Part Time Indian Theme

To Kill A Mockingbird a book that shows the reader some complex problems that are seen through the eyes of a young child. One of the problems that Scout has is she having a hard time understanding is the issue of poverty and why lots of them don't have much money. The reason why is because of the dust bowl which was a tragic time of people in the south and America. Like the Cunninghams not have much money and having to pay Atticus back with food. The Dust Bowl also known as the dirty thirties.

Because of the sacrifices and violence they are exposed to, the “Greasers” struggled more than the “Socs”. The Greasers have it worse because of the sacrifices they make. Darry has to work two jobs and give up his college scholarship to keep his two younger brothers as a family (Hinton). This shows that some Greasers made a personal sacrifice to keep their family members out of a group home. It is important because some Greasers clearly do not have the option to pursue their dreams because they do not have the family and money resources.

It is because of Cunningham’s low income and little education, his social status is lowered. Again innocence is destroyed because due to Walter’s low income he is unable to advance in the social status because he is forced to help his father make ends meet while not being able to further his education. It creates an endless cycle of each descendent getting stuck in the same situation as Walter not being able to rise to higher levels of statuses. In relation to this, the farmers who are in the same social status try to kill Tom Robinson before the trial. “You know what we want, another man said, Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch.” “You can turn around and go home again, Walter,” Atticus said pleasantly.

These attitudes reflect the current intolerance towards poverty and persist throughout the story. Gary Soto’s childhood struggle with bullying due to his poverty shows just how real the effects of this intolerance can be. In “The Jacket”, Gary is often a victim of himself. He harbors just as much intolerance for his own poverty as the other, better off characters do. Gary’s intolerance of his poverty is shown through his hatred of the jacket his mother buys him.

The narrator said, “During the first fortnight, Gregor’s parents could not bring themselves to enter his room…” He has been disconnected from his family to the point where they’re emotionally unstable and unable to treat him as he deserves with affection and comfort to help him cope with his metamorphosis. The narrator shows this disconnection before the mutation,”Gregor later earned so much money that he was in a position to cover the expenses for the entire family…” He later described the exchange not “particularly warm”. Gregor feels alienated by his parents because of the lack of affection for him providing for them. This change has long since happened but is in full affect more than ever since the transmutation. Overall Gregor has changed both physically and emotionally.

We get quite early in the story told that they are very poor, because on page 9-14 in the book, his family is too poor to afford veterinary care to Oscar. It is a lot of talk about poverty in the book. Junior also says “Poverty doesn`t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how

For example if I quote this line from The Outsiders: “Greaser, greaser, greaser, o victim of environment, underprivileged…” (Page 136), we can link it to the characters in The Lesser Blessed. The Greasers are limited because they are poor, they do not share the same privileges as the Socs, and so they do what they can with what they have. These characters are in a similar situation: their environment limits their potential. Therefore they have limited choices, often ranging between violence, sex, and drugs. We see echoes of the past here, the conflicts their families experienced are echoed in this novel, we see the consequences of residential schooling.

Megan Erickson 9/4/15 English Two Honors Radiance of Tomorrow Essay Bockaire and his family survived horrors, that for many of us would only appear in nightmares. Throughout the book Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah they overcome battles that include war and decreasing resources. They had to do everything they could to survive the hardships they had been put into. Backer was receive little to no pay for the work he was doing as a teacher, leaving him struggling to provide for his family. Along with the mining company coming into the village, Imperi, and ruining the resources and the atmosphere there, Bockaire had to make a change.

Bob Ewell is an unemployed drunk who is the father of Mayella Ewell and her younger siblings. Mayella’s family is so poor that her and her siblings only go to school on the first day just to mark their appearance, because they need to spend their time hunting for food. Since they don’t attend school they barely get an education. When Bob Ewell has the opportunity to spend money on food or clothes he takes advantage of it and spends it on alcohol. In the town of Maycomb they only made it this far because of their skin color.

However, this has a domino effect on the remaining people in the family since they would spend the few dollars that they managed to scrape up on cigarettes and alcohol; “There may be a lack of tea or bread in the house but Mam and Dad always manage to get the fags, the Wild Woodbines. They have to have the Woodbines in the morning and anytime they drink tea (McCourt 138).” It is obvious that the smoking and drinking are detrimental to the family, but the McCourts trap themselves in an endless loop. Each time something unfortunate occurs, things go from bad to worse when this sadness or hopelessness prompt the parents to spend more money on their habits (addictions), making conditions significantly worse for their children