Life for young Elva Treviño Hart was less than ideal and in her autobiography, Barefoot Heart she vividly explains the back-breaking work, financial hardships, and emotional struggles a migrant worker faces. Influenced by the struggles of day-to-day life, migrant work, school life, and society, Elva was shown over and over again what life would be like if she did not make an effort to change her predestined life. All too commonly people like Elva Treviño who are born into poverty will remain living in such conditions for the rest of their lives; however, growing up in poor conditions will have a great positive influence the life decisions someone like Elva makes. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...negative things that happened in her childhood and decided to turn them into positive motivation for a flourishing, fulfilled life. Elva who grew up wanting now could have whatever she wanted. Her children would not have to long for such items as clean clothes and baths. However, when a person does not have the struggles and tribulations that Elva did what becomes their motivation? Hopefully it isn’t all about the money. Elva was determined a have a successful life, never did she define success as being rich. Many people have a dream about leaving poverty behind, yet sadly many people abandon their dream early on and never get to experience success like Elva. All it takes is a little hard, honest work, determination, education, and a desire to never sleep on a cold, dirty floor again. Works Cited Hart, Elva Treviño. Barefoot Heart. Tempe: Bilingual Press, 1999.
It is the small victories along the way that keep pushing Alvarado to not giving up on her dreams. The first is her children and her aspirations to give them a better life. The idea that if she works hard and stands up for what is right, then her children and future generations will prosper from it. Despite it ultimately cutting her off, the church is also a driving force. Once Alvarado got involved with the church, it gave her the ability to surround herself with other motivated individuals. She used the community she gained from the church to continue fighting for what she believed was right. Finally the support she received from lawyers and doctors gave her hope that it was not just the campesinos that were striving for a more equal life, but it was also people from other social classes. In some of Alvarado’s closing words, “I used to think you has to be poor to be part of this struggle. But there are people in Honduras who aren’t poor, yet they’re on out side. They’re well-educated people – doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers – who identify with the poor (145).” Elvia Alvarado continues to strive for equality for the campesinos because she keeps hope that there are people on her side. There are people in Honduras, there are people in Europe, and there are even people in America, who she believes
Have you ever seen someone going from rich to poor? If not, then this might be new to you. I read about this girl named “Esperanza”, from the book Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan, who has experienced this. She is a rich girl. She doesn't do anything by herself, her servants do everything for her. She only has her mom, dad, and her grandmother in her family. Her mom’s name is Ramona, Esperanza calls her dad “Papa”, and her grandmother’s name is Abuelita. She is living in Mexico. The change from innocence to experience can be painful.
Economic inequality and injustice come in the same hand. Poor people are more likely to experience inequality and injustice. The negative assumptions of poor people are created by the media and politicians. Promoting economic justice by offering people living in poverty some form of social support. Barbara Ehrenreich found in her experiment the workforce for low-wage was difficult. Conley talks about the different types of social inequalities and how they have been unsuccessful.
Modern society believes in the difficult yet essential nature of coming of age. Adolescents must face difficult obstacles in life, whether it be familial, academic, or fiscal obstacles. In the House on Mango Street, Esperanza longs for a life where she will no longer be chained to Mango Street and aspires to escape. As Esperanza grows up on Mango Street, she witnesses the effect of poverty, violence, and loss of dreams on her friends and family, leading her to feel confused and broken, clinging to the dream of leaving Mango Street. Cisneros uses a reflective tone to argue that a change in one’s identity is inevitable, but ultimately for the worst.
Neglect and the lack of care from society is affecting the life of Theresa Flores. As young girls they are being forgotten by their community and society as human beings who need to be cared for as they grow and heal from the traumatic events in their life. The stories of Theresa and Rachel prove events of human trafficking have taken place in the United States during the 1980’s-2000’s and are currently occurring. In The Slave Across the Street by Theresa Flores, Theresa informs the reader of her experiences with neglect and the effects these experiences have on her. As Theresa begins to show signs of physical abuse, the adults in her schools and community are taking no notice in fear the results would affect themselves. Theresa says, “By doing nothings, turning a blind eye, they
Martin Espada’s poem is a tragic view of what people living in poverty were subjected to. Several lines of this poem, paint a horrific picture of their lives. As the poem progresses the tone changes to what his hopes and dreams were for the future of these people. The author wrote this to help other people be aware of the tragedies that have and could happen again.
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?.
I also find it interesting how Rivoli described the conditions of a garment worker. She described a child in Vietnam chained to a sewing machine without access to food or water, and spoke about a young girl from India who earned 18 cents per hour and is allowed to visit the bathroom only twice per day. This young girl lived in a room with 12 other girls; she shares a bed and only has gruel to eat. She is forced to work 90 hours each week, without overtime pay, and lives not only in poverty, but also in filth and sickness.
