Poverty, one of society's most prevalent and hotly debated topics. There is always a plethora of social stigmas associated with the impoverished. These stigmas generally revolve around the idea that the heavily impoverished are just too lazy, or that they squander off their meager earnings for luxuries such as alcohol or illicit drugs. However, many of these social stigmas prove to be an inaccurate representation of the impoverished. One author in particular, George Saunders, is advocating to inform his readers on the misconceptions of these stigmas. George Saunders is an author who writes short stories, and although his stories just seem to be tall tales, almost all of them include some profound message on poverty. Through his literary works …show more content…
such as "Sea Oak" and "Bohemians", George Saunders relates the problems his impoverished characters face to that of people in real life; these obstacles include prioritizing responsibilities, facing police brutality, and surviving the living environment.
There is a common misconception that people who live in poverty are simply just lazy, that they are not willing to work hard to live a better life. Yet little do these stereotypes know that it's not that impoverished people are unmotivated to work, it's that they are stuck in a tight predicament. Author George Saunders refers to this social stigma in the short story "Sea Oak". In this particular instance, the mother's boyfriend, Freddie, scrutinizes the narrator and his sisters for not working hard enough to live a better life, "' Anybody can do anything. But first they gotta try. And you guys ain't. Two don't work and one strips naked? I don't consider that trying"' (Saunders 6 ). The critical advice that Freddie gives to the narrator as well as his …show more content…
sisters is complete folly. To elaborate on Freddie's foolishness, consider looking at the story of "Sea Oak" as a whole. Throughout the entire story, Freddie is rarely mentioned, the only major role that Freddie played was the part where he was criticizing the narrator and his sisters for being lazy. Thus, Saunders is definitely insinuating that Freddie is heavily detached from the narrator and his sisters. Had Freddie been in more contact with the main character, he would have been more aware of the predicament that the narrator and his two sisters were in: the narrator's sisters, Min and Jade cannot work because they have to stay home and take care of their children and the narrator dedicates the majority of his time to his current work because he has to provide for two other people, prohibiting him from finding another job (8). As a result of the predicament that the narrator as well as his sisters are in, it is insincere and ignorant for Freddie to conclude that the narrator's family is lazy. Freddie's hasty remark as mentioned in the previous paragraph relates to the stereotypes of the working poor in real life. Author Saunders inconspicuously compares Freddie to people of higher social economic statuses, indicating that people in real life tend to stereotype a certain group without fully understanding their predicament. Take for example, Nicole Bolden from St. Louis County, Missouri. She is a kind and hardworking women trying to live a better life. However, with the number of speeding tickets she has accumulated after running late, the police treat her ruthlessly, "They treat you like you don't have any emotions. I know I have a heavy foot. I have kids. I have work to support them... So I'm late a lot. And when I'm late, I speed" (Balko). The police in St. Louis County automatically assume that just because Bolden is poor and in jail, that she has done terrible deeds. Rather than encourage her to keep working hard to live a better life, they lock her up just like a criminal. Another issue that George Saunders heavily emphasizes on in his short stories is police brutality. Police officers are often portrayed in a good light, as peacekeepers who keep the neighborhoods safe. However, George Saunders exposes a dark side to the police officers. Even though there are some police officers who have good intentions, there are others who are corrupt and violent to the point where people may fear the police more so than criminals themselves. Take for example the short story "Bohemians". The main character lives in an impoverished albeit rather peaceful suburb. In that particular suburb lives a man named Eddie Sr. with his mentally handicapped son, Eddie. When Eddie accidentally lands himself in trouble, his usual friendly police officer is not there to excuse him, "...cops were being yanked off their regular beats and replaced by cops from other parts of town. A couple of Armenians from South Shore showed up and dragged Eddie off the porch in a club lock..." (Saunders 6). What Saunders is conveying to his readers here is that police brutality is a prevalent issue that affects everyone, even handicapped people. To make matters even worse, corrupted police officers may use unnecessary force to subdue innocent people. In the case of Eddie, his father found his son on a hospital bed, with his head smashed in, just because his son bit a police officer's arm, and as a result of that, has to take time off from work in order to solve this problem (6). It is quite obvious in this situation that George Saunders is advocating for a change in the police policies, to lessen the amount of police brutalities on innocent civilians by enacting stringent laws. George Saunder's point of the peacekeeper's use of excessive force on suspects is quite prevalent in the real world. Take for example, Antonio Morgan from St. Louis County, an impoverished mechanic attempting to make an honest living fixing cars. Morgan had multiple heated encounters with the law, many of which involved minor misdemeanors such as parking too many cars on the road. One of the most memorable cases involved him getting into a heated debate with an officer after the officer insulted his mother, "...after the two exchanged words, the officer drew his Taser... he was Tased several times, but doesn't recall exactly how many" (Balko). This just goes to show how