Poverty In Bernard Hare's Life

Poverty; a self-biography of many. Bernard Hare is a part of "many" and his life story begins in the impoverished part of Leeds in Britain. From the very start, his family lived in poverty. His mother was a shop worker and his father a coal miner. Hare himself was unaware of the conditions he was living in the first decade of his life. It was only near the end of the weekends where his growling stomach gave him an indication of the grim reality he lived in. Later on, in his middle teens, he became aware of his surroundings. The seriousness of his parents' drinking and smoking problems were not to be replicated and his old, yet wise, grandmother warned him not to end up like his father, but instead finish school, get educated, get a job and

Hare was born in poverty, molded by it. He didn't escape till he was already a man. He is a credible person that uses his past experiences living in poverty to give the text legitimation and create ethos. Hare's life and the way he interprets poverty are both interesting. He states: "It seems to me poverty is a state of mind. If you think you’re poor, you’re poor. If you think you’re rich, you’re rich. No-one is ever going to come along to cure your poverty. The only solution is to do it yourself" (l. 320-325). It's a strong quote and view, and it tells us that even the wealthiest person can be poor if only he/she believes it. They might have money, but lack loyal friends that see past their money. This is a contrast to how other people see poverty. We also see another contrast when Hare speaks about his youthful days: "For the first 10 years of my life, I had little idea that we were poor. As far as I was concerned, we had warmth, love, shelter, enough to eat – except towards the end of the week sometimes, as most people got paid in cash on Fridays – and a safe community environment to run around and play in" (l. 50-57). This also compliments Hare idea of poverty being a state of mind. He had everything he needed as a child so he did not think himself as poor. A lot of people only see poverty as a lack of money or resources, but you can be poor in many ways; if you can't afford to treat others right then you are poor. It's an interesting contrast. Hare also states: "You can take the boy out of poverty, but you can’t take poverty out of the boy" (l. 163-164). This almost seems like a paradox. You can remove the boy from poverty, but not poverty from the boy? It is a tricky contrast, and what he means by this is that you can remove a person from a poor neighbourhood, but if the person thinks himself as poor then you truly haven't removed him from poverty. It can be safely assumed that the use of