One could argue that a person can get out of the circle of Poverty. Do you agree or disagree with this? Someone could also argue that poverty teaches Junior to be resourceful and make the little things like chicken count. What is your take on the two questions.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Why does Junior say “it sucks to be poor…” (13)? What does “poverty teach you”? Explain.
Junior says that it "Sucks to be poor" (13). Junior has learned that living in a poverty stricken community there is a long hard cycle of being poor. "It's an ugly circle and there's nothing you can do about it." (13) Junior is implying that once you are poor there is no way out and instead of trying to get out poor people just learn to accept their miserable lives. Junior also says that poor people start blaming themselves for being poor and that their stupidity and ugliness are the cause so there is no way to fix this. The people in his tribe now think there is nothing they can do about being poor except go with it. Junior also explains what poverty can teach a person, nothing. He says "Poverty doesn't give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance ... poverty only teaches you how to be poor." (13) Junior feels as though there are no valuable lessons taught in poverty and no one discusses or attempts to work towards a better more successful life.
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ReplyDeleteI would argue that it is possible to escape poverty due to resourcefulness. I have full belief that Junior is able to do the same, but in his poor world, he feels he is taught nothing but worthlessness, just like the quote on page 13, "poverty only teaches you how to be poor." I think if Junior gave himself more credit and believed in himself, he would make it out of the Rez and become rich.
ReplyDeleteAn example of a rags to riches story is from the movie which was based on a true story, the "Blind Side". The protagonist is incredibly poor even though he has great potential. He gets adopted by a rich family, which in a way makes life easier, but then becomes an amazing football player. Junior could do this with his cartoons.
I somewhat disagree with Hadley. On page 6, Arnold states that "I feel like I might grow up to be somebody important," which implies a slight sense of optimism in his artwork. In addition, note that his race is not a hindrance in this, because "all of the rich and famous brown people are artists". (6) But consider Junior's father. He too dreamed of being an artist (or more specifically, a musician), but he turned out unsuccessful and impoverished, just as his parents and the generations before them. This trend of failure is probably very discouraging for Junior, especially regarding that it applies to both his parents. Thus, I do not think that it is likely that Junior can escape this vicious cycle of poverty. Also, in response to Hadley's reference to "The Blind Side", Junior does not have a rich family to support him, a resource that is integral to Michael's (the protagonist) eventual achievement.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading (and forgive me for my pessimism).
Avik is right about their sense of optimism, they wouldn't have dreams if they knew there was no hope.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Hadley, there are ways to escape poverty. I believe Junior's low self esteem is what is holding him back from doing great things with his life. If he had a higher self esteem, then it would be easier for him to escape the reservation. "And if you're fourteen years old, like me, and you're still stuttering and lisping, then you become the biggest retard in the world."(4). Also, poverty does teach you to be more resourceful because when there is a lower income within a family, smaller things count. Every little thing counts when there is less money to go around.
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