violent corrupted police officers may be. In response to Morgan talking back, the officer pulls out his Taser and incapacitates him multiple times. Similar to the police officer who Tased Morgan, the police officer from "Bohemians" uses unnecessary force in order to subdue Eddie. Through his literary works, George Saunders is attempting to give his readers a taste of what people of lower social economic statuses have to constantly endure. In addition to enduring police brutality, people of the working poor constantly strive to survive their living environment. Take for example, the setting of "Sea Oak"; The environment in which the narrator as well as Min and Jade live in is downright dangerous, " Sea Oak's not safe. There's an ad hoc crack house in the laundry room and last week Min found some brass knuckles in the kiddie pool"' (Saunders 3). It is not that people living in poverty are too lazy to earn a decent living, it is just that they have so many obstacles to deal with. As implied by the quote, if the narrator is not working at the strip club, then he is preoccupied attempting to sequester himself from criminal life. George Saunders further elaborates on the issue by satirizing some of the criminal activity that goes on in the area, " I hear a host. At least I think it's a shot. It could be a backfire... some kids sprint across the courtyard yelling that Big Scary Dawgz rule" (3). In this particular excerpt of the story, the author emphasizes how criminal activity runs rampant through impoverished neighborhoods by satirizing gangs. He pokes fun at the organized crime by including a gang run entirely by children and giving them an outrageous name such as "Big Scary Dawgz". The issue of a dangerous environment in impoverished area as outlined in Saunder's stories runs rampant in real life, so much so that people would rather live in poverty in the suburbs than live a better life in an impoverished area. In an article published in The Economist, writer Georgia Marietta presents an interesting paradox regarding the impoverished living in suburbs, "One might wonder why the suburban poor do not simply pack up and move back to the cities. Many remain in the suburbs for the same reasons others do: safety, better schools, and cheaper homes" (Marietta). George Saunders refers to this trend in his story, that although people may have more financial success in the cities, they still prefer living in a suburban sitting in that it provides people with comfort and safety. Besides referring to the environment poor people live in, George Saunders references the potential impacts poverty has on children. Throughout both the short stories of "Sea Oak" and "Bohemians", George Saunders references the plight of the children.
Children never have a choice on where they grow up as well as who their mothers and fathers are. Take for example, Elizabeth the Raccoon from the short story "Bohmeians". One could tell from the introduction of Raccoon that she is heavily affected by the caustic relationship between her mother and father, " Her parents fought non-stop. They fought over breakfast. They fought in the yard in their underwear... Raccoon practically had spinal curvature from spending so much time slumped over with misery..." (Saunders 2). The author employs pathos in this passage to educate people on the plight of the children of the working poor. As indicated by Elizabeth's spinal curvature, one could tell that the mom and dad's abusive relationship had a huge impact on Elizabeth's life. In addition to that, the author points out how relationships like these could affect kids in the future. George Saunders uses an extended metaphor to compare the kid to a raccoon. A raccoon is usually received with negativity in that it closely resembles a bandit because of its natural tendency to scavenge for materials as well as its appearance. Besides using an extended metaphor, Saunders also employs repetition as well as short, abrupt sentences in order to engrain the idea of how much influence poverty has on children. Since the influence poverty has on children is so important, Saunders
also stresses this topic in "Sea Oak". In this particular instance, the narrator is coming home from work, when he hears gunshots near his house, "I run home. Min and Jade and Aunt Bernie and the babies are huddled behind the couch. Apparently they had the babies outside when the shooting started. Troy's walker got hit. Luckily he wasn't in it" (Saunders 3). Since the narrator and his sisters live in an impoverished area, it is to no surprise that the sisters' babies would be susceptible to gang related activities as well. Through the text, George Saunders exploits the harsh realities of living in poverty: whether people or like it or not, children who are living with their families in impoverished areas are heavily influenced by criminal activity. Saunder's point of children being heavily influenced by their environment is definitely applicable to real life situations. Referring back to Morgan and his Taser incidence, although Morgan is a great role model to his children, his living in an impoverished area still makes his children susceptible to violence, " I own my own business. I provide for my kids. Do you know what it's like for your own children to see you get arrested?... that he's arresting you because you're a bad parent"' (Balko). It is evident that Morgan attempts to keep his children away from the influence of violence. However, the fact of the matter is that no matter how hard Morgan tries, since he and his children live in an impoverished area, they are still susceptible to violence whether it be in the form of gang violence, or police brutality. Although it may not seem like it, George Saunder's literary works have a profound meaning to them. In his works such as "Sea Oak" and "Bohemians", Saunders refers to contemporary social issues that has to be change. Through his literary pieces, Saunders addresses issues the impoverished has had in hopes that society would do something to fix it. George Saunders is more than just an author of a few short stories, he is an advocate for the impoverished, the underprivileged.
