Part Time Indian

507 Words2 Pages

Did you know that 29% of American people are in the lower income class? This is an astonishingly large amount of people, because this means that out of 326,474,013 people, 94,677,464 are in the lower class. In the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, the author portrays people in rural america who are being negatively affected due to substandard income, and how the government is failing to aid these individuals. This is seen through individuals in rural America suffering from poor housing, transportation issues, and unemployment. In addition, the government could be helping in ways such as getting these people better housing, and sufficient jobs to make a living. Individuals in America suffer from poor housing, transportation, and unsatisfactory income. For example, in the document by Native American partnership. Org it states that “eight out of ten, Adults on …show more content…

For instance, they can supply them with better jobs and help the obtain better housing. The government has a duty to help its citizens especially considering these issues are partially the government's fault. This is seen in ways such as people being deprived of their original habitats and working ethics. Alexie talks about how few job opportunities are available in the reservation. For example, one potential job is as a teacher which does not pay well, and another downside is that one must live in a trailer park behind the school. This exemplifies how poor living conditions are in these reservations. Another aspect the government can help its citizens is through healthcare. In some reservations there are some people who can perform cpr as a nurse/doctor. This article Native American partnership. Org states that “Due to underfunding, Indian Health Service facilities are crisis-driven and leave a wide gap in adequate and preventative health care for many Native Americans on the

Show More
Related

  • The Glass Castle Stereotypes

    1391 Words  | 3 Pages

    Poverty in America is a very complex issue that can be looked at from many directions. There are a plethora of statistics and theories about poverty in America that can be confusing and at times contradicting. It is important to objectively view statistics to gain a better understanding of poverty and to wade through the stereotypes and the haze of cultural views that can misrepresent the situation.The official poverty line in America begins with a person making at or below $12,060. To calculate the poverty line for a family, an additional $4,180 is added to the base of $12,060 for each additional member(“Federal Poverty Level Guidelines”). According to the last U.S. census, over 45 million or 14.5% of Americans are at or below the poverty line(Worstall). At this level, the U.S. poverty level has not changed much from the 1970s when the government began a “War on Poverty.” However,

    Read More

  • Part-Time Indian Struggles

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    Encountering struggles in life defines one’s character and speaks volumes about their strength, ambition, and flexibility. Through struggles, sacrifice, and tragedy, Junior in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, adapts to survive difficult situations and faces his problems head-on. As he makes life changing decisions, adapts to an unfamiliar culture, and finds himself amongst misery and heartbreak, Junior demonstrates resilience to overcome adversity and struggles.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of As American As Apple Pie

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    The article “As American As Apple Pie” is about, poverty and welfare and how they are looked down upon and treated with suspicion or outright antagonism, and how many associate those in poverty with negative stereotypes often seen as deviant such as homeless, lazy, and criminals. Mark R. Rank points out how poverty across the world is a lot more normal than we think it might be. Some people are at greater risk than others, depending on age, race, gender, family structure, community of residence, education, work skills, and physical disabilities. This article provides the readers with data and analysis of American poverty and welfare over the course of the past 25 years. Rank also talks about how we have framed the poverty issue, and how we should frame it.

    Read More

  • A Classless Society In Mantsios's Class In America

    1410 Words  | 3 Pages

    With each class comes a certain level in financial standing, the lower class having the lowest income and the upper class having the highest income. According to Mantsios’ “Class in America” the wealthiest one percent of the American population hold thirty-four percent of the total national wealth and while this is going on nearly thirty-seven million Americans across the nation live in unrelenting poverty (Mantsios 284-6). There is a clear difference in the way that these two groups of people live, one is extreme poverty and the other extremely

    Read More

  • The Different with America

    663 Words  | 2 Pages

    In addition, the poor are overburdened they always have been, especially in 2014. This is owing to the fact that the middle class is close to disappearing, which is forming a large gap between the poor and the rich. Furthermore, banking can be more expensive for nearly all poor people, whom are usually put in extreme circumstances where they are required to pay more taxes. And the poor are usually shut out from society and are left on the street as if they were a piece of garbage, which is why it is particularly difficult to attain a job as a poor person. Not many people in the world care for the poor. It is surprising to think that the poor had not been oppressed in 1791. Someone would think the poor have always had a heavy burden. The majority of America’s population is poor and they are ignored and portrayed as aliens whom we should have no contact with.

    Read More

  • Mos Def's Working Class Poor

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    America’s working-class poor, especially those of color often feel neglected, inadequate, and deprived of hope. Mos Def demonstrates the distress of those living in poverty when he expresses, “ Working class poor: better keep your

    Read More

  • Evicted By Matthew Desmond Analysis

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since poverty affects a wide array of people, poverty has evolved into a very complex issue. And even though the government has passed legislature to try to ameliorate the situation, many of these means-tested measures like food stamps, have only been able to help the surface of poverty and fails to rip out the long roots poverty has grown throughout history. Poverty’s deep effects are seen especially in minorities as they struggle much more to leave a current situation that has been created by historical process. Even though government assistance like food stamps do help alleviate some of poverty’s burden, these measures fail to recognize the reality that many of the impoverished minority have undervalued homes or no homes at all and even if they can rent, that rent can be high enough to take up more than fifty-percent of their paychecks. Overall, poverty in America is a vastly complicated issue rooted throughout history. And even though the government has attempted to pass legislature to help provide relief from poverty, America still has yet to provide measures that target the roots of poverty and until then, the government assistance it does provide will only be superficial and fail to provide long-term solutions to a complicated

