Preview

Poverty As Depicted In The Glass Castle And Being Poor

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1158 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Poverty As Depicted In The Glass Castle And Being Poor
Being Poor In America At one point or another, whether we grew up poor or are living as poor college students now, many Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and the vast majority of us think we know very well what it means to be poor. And while many of us are fortunate never to know true poverty, we are rarely so fortunate to know true financial security. Many Americans are only a small medical emergency or moderate natural disasters away from extreme financial distress, or even bankruptcy. The authors of The Glass Castle and Being Poor extraordinarily impact their readers about the issue of poverty based on their own experiences, the time periods, and their specific childhoods. Through her …show more content…
Though John Scalzi never reveals his own experience with poverty like Jeanette, his biography tells us that he was spent his childhood in California in poverty and was able to work out of it similar to Jeannette Walls. John takes on a “no tolerance” attitude when it comes to stereotypes about the poor, especially victims of hurricane Katrina that hit in 2005. The reason he wrote “Being Poor” was because of the people asking why everyone did not just leave when they were told to and avoid the hurricane. He answered in his essay indirectly that these poor southern people do not have reliable transportation, live hand-to-mouth, and have nowhere else to go even if they had the means to get there. Hurricane Katrina was the costliest hurricane in the history of the United States, and the sixth strongest overall. The severe destruction left many losses of life and property damage, but for the poor it was the worst. John Scalzi wrote this essay for the ignorant people wondering why the poor in New Orleans did not just leave when the hurricane came. The details he gives describe on an everyday basis what these families are going through. “Being poor is clutching that box of Raisin Bran and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last” gives many details in one line. Raisin Bran is a simple type of cereal and one that can be off-brand. Trying to make the kids understand it has to last is showing that many times that box might be all a whole family has for a month. This was the largest natural disaster in the history of the United States, and people are asking the poor why they did not leave. Many think that it is easy to move out of poverty, but they have never experienced true poverty before. Many families are single-parent households who wake up and work all day,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Glass Castle Essay

    • 1316 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The memoir entitled The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls is a story of the eventful life Jeannette endured growing up with her three siblings and her parents. Jeannette lived a tough life, she was constantly moving, never had nice clothes to wear, and had to grow up faster than most children. The reason for the constant struggles in Jeannette’s life led back to her parents. Her father Rex Walls was outrageous, always making spur of the moment decisions which had taken a toll on the family as a whole. He was a severe alcoholic who made way too many promises he knew he couldn’t keep. Throughout the novel, the idea of the “Glass Castle” appears quite often. The Glass Castle is the house that Rex promised his kids he was going to build for them in the desert. He house was meant to be unlike any other, having glass walls, a glass staircase, and other technological advancements. The house is what kept Jeannette hoping that her life could turn around, that her father would finally give his children a stable life. Secretly Rex knew the Glass Castle would never be built, but he hoped that his children would still believe him, and keep giving him the reassurance he needed. To Jeannette the Glass Castle represents broken promises and to Rex is represents hope.…

    • 1316 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the essay “Serving in Florida”, Barbara Ehrenreich describes individuals she works with through direct comparisons of how they adapt to survive in poverty. Ehrenreich speaks with her co-worker Gail, who is “thinking of escaping from her roommate by moving into the Days Inn” which is 40 to 60 dollars a day, forcing Ehrenreich to reflect on her own living situation, only “made possible by the $1,300 [she] had allotted [herself]… when [she] began [her] low-wage life”. Obviously the living conditions for Gail and Ehrenreich are deplorable, but through the direct comparison of their situations,…

