The Borrowers: Socioeconomics in Children’s Literature In the classic book, The Borrowers by Mary Norton, there are a few continual themes throughout the book. This book centers around a family essentially living under the floorboards of a human home and making their livelihood off of ‘borrowing’ from humans. The Borrowers' central theme focuses on the social class of the Clock family because of their social standing and their family's tension throughout the book. Readers see this theme play out throughout the duration of the book and how it affects the relationships between characters as well as their self-view. A socioeconomic plot point is the main driving force of this book and also a powerful one to put in a children’s book. Putting this kind of theme within a …show more content…
She calls them a lazy lot, meaning they did not have to work hard and were able to get the resources they needed very easily. The master of the house then died, which caused their friends to move away because that part of the house was no longer used. The last family living within the house ended up becoming part of the Clock family through marriage. Homily had an interesting viewpoint on the family status here. She states, “‘You can’t deny she took it out of poor Hendreary: she thought it was a come-down to marry a clock” (Norton, 42). The woman who married Hendreary had married a Harpsichord who was from a higher-standing family than the Clocks; she then became a widow with two children she had to provide for. With this, she met Uncle Hendreary and married him and his two children came with them, they then became a family of six. It was very interesting how Homily was aware of the Clock family background, she was well aware of what she was marrying into and knew they were poor. Homily outlines this on page 42, “‘Because we clocks live under the kitchen, that's why. Because we don't talk fancy grammar and eat anchovy toast’”(Norton,
In Mary’s household, her two sons and daughter are dependent on her. Mary is head of the household and is currently going through a divorce. Mary is close to losing her house, car, and internet services. She hires babysitters for the days/nights that she has to work. Her children know that times are tough, and continuously encourage their mother. However, her son Quinn is dealing with the divorce and poor living in
McCullough describes the family as a paradox. "It was, plainly, a family of paradoxes: privileged and cushioned beyond most people's imagining, yet little like the stereotype of the vapid, insular rich; uneducated in any usual, formal fashion but also uninhibited by education - ardent readers, insatiable askers of questions; chronically troubled, cursed it would seem, by one illness or mysterious disorder after another, yet refusing to subject others to their troubles or to give in to despair" (pg. 37).
The children in this book at times seem wise beyond their years. They are exposed to difficult issues that force them to grow up very quickly. Almost all of the struggles that the children face stem from the root problem of intense poverty. In Mott Haven, the typical family yearly income is about $10,000, "trying to sustain" is how the mothers generally express their situation. Kozol reports "All are very poor; statistics tell us that they are the poorest children in New York." (Kozol 4). The symptoms of the kind of poverty described are apparent in elevated crime rates, the absence of health care and the lack of funding for education.
In the ridged and shocking book that follows the lives of impoverished African American children, There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz accurately displays what life can be like for those who are not as fortunate as some. The story is set in the inner city of Chicago in and around 1987, and pivots around drug violence and the nightmare that is living in the Henry Horner housing project. Lafayette and Pharoah Rivers, two brothers who were born into the life of poverty, are followed throughout this true story. The two live with their mother, LaJoe, and their six siblings while some come and go, between jail and other places. Their father, Paul, is seldom around due to his alcoholism and drug addiction.
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
They lived in constant poverty and went to bed hungry numerous times because of their parents’ lack of money. The Walls children had to fend for themselves when they wanted something to eat. This was made clear when Jeannette said, “When we wanted money, we walked along the roadside picking up beer cans and bottles that we redeemed for two cents each” (Walls 62). They probably walked for hours only making enough money to buy a candy bar that would hold over their hunger for a few hours. The children were forced to make their own money because they knew that if they continued to wait on their parents they would starve. Jeannette also explains how she used to steal food at school. She says, “During recess at school, I’d slip back into the classroom and find something in some other kid’s lunch bag that wouldn’t be missed…and I’d gulp it down…” (Walls 68). Jeannette was hungry most of the time due to how her parents lived, and out of necessity she determined that one of the best ways to satisfy her hunger was to steal from her classmates. Both examples show that the Walls children had to rely on themselves and not be dependent on their parents. Most of the time, their parents were too self-absorbed in their own dealings and they did not have time to properly care for their children. This caused the children to become self-reliant and learn the importance of standing by each other. If it was not for
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,
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.
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.
On the contrary, these households are elaborately structured, but in a more fluid manner than the conventional home. Typically, these subcultures are negatively defined – or judged by what they are not. Through this lens, The Flats appears to be a disheveled mess of rats scurrying for the next scrap of food. Walking into this situation, Stack had to prove the notion that “distinctively negative features attributed to poor families, that they are fatherless, matrifocal, unstable, and disorganized, are not general characteristics of black families living substantially below economic subsistence in urban America.... ...
The Hadley’s, a family that has everything, a house that cost about $30,000 in a time where the average house cost $8,200, which rocks them to sleep and ties their shoes. The White’s, a family that must work for everything and wish for certain possessions, such as money. These families showcased in two different short stories seem like polar opposites, and while they are very different, they have more in common than what is portrayed on the surface. The “Monkey’s Paw” deals with a family that is able to make it by, however their monetary situation could be improved, and they find themselves coming across a talisman that caused them nothing but issues. On the other hand, “The Veldt” deals with a family who is spoiled and has access to everything
Wetchler and Hecker (2015) identified larger contexts surrounding family units, including both social and physical environment, as having a large potential impact. With little education amongst the family, much of their income is either made from illegal activity, jobs that they may not want to do (exotic dancing, prostitution), or low-paying wages. The environment that encompasses offers few escapes from this reality, and has a strong effect on the family system. One example of this would be younger sibling Karl’s awareness of his and his family’s socioeconomic status, and being drawn into the thrill and quick money of dealing
Quindlen, passing on the sentiments of the children who live in these housings: “The older kids can’t wait to get out of this one” and “He’s humiliated, living here” (332). These kids are stricken by poverty and want nothing more than to have their own home. During the recent recession of 2008, many of the impoverished people situations became even worse. Garcia, a.k.a.
Sorrow, the Straight Matter of Life. During the process of growing up, we are taught to believe that life is relatively colorful and rich; however, if this view is right, how can we explain why literature illustrates the negative and painful feelings of life? Thus, sorrow is inescapable; as it increases one cannot hide it. From the moment we are born into the world, people suffer from different kinds of sorrow.
This shows just how important the family was and how high their status was that they did not want to be bothered to live anywhere near the townspeople. Also, this further expresses just how well off they were that the family did not need the help of any townspeople, nor did they need to get jobs in the town. Furthermore, the Narrator remarks how the family did quiet acts of kindness for the poor (Poe 23). The reader can infer that the family did this to gain the support and love of the lower classes. With the expensive house just being a part of their family, and being passed down for generations, the family doing quiet acts of kindness allows them to not be revolted against by the townspeople, similar to what happened to the monarchs during revolutions.