In the book, Ehrenreich documented her experiences working a series of minimum wage jobs as a waitress, a maid and a nursing home dietary assistant. Ehrenreich found that in order to make ends meet and afford a place to live and food to eat, she needed to work two jobs, which left her in a constant state of exhaustion and pain. She also observed of her fellow servers that, “everyone who lacks a working husband or boyfriend seems to have a second job” (2001, p. 48). Many of her co-workers shared the same challenge with affordable living arrangements, some living in a van, with their mother, sharing rooms with strangers or even living in a dry-docked boat (Ehrenreich, 2001). Not only did Ehrenreich find that the wages offered unskilled workers were not enough to meet the basic needs of food and shelter, but that there are a “host of special costs” (2001, p. 27) incurred by the working poor. For example, workers are required to invest their own funds in partial uniform and pay ...
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.
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...
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
The notion of poverty has a very expanded meaning. Although all three stories use poverty as their theme, each interprets it differently. Consequently, it does not necessarily mean the state of extreme misery that has been described in ?Everyday Use?. As Carver points out, poverty may refer to poverty of one?s mind, which is caused primarily by the lack of education and stereotyped personality. Finally, poverty may reflect the hopelessness of one?s mind. Realizing that no bright future awaits them, Harlem kids find no sense in their lives. Unfortunately, the satisfaction of realizing their full potential does not derive from achieving standards that are unachievable by others. Instead, it arises uniquely from denigrating others, as the only way to be higher than someone is to put this person lower than you.
Throughout their early life, children feel oppressed by their parents. From being constantly nagged to being misunderstood, children can feel that their parents dislike them. With screams and threats, with lions lurking, Ray Bradbury utilizes foreshadowing and symbolism to uncover those dark feelings that dwell within a child.
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.
George Saunders, a writer with a particular inclination in modern America, carefully depicts the newly-emerged working class of America and its poor living condition in his literary works. By blending fact with fiction, Saunders intentionally chooses to expose the working class’s hardship, which greatly caused by poverty and illiteracy, through a satirical approach to criticize realistic contemporary situations. In his short story “Sea Oak,” the narrator Thomas who works at a strip club and his elder aunt Bernie who works at Drugtown for minimum are the only two contributors to their impoverished family. Thus, this family of six, including two babies, is only capable to afford a ragged house at Sea Oak,
Racism in the United States has been disputed over continuously since the creation of our society. We deeply honor Christopher Columbus, the man who “discovered” America, and our founding fathers, who built us up from nothing. When in reality we live on stolen soil that was built by enslaved people who the Americans treated like barbaric animals for more than 200 years. In the story “The Goophered Grapevine” Charles Chesnutt shows the consequences of those years of torture and brutality on the African race through a black man named Julius that the narrator, John, and his wife, Annie, meet at a vineyard in North Carolina. Chesnutt published this story in August of 1887, so it is easy to assume that the setting of the story is around the same
The tenement was the biggest hindrance to achieving the American myth of rags to riches. It becomes impossible for one to rise up in the social structure when it can be considered a miracle to live passed the age of five. Children under the age of five living in tenements had a death rate of 139.83 compared to the city’s overall death rate of 26.67. Even if one did live past the age of five it was highly probable he’d become a criminal, since virtually all of them originate from the tenements. They are forced to steal and murder, they’ll do anything to survive, Riis appropriately calls it the “survival of the unfittest”. (Pg.
Sarah Orne Jewett's "A White Heron" is a brilliant story of an inquisitive young girl named Sylvia. Jewett's narrative describes Sylvia's experiences within the mystical and inviting woods of New England. I think a central theme in "A White Heron" is the dramatization of the clash between two competing sets of values in late nineteenth-century America: industrial and rural. Sylvia is the main character of the story. We can follow her through the story to help us see many industrial and rural differences. Inevitably, I believe that we are encouraged to favor Sylvia's rural environment and values over the industrial ones.
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.”
Another example of their poverty is when the family goes to the slumps to pick up a plow that Mr. Slump had borrowed. The author explains that the Slumps just left their tools where they unhitched but, the little girl’s family had a shed where they put the machinery when it was not being used. Obviously the Slumps are not as openhanded as the little girl’s family, and are being treated as inferior because of this.
Her use of connotative language creates many harsh images of her experiences in a life of poverty, a life of poverty. By using these images, Parker is capable of causing the damage. reader to feel many emotions and forces the reader to question his or her own stereotypes of the poor. With the use of connotative language and the ability to arouse emotion, Parker successfully compels the reader to examine his or her. thoughts and beliefs on who the poor are.
Not only in non- fiction and biographies/ autobiographies, but also on fiction because many stories have plots that include poverty and racism. The topic of poverty is widely included in many fiction books. Two notable examples of poverty in literature are ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, by John Steinbeck and ‘The Revolution of Every Day’, by Cari Luna. Poverty is not a topic that is limited to non- fiction literature.