ipl-logo

Bernard Hare's 'Poverty Is A State Of Mind'

914 Words4 Pages

Poverty is a state of mind

Through the ages, poverty has been used as a general term for people who has been classified impecunious by society. However, the word “poverty” contains a lot more profundity in the light of this one-sided interpretation. Poverty can also be a state of mind which means that no society can label you as being poor. You can be impecunious and still enjoy life to the full.
This very way of interpreting “poverty”, is what Bernard Hare focuses upon in his essay “Poverty is a state of mind” (2012). The essay revolves around Bernard Hare, who was born into a working class family in the north english town of Leeds back in 1958. His father was one of many coal miners at the time, and his mother was a shop worker in a department store. In spite of the lack of money, the family was still capable of providing the requisite resources. Besides, the society …show more content…

“(…)Nan said that was of secondary importance to the importance of passing my 11-plus”. (p. 8, ll. 105-107).

Therefore, the main character went to grammar school which was a total upheaval and contrast to his more rough appearance and somewhat incorporative attitude.
“(…)and went to grammar school. It was strict for a ragged, bolshy boy like me (…)” (p. 8, ll. 112-113).

The main character encounters a milieu which is utterly different from what he came from, which makes the reader interpret him as feeling misplaced in this system of rigid rules.
In the 1970’s, when the main character finally graduated with decent grades he was desperate to leave Leeds. The peaceful and idyllic place he identifies his childhood with, has been cursed with a melancholic atmosphere.
“Not everything in the garden was as rosy as I had imagined. Tensions were simmering in society. My dad was involved in the miners ' strikes of 1972 and 1974” (p. 8, ll.

Show More
Related

  • Catcher In The Rye Text Analysis

    2272 Words  | 10 Pages

    Text Analysis Practicum Course Instructor: Dr. Lorelei Caraman Dimişcă Bianca-Melania Russian - English Childhood vs. adulthood in J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” “The Catcher in the Rye” is a novel written by J.D. Salinger in 1951. The book is one of the most controversial books ever written and its popularity comes from the author’s rough attitude towards society from the perspective of a teenager. “The Catcher in the Rye” is thought to be J.D. Salinger’s masterpiece and it is listed as one of the best novels of the 20th century. In 2009 Finlo Rohrer affirmed that even 58 years later after the book has been published it is still considerate “the defining work on what it is like to be a teenager”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye)

    Read More

  • The Running Man Character Analysis

    905 Words  | 4 Pages

    By creating characters in the novel who are excluded and labelled the author demonstrates how cruel society can be to people. The purpose of this essay is to show how the author reveals the experiences of marginalised characters in society. Joseph Davidson is an introverted, fourteen year old boy who feels that he is trapped within his own world of chaos, and he too is a marginalised character in the book. It is suggested by the author that other characters believe that Joseph’s mother smothers him too much and his father has

    Read More

  • Poverty And The Justice System In Just Mercy By Bryan Stevenson

    832 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. Poverty affects the justice system because it divides the people of society into different social classes. People in poverty receive the most harmful sentences from our justice system. The people in charge of the justice system think less of a person because they do not have much.

    Read More

  • Hardships In Lyddie's Life

    685 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this essay, I will be talking about all the hardships that Lyddie had to push through and how bad their lives were back then. Many young girls, working as young as ten, had many harsh conditions already. Starting in chapter 3, which was the cutler's tavern, Lyddie got her first job. Even in the beginning, you could tell it was going to be a harsh time for the rude comments given by the owner. For example, “ “Go along” the woman was saying.

    Read More

  • Billy Collins Schoolsville Analysis

    742 Words  | 3 Pages

    He could imagine his deception of this town “nestled in a paper landscape,” (Collins 534). This image of the speaker shows the first sign of his delusional ideas of the people in his town. Collins create a connection between the speaker’s teacher teaching life and retired life in lines five and six of the poem. These connections are “ chalk dust flurrying down in winter, nights dark as a blackboard,” which compares images that the readers can picture.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of What Is Poverty Jo Goodwin Parker

    507 Words  | 3 Pages

    The author wants the reader to continously think about what poverty means to her, such as “Poverty is being tired” in paragraph 3, “Poverty is dirt” in paragraph 4, and “Poverty is looking into a black future.” in paragraph 10. This reminds the audience that not everyone suffers from poverty in the same way. For the author, poverty is having to take care of family when all the odds are against you, and this is what gives the reader a perfect understanding of it. As stated in the passage, “Listen to me.

