The System: Overcome How is the system of welfare, social working, and education flawed and how does Precious overcome it? The novel “Push” by Sapphire is about a young African American named Precious. She deals with troubles and difficulties made by her Mother, Father, and the various systems that are in place. Throughout the novel she overcomes various challenges placed upon her. By the end of the novel she still has challenges upon her but she has hope and confidence. The novel shows us that the systems that are in place to help and support us could also injure and hurt us. It also shows us that people in our life are sometimes not the best people to be there, sometimes we have to go out and find the people we need. There has to be limitations in the way someone can use or be helped by the numerous systems. Precious had to learn and be taught how the system can help and how it can hurt. …show more content…
Precious finds this out by numerous ways. When Precious is writing Ms. Rain back and forth, Ms. Rain asks her who is going to help you. Precious returns by saying “th wfr hlp mma it help mi (The welfare help Mama. It help me)” (73) Ms. Rain returns by saying “see how much welfare has helped your mother.” (73) Ms. Rain is trying to explain to Precious that welfare hasn’t helped her mom because she has not learned responsibility. By Precious’s mom not learning how to be responsible she has treated Precious violently and with disrespect. Her mother also takes advantage of the social working system by getting custody of Precious’s child Mongo. Her mom does not care about either one of them she only cares about her money that she gets from welfare. Her mom says “Then you get me cut off welfare!” (74) Precious then leaves her house and makes her first step towards a better
As a child, Jeannette’s sense of wonder and curiosity in the world undermine the need for money. During her young adult years, a new wave of insecurity associated with her poor past infects her. Finally, as an experienced and aged woman, Jeannette finds joy and nostalgia in cherishing her poverty- stricken past. It must be noted that no story goes without a couple twists and turns, especiallydefinitely not Jeannette Walls’. The fact of the matter is that growing up in poverty effectively craftsed, and transformsed her into the person she becomeshas become. While statistics and research show that living in poverty can be detrimental to a child’s self-esteem, Jeannette Walls encourages children living in poverty to have ownership over their temporary situation, and never to