David Goodman eked out a minimal living for his family by working for a tailor in a sweatshop. To help alleviate the family’s poverty, the children were urged to work as soon as they were old enough.
However, she never really experienced the actual life of living in poverty as the majority of people living in poverty experience. Barbara, an educated white women had just that on other people living in poverty, because of the color of her skin and education level that is more often than not restricted from people living in poverty. She was able and more qualified for jobs than other people living amongst the status she was playing. She also was able to more readily seek better benefits than people living in poverty. When she first start her journey in Florida she had a car, a car that in most cases people living in poverty do not have. She was also able to use the internet to find local jobs and available housing in the area that many people living in poverty are restricted from. Another great benefit she had was the luxury of affording a drug detox cleansing her of drugs deemed bad. Many people living in poverty do not have much extra cash laying around much less fifty dollars to afford a detox for prescription drugs. She also had the luxury to afford her prescription drugs, another option that many people living in poverty do not have. Another element that made Barbara’s experience not that genuine was the fact that she was not providing for anybody other than herself. Twenty-two percent of kids under the age of 18 are living below the poverty line (http://npc.umich.edu/poverty/#5) , Barbara did not have to provide for pets or kids which would of changed her experience altogether of living in poverty. Not to belittle Barbara’s experience, but many factors of what life is like living in poverty were not taken into consideration during her
Carolina told about two boys wandering the streets of the favela who were from shelters in the city. At the shelters, there were innocent children abandoned or orphaned, but also there were young criminals sentenced to stay there. Both groups were thrown together and treated as though they all had prison sentences. Carolina wrote, “I felt that in the State Shelter the children’s morals were lowered. […] What’s lacking? Concern for the unfortunate or money from the State?” (81). Whether it was babies dying in the favela, or children growing into poverty, the families of favelados were destined for misfortune. Carolina’s older children were still in school, but they contributed to the family income, as was common at the time, by going out to beg or to collect paper and scrap with her. Favelas of Brazil bred the destruction of innocence and children grew up quickly, such as when “the son of Joaquim went to school drunk” (130). Intersectionality of race and class was also pertinent. Racism and classism prevented poor, impoverished children from receiving any opportunities to improve their
Poverty, a state of being extremely poor, is a recurring theme throughout the movie Beasts of the Southern Wild. Furthermore, it gives the audience the insight of the ongoing issue that those living in the remote Delta community, The Bathtub, face quite often. The movie portrays poverty as a way of life, and those that live in The Bathtub have adapted to the circumstances of the community while failing to improve their living conditions. When the citizens of The Bathtub have limited resources, living an impoverished lifestyle is not a choice; therefore, it is an adaptation to survive and those living in The Bathtub have limited resources for opportunities for a better life, education, and health care.
Dr. Ehrenreich understands that she will never have a real experience with poverty, especially since this is nothing more than experiment for her. In addition to this she has a couple of important advantages over a lot of low income workers this being that she is a natural born English speaker and she owns a car as well. Her goal in this project is simply to see if she can live off that income and pay basic expenses as the lower class does on a daily basis. One of the well illustrated themes in this book is simply poverty in America. America has a lack of social programs for the lower class and can seem rather oblivious to this issue with its least privileged citizens. Poverty is not just a cause and effect of unemployment because nobody is safe from it those who are fully employed with a great check can still slip into deep poverty. This theme is demonstrated just by Dr. Ehrenreich even
Susan Straight’s novel “Highwire Moon” discussed how two of her characters grew up without any parental guidance causing them to live a difficult life. Elva is a fifteen year-old girl who grew up not knowing her mother due to her being taken away by immigration services. Elvia has a few memories of what her mother use to do with her. Elvia grew up living in a foster home and only had a woman named Sandy as a role model and mother figure. Elvia was found and picked up by her father Larry. Larry wanted to be there for his daughter unlike his parents who never were. Larry grew up without his father because he left Larry at a young age. Larry’s mother soon died and left Larry to be alone. Both Elvia and Larry view cultures differently. Growing up without parents caused hardships that would have been prevented if their parents were there to guide them and be there for them.
Throughout history, discourses have shaped important societal issues and explained social developments such as poverty. Attitudes and beliefs are articulated about the origins of these issues and how these issues can be solved. In the novel, The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros’ writing style of one representative of a minority voice. Poverty is addressed as a significant societal concern that has a gradual and an immense effect on Esperanza, a young girl struggling to grow up in Chicago’s poverty-stricken neighborhood. Esperanza expresses her discontent with the inevitable factors of poverty in her community through her words, actions, and ideas. In the end, she brings forth that even in oppressive surroundings, one can rise up past