    Read More

  • Henrietta Lacks Essay On Poverty

    1029 Words  | 5 Pages

    Poverty is affecting billions of people around our world and the number is growing with each day. Many people think they can avoid the effects of poverty, but it is something that affects all of our daily lives. Many people see poverty as a person who lacks money, although this is true poverty is caused by many more things than being without money. Just the fact that one in two children live in poverty can help people see clearly the impact it has on our world. Poverty truly does influence the type of care and treatment a person will receive when they need it.

    Read More

  • Poverty In Chris Gardner's The Pursuit Of Happyness

    794 Words  | 4 Pages

    Why are people still poor to this day? That is a very broad question but we do know that poverty is still a crucial problem to achieving overall world happiness even in 2018. Poverty has been around for millennia but it 's even more of a problem now in 2018. This is because it is becoming more extreme. For example, in Afghanistan 36% of the population, lives in absolute, extreme poverty and 37% lives just above the determined poverty line.

    Read More

  • 12 Angry Men: Movie Analysis

    827 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poverty and deprivation of many kinds is a very serious problem, not only in the United States, but also around the world. In a study in 2014, forty-seven million people living in the U.S. were considered to be in poverty; that is fifteen percent of its population . Poverty and deprivation is a serious topic that everyone should be aware of; if you are not aware of a problem,how are you going to fix it? You can find examples of this topic in almost every where; From books and movies to your everyday life. The most common known definition of poverty is economic poverty, but there is also social, emotional, and spiritual poverty and deprivation.

    Read More

  • Sociological Imagination Examples

    848 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poverty can be a vicious cycle for some families that goes from generation to generation. Another personal issue that can lead to poverty is illness and unemployment which puts someone out of work and there is little to no income coming in. Along with these personal issues that I stated there are also many

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Poverty

    1020 Words  | 5 Pages

    Poverty is one of the most horrific epidemics in our society today. Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. It is a very serious problem that many people suffer from today. Many issues such as illness, hunger, and bad sanitation are all causes of poverty. Statistics show that there are over 35 million Americans that live in poverty.

    Read More

  • Structural Functionalist Approach To Poverty Essay

    837 Words  | 4 Pages

    Defined, poverty means someone who lacks the socially acceptable amount of money to survive. Poverty often leads to a cycle of not being able to afford what is needed across generations. The US has about 12.7% of its population below the poverty line and the rate has been decreasing. The two perspectives that look at this topic in both a positive and negative light are the structural functionalist and the conflict theory. The structural functionalist theory believes everything is a working part of society and is needed to create a sort of well oiled machine and that every part has its own use and needed function.

    Read More

  • Growing Up Poverty

    681 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Effects of Growing up in Poverty Poverty is not a new phenomenon we are dealing with. It has been an issue from the foretime till now. Poverty gradually has continued and changed its form in a different manner that has created many problems for the new generations, for example, in the old days poverty implicated to lack land and food, but nowadays, poverty means lack of education, lack of food and water, lack of money and much more. The main cause of poverty is a lack of money or income which has created a very critical situation in local and international society. These critical situations are child labor, hunger, health problems and much more that we are dealing with nowadays.

    Read More

  • Essay On Poverty And Crime

    832 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poverty is defined as the state of being unable to fulfill basic needs of human beings. Poverty is the lack of resources leading to physical deprivation. Poor people are unable to fulfill basic survival needs such as food, clothing, shelter. These are the needs of lowest order and assume top priority. Poor people are unknown of their lack of voice, power, and rights, which leads them to exploitation.

    Read More

  • Poverty Is A State Of Mind Essay

    1221 Words  | 5 Pages

    Poverty still occurs across the modern world which we live in nowadays. While the majority of people would relate the word poverty with less developed countries the truth is that poverty is to be found everywhere you look. Yet the term, poverty, is brought up to discussion. Because would you consider yourself poor even though you didn’t know the better scenario existed? And isn’t it sometimes enough just to have a bed to sleep in, food to eat and people around who love you?

    Read More

More about Bernard Hare's 'Poverty Is A State Of Mind'

Open Document