always the norm for women in a poor family, or even one of higher class, to marry someone of a lower social class. If at all, the woman would be on equal footing with her husband and their fortunes similar, making no ...
In the first part of attempting to understand why urbanized Americans relate to things they asked “What are the things in your home which are special to you” (pg. 56). The authors would also follow up as to why that object was special to them. What the authors saw was that the category of furniture had different value to each group of the family. For the younger generation it served as a “momentary purpose” (pg.60) for comfort and enjoyment. The younger generation don’t invest psychic energy into furniture hence why the authors say it serves as a “momentary purpose”, they use it for the moment but do not use it to cultivate anything. The middle generation or the parents the value was the representation of “memories, relationships and past experiences” (pg.61). As for the grandparents, furniture holds similar values to the parents such as signs of past events, ties to family and other people. The older generation here cultivate memories and past experiences of the world with furniture which also helps explain why the younger generation don’t necessarily care for furniture yet. The younger generation cannot cultivate experiences of the world or use the furniture to process information like the two older
It has been interesting to see how personal and family income represent a sense of security, stability, and importance across both interviewees. Financial income does not display as important to indulge into consumerism, but to provide personal security. One way this is demonstrated is through exploring how financial stability relates to making a person feel safe? When interviewing Poe, she expresses, “Mom wants to know her kids are safe and happy… financially stable for everyone”. This expresses how her mother feels safe, knowing that her children and family have financial stability. This is similar to interviewee Kirstin through the demonstration of how her family feels safe, yet it is evident that financial security is something the family struggles with, “When she (her mother) is financially secure, which she still struggles with. You (Kirstin’s husband, Sean) put a lot of pressure on your financial security and that has a lot to do with your safety. Money makes [Sean] feel safe”. It is
In Pablo Picasso’s quote “I’d like to live as a poor man with lots of money,” the difficult struggles in the classes of poor and the rich is seen with the rigors of survival in the growing economy of America. Although most upper and middle class Americans have a hard time in giving thanks to what the Earth provides for the society everyday, some have learned to contain “voluntary poverty” within themselves. Secondly, Thanksgiving frees Americans, at least temporarily, from their desires. Lastly, the influence from one or two people can lead to America’s movement into a person with a humble heart on the inside with enough money to survive in