Life had never been easy for Jeanette Walls, growing up she consistently faced several forms of adversity at the hands of her parents, such as hunger, sexual assault, practical homelessness, and abuse. With so many tribulations, one would expect her to have become another low income statistic. However, just like a mountain goat, who does not actually belong to the goat family, Jeanette is of a different breed. While her parents exposed her to many harsh realities, they also instilled many important life lessons, whether they were aware of it or not. If it weren't for Rex and Rose Mary Walls, Jeanette would not have been as tough, driven, or creative enough to have survived in Manhattan.
Taylor, the main character, Cassie Logan, a 9-year-old African-American girl who lived in southern Mississippi in the early 1930s, learns that to truly learn the value of something, it needs to be put on the line. This is because at first, Cassie didn’t understand the value of the land. However, after learning about the legacy of the land and why it is important to her family, she finally realizes the value of it and cherishes it. The theme of the novel, “Sometimes to truly learn the value of something, it needs to be put on the line,” connects to my younger self because, when I was younger, I never valued the money that my parents gave me to buy snacks and spent it recklessly. One day, a kid stole the money that my parents had given me to buy snacks, and at that moment, I got so angry that I realized how much that money was worth and how valuable it is to me.
The two stories illustrate that African-Americans are not given an equal chance in terms of gaining opportunities for a successful life. However, it may be possible that one key factor among all can develop a whole problematic image on success and why White Americans think of the African-American society as to not having the capability for a chance towards success. At the time, the economy could have been at a huge disadvantage for the African-Americans because majority of them did not have the chance to rise up from it in terms of creating revenue for themselves. The whole world around them built this image and it is hard to come out of when no one can give opportunities for them to improve and grow. Harlon L. Dalton expresses how unfair the
Her family lived in a one room dirt floor Cabin, and Coleman and her siblings were raised during a time of segregation and racial tension. Coleman’s grandparents were slaves. After her father left the family while Coleman was still young, she was given the responsibility of taking care of her siblings while her mother worked. Though this put pressure on
They were extremely poor living in Starkfield, Massachusetts but freedom was their number one priority at all times. For this book, the theme I
As the standard of living changed, so did the steps one family would need to take in order to survive. The rise of “railroad tycoons” and corruption made unfair wages paid to families even lower, forcing each member, including women and children, to support their families. This impacted numerous families negatively. Oftentimes, parents would work full days, only to come home at night to find their children asleep. “A stranger am I to my child; And he one to me” (Doc.
He speaks about the story of Clyde Ross, a black man who fled horrible conditions in Mississippi to find work in Chicago. Like many Americans Ross dreamed of owning a home. However, the only way for a black person to buy a home in Chicago in the mid-twentieth century was to buy from predatory “contract” sellers who charged unbillable rates with few legal protections for buyers. Clyde said “To keep up with his payments and keep his heat on, I took a second job at the post office and then a third job delivering pizza.” Like many blacks in Chicago at the time he got two jobs just to keep up with the payments of the house, overall being kept away from his
“Nothing but the most exemplary morals can give dignity to a man of small fortune.” (Adam Smith) In the essay prompt, the anonymous writer suggests that the Youngers, (a poor African American family from the South side of Chicago in the 1950s) should not take the money from the owners association instead of moving into their new home they purchased with insurance money due to the death of the main character, Walters’ Father Mr.Younger. The house that they purchased with the insurance money is located in a white community, where they are obviously unwanted. With no insurance money left and their dream home on the line, the writer believes it is better to refuse the money because it “undermines their own pride and dignity as human beings.”
Many sharecroppers tried to escape from their place of work because they wanted a better life for themselves, while others felt content with getting short-changed by the white man. This notion of self-help and self-improvement began in James’ family with his great-great-uncle, Oscar Gaines, when he escaped his duties as a young laborer in Savannah, GA. Oscar managed to find a job chopping cotton for a white man who was not bothered by his skin color (McBride 45). The story of old Oscar Gaines would surface for generations to come in the Gaines/Brown family as a story of courage and self-improvement. While James Brown’s father Joe did his best to take care of his son, he could not raise him all alone.
He sees African American youths finding the points of confinement put on them by a supremacist society at the exact instant when they are finding their capacities. The narrator talks about his association with his more youthful sibling, Sonny. That relationship has traveled
Mama gains $10,000 from the death of her husband, the whole family wants to use it. In the beginning Mama doesn’t even wants to think about the money, or think how she wants to use it. She makes a decision, without anyone knowing by, buying a house in a white neighborhood. Mamas American Dream was to see her family move and grow places that they’ve never been. Mama loved gardening, because Mama compared it to her family, this got her set on moving to another house, to show that her family is
Meeks’ father was not around when he was growing up. He was trying to fill that void of a father figure. “Brenda Got a Baby” has a deep message explaining why African-American may not be successful in America. Alicia Camacho points out, “ Mexicans had no social value beyond their productive capacity in the racialized economy of stoop labor. The vigilante threat to seize the children expressed the lengths that white society would
They all face discrimination and it makes a hard task, achieving their American Dream, almost impossible. Curley’s Wife, Candy, and Crooks all have an American Dream, but they never achieve it. They all want a simple life where they are treated with respect and allowed to support themselves. None of them get what they want. Curley’s wife ends up dead and Candy and Crooks end up with nowhere to go but back to the ranch and a life where they are hated and shunned.
Walter has a dream to own a liquor store so that he makes money from that business and is then is able to financially provide things for his family like he believes a man should, but him being blacks affects his dream. (add more words b4)Walter brings
However, the outcome of Vance’s life was different as he was graduated from Yale Law School, able to get a well-paying job and currently living the American Dream with his wife Usha. The purpose of the author in this memoir was to understand the reader of how social mobility feels and more importantly, what happens to the lives of the white working-class Americans, in particular the psychological impact that spiritual and material poverty has on their children. J.D Vance provides an explanation for the loss of the American dream to poor white Americans living in a toxic culture in this Ohio steel town.