    • 2115 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poverty is a serious problem in the world. In the memoir, The Glass castle, there are many ways on why they lived in poverty. The Walls family’s life in poverty never improved much because Rex used the little money they did have on things they didn’t need, such as building a gold mining machine, gambling, and drinking excessively.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Glass Castle, a memoir written by Jeannette Walls is an eye-opening look at the world of poverty that touches so many lives within in the United States. There are many reasons for poverty wheather they be out of consequence or one is simply born into it there are many reason for its occurance. The story of Jeannette Walls is not only inspiring but motivating as her climb from the depths poverty allow her to become the successful journalist and novelist she is today. Throughout her life there have been many struggles including her own father, Rex Walls, the finicial instability their family faces together, and the bullies Jeannette must face alone. She clearly outlines her own growth with her father throughout the novel and proves that with…

    • 1140 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Regardless if we are aware of it or not, not many Americans live the supposed American Dream of having a nice car, big house, well paying job, and have a secure family. In the renowned novel The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler he captures those Americans who live invisible in America that work so hard to suffer from the psychological effects of poverty. Not only does Shipler do that but he also indirectly talks about the “American Myth” and the “American Anti Myth through the lives on these individuals.”…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The working poor

    • 1304 Words
    • 6 Pages

    David K. Shipler is the author of The Working Poor: Invisible in America, also winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his book Arabs and Jews: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land, and a Journalist/ Foreign correspondent for the New York Times. Shipler is a well known author who shows have had plenty of life experiences and education, while studying society and trying to understand the situation of the poor in our country. He writes this remarkable book portraying the lives of fifteen people who are less fortunate than others with low- wage jobs or no job, bad life conditions, issues within family, immigrants, all faceing uncountable struggles with poverty. He began his research in 1997 while interviewing individuals in the lower class of society from all over the country, men and women, all ages, race, and living situation, for about five years. Shipler tries to understand and challenge these situation on all levels with politics and human behavior. No one story can explain all the point of views and encounters Shipler comes across, that is why all of these stories and examples were necessary. While reading their stories is very sad and frustrating at times this is reality told by the people themselves, with no simple way out. These life stories showed us every situation from sexual abuse, addiction, health problems, poor education, young pregnancy and even death some things so shocking we'd never imagine it could be happening around us all the time.…

    • 1304 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Reading Response

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages

    After reading “When Handouts Keep Coming, The Food Line Never Ends”, it got me thinking why this article was even written. Everyone knows about poverty and people going hungry at Thanksgiving time. Everywhere you go in the month of November you see the salvation army collecting money, different work places and schools having food drives, homeless shelters and soup kitchens offering meals, as well as churches taking extra donations to help local families in need. The main idea in this article is to end poverty, if we ended poverty then naturally it would end the hunger cause. This whole article talked about food distribution centers, food bank trucks and raising money for the food to help spread amongst the people who needed it, but is this really ending poverty? Or by this generous, good hearted help, is it letting people continue living in poverty because it’s easier taking what’s being handed to you then to get out there and work hard to get out of poverty? In this article I think the main points are to get awareness out about how much poverty is out there in the world, and what is already being done about it. To let people know about the food distribution centers, food banking culture, food bank trucks, food insecurity and poverty. I have mixed emotions about this article, and maybe it’s because I don’t fully understand what it is like to be in poverty. I don’t understand how in the United States we have as much poverty as we do. How with all the technology that we have, free libraries with books and internet capability, such generous people giving food to the homeless why people who are in poverty can’t get out of it. If I were in their shoes I would be working hard to get my GED or getting myself cleaned up to get a job to make a life for myself. So these people living in poverty are they really stuck in poverty or is it easy for them? Easy to do not work and live on the streets or in shelters and taking free food. On the other hand it does warm my heart…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Poor Cousin Reflection

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In “A Poor Cousin of the Middle Class,” it is about a woman named Caroline Payne who was a hard worker and had a lot of motivation to work and better herself. She was not viewed from a whole person perspective. She was a typical American citizen, fifty year-old, Caucasian woman. She has a two-year associate’s degree, who works at the local Wal-Mart in Muncie, Indiana. Caroline has not lived what you call the “American Dream.” She has had a challenge trying to find ways to survive for her and daughter just be fed for dinner and clothed. Caroline has been married twice and both marriages have failed. She did not grow up with her biological father and her step-father abused her. She has four kids, three boys that live with their father and one daughter, named Amber, who is disabled. Amber has a clubfoot and mild retardation because of Caroline’s emotional assaults, not eating nutritiously, and smoking cigarettes. Caroline only got a few benefits of assistance; she got Medicaid for fix her teeth that had been damaged and social security to live off of with her daughter.…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The state of not having enough money to take care of basic needs such as food, clothing, and housing is poverty. Poverty isn't turning around a globe and looking toward third world countries for an example. You don’t have to look far to find Poverty it is right here in America. It’s the children down the street who go to bed hungry each night. The neighbor that had their heat shut off cause they couldn’t afford the bill. The people who sleep outside every night, wear the same clothes every day eat at soup kitchens. We as a society need to be responsible for poverty and homelessness level in our country. Too many times we have looked at this problem from afar, and have not done a single thing to change it. And if we can’t change it, there is always something that us citizens can do to help these people make a better living, or we can at least show them we care.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Working Poor

    • 1182 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “They spend everything and save nothing” (Shipler 4) David Shipler states in The Working Poor when he refers to the working poor in America. Unfortunately, for some work just does not work due to conditions such as having to raise children and the inability to fully participate in school. Shipler specifically analyzes three mothers who exemplify those who will be poor for the rest of their lives due to the necessary expenses of their children and household bills. These women will never be able to live a middle-class lifestyle because they will never get the opportunity to make a sufficient amount over minimum wage to save money. Shipler points out that another reason for one to live in poverty forever is due to parents not fulfilling their children’s education requirements. Some parents are so wound up in themselves trying to get out of poverty that they forget to think about their children’s future and do not push them to attend school every day. In The Working Poor, Shipler effectively argues that for some Americans, poverty is inescapable due to the circumstances and standards that are presented to them such as being a single mother without opportunities and lack of education starting at a young age.…

    • 1182 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Poverty, Its everywhere

    • 2188 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Undisputedly poverty has been one of the major persistent social problems in the United States for hundreds of years. Poverty does not discriminate against Caucasians, African-Americans, Hispanics, Jews, homosexuals, heterosexuals, age, gender, or persons with disabilities. Poverty can strike any population, community, ethnic group, and family. According to the U.S Census Bureau, 43.6 million people were in poverty in 2009 which was an increase from 2008. (Insert citation for website). There are multiple causes of why a family or individual can fall into poverty, which includes but not limited to, disability, unemployment, age, and recessions, as for which we have seen through the 2008 recession and the Great Depression. Throughout this paper I will address poverty as a social problem and its causes. I will also focus on how children and family households headed by single mothers are effected by poverty, and how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families came about to help children and families in poverty.…

    • 2188 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poverty

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Poverty is described as a state of being extremely poor, and lacking the ability to provide for oneself. This state of destitution has impacted America’s bourgeoisie class as it makes for an inadequate economy as a whole, affecting all of America’s social classes.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Many people suffer every day and wonder how they are going to survive. If they have enough strength to continue through the day. Poverty is something that some people have to deal with an everyday basis. Even Jo Goodwin Parker suffered poverty.…

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Robert Leighton once stated, “Poverty keeps the vision pure.” I fully understand and can relate to this quote as it pertains to my life. Exposure to economic difficulties at a young age helped shape the person I would grow up to be. Being economically troubled is an experience that has changed my character and has stimulated the decisions I have made throughout my life. Through the hardships of living an economical unstable childhood I have learned to embrace opportunities, the importance of perseverance, and become a charitable person.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    Poverty

    • 1631 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Families living in poverty must use their financial resources to pay food and shelter (Rowland, 2010). A lot of families living in poverty can’t afford to buy their child book to read because of other necessities (Davis, 2008). Laura (1996) “If I know that we have no food, and the gasman’s waiting, I’m going to buy my shopping. They’re ok. The gas will survive. We won’t, no matter what my family always comes before a bill” (p.77).…

    • 1631 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays

Related Topics