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech On Affordable Housing

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    While the the 1%, are secured, no one is addressing the rest of the people. As the economy flourishes, housing, higher education and health care, and child care increases with it to the point where 30 percent of a person’s income goes towards housing. People are finding it impossible to purchase a house with their middle class incomes. People begin to fall out of the once stable middle class because too much is needed to be sacrificed in order to live in a stable home. In the shrinking middle class, “40% or more of the residents live below the poverty

    Read More

  • The Culture of Poverty in America

    669 Words  | 2 Pages

    America has always been a country known for their great integrity, diversity, financial prosperity and great pop culture. It has been a place many people have flocked to from many different parts of the world in order to escape their very own poverty struck countries in their quest to build a new life in America and hopefully become financially stable. In this article written by M. Harrington he pointed out some key factors discussing how America has not really changed from over a hundred years ago. In specifics he tells how many years have gone by and still yet there is still a very large amount of a poverty class of people. Although our nation takes great pride on its classlessness there is still a one quarter percent of our country’s population that still lives in a poverty level. Some of these areas also included some inner city blacks, farmworkers, Appalachian whites and elderly people. Harrington’s book “The Other America” also tells us how as a country we have managed to hide the poverty level class from being seen while our country screams we are the wealthiest country in the world! America has done just that. Encourage the wealthy to become wealthier and poor to be poorer. It was also pointed out that the poverty class tends to have a poor language, poor mentality and just a poor outlook of the entire world view as a whole. He stated that the poverty people in this country are identified by a unique way of what is called “Culture Of Poverty”. What he was saying was that the mind of a poverty struck person will not ever surmount to doing things that will benefit them or change the course of their direction. In other words you may give a poor man a million dollars but he will not know wha...

    Read More

  • Poverty : Poverty And Poverty

    1615 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poverty has been a growing problem in America, and it most likely will never stop being one. Someone who is identified as being in poverty lives beneath the poverty line determined by the Federal government. The poverty line in 2015 for a family of four was $24,250. These are the people who are really considered poor. Poverty isn’t just a problem in the United States; in fact, other countries struggle just as much, if not more, than the United States does. Many people struggle to keep themselves above the government’s poverty line, shown by the fact that the percent of poor people in America hasn’t drastically changed over the years. However, it is possible to get out of, and ultimately stay out of, poverty.

    Read More

  • Hope In 'Part Time Indian'

    117 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Important word would be hope.What is hope?In my perspective a person that has hope is a person that shows determination,concentration and showing that they prove that they are the best at what they do.In the book “Part Time Indian” Arnold shows hope with him going to school everyday which was a struggle with him waking up really early to try to go to school and try to make it on time everyday.Also Arnold shows hope by Arnold trying his best in basketball by saying to the coach "I can do it," I said to Coach, to my teammates, to the world."You can do it," Coach said."I can do it .""You can do it.”"I can do it."

    Read More

  • Four Major Effects Of Poverty In The Native American Community

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    This can be seen in various ways. As of 2011, there were over 120,000 tribal homes lacking access to basic water sanitation services (EPA, 2012). Meaning that the health within the community is not at its best due to the poverty. The quality of life is also failing. The NCAI states that “More than 60% of the roads within the Indian Reservation Roads system are earth or gravel. Nearly a quarter of IRR bridges are classified as deficient” (NCAI, 2012). Also the Housing assistance council says “The percentage of homes that are overcrowded on reservations is 3-6 times higher than the percentage of overcrowded homes in the U.S. as a whole”. Native Americans also struggle in education due to poverty. Such as the Education Trust Statistics states that “Native students are the only student population that did not improve their reading and math testing scores in grades 4 and 8 from 2005-2011. High school graduation rates are also among the lowest of any population. In the states with the most American Indian and Alaska Native students, less than 50% of Native students graduate, on average”. The Bureau of Labor explains “Native Americans have the lowest employment rate of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. In the poorest Native countries, only about 1/3 of men in Native American communities have full-time, year-round employment. Which means both education and employment

    Read More

  • Childhood Poverty

    1580 Words  | 4 Pages

    We as Americans are extremely lucky. We live in a big country with many resources and almost all the luxuries we ever wanted. On the flip side, in America there are also many people who do not have these privileges. The lower class is a struggling class. For many years, people have been trying to pull themselves up from the lower class and the majority does not succeed. Childhood poverty is a large problem in the U.S. It is said that the poorest people in the United States are the children of the lower class. Childhood poverty could lead to a number of problems such as hunger, violence, physical and mental disabilities, educational problems, homelessness, family stress, sickness, and too-early parenthood. The sad truth is that living in poverty lowers a child’s chance to grow into a healthy, well-adjusted adult who will contribute to society.

    Read More

  • Exemplification Essay: Do Government Assistance Programs Deserve It?

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over 48 million people, or about 15 percent of America’s population, live in poverty (Gillespie). This is the blunt reality of the society we live in. These people can barely pay for their housing, electricity, heat or even their food. Although people immediately imagine a homeless person as living in poverty, in reality, anyone could be living in poverty and have it not be too obvious to the world. Often, these people will qualify for government assistance programs such as welfare or food stamps, however this rises up a very important question. Does everyone who applies for government assistive programs deserve it? Simply put, no. Many times, the government will grant someone assistance mainly based off their income without consideration of

    Read More

  • Benefits Of Government Reform

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the Great Recession hit the United States, millions were left with no job or source of income. Middle-class people faced a new challenge they never had before: poverty. As a result, many applied for government assistance in hopes of being eligible to receive aid. But in a time when everyone, excluding the top 1 percent, were seeking for help, the government had to turn away countless numbers of people from receiving benefits. Thus, a great deal of people was left to struggle. In general, government benefits are helpful to lower-income households; however, there needs to be reform so that the benefits are sufficient enough and federal government is the primary provider of them.

    Read More

More about Part Time Indian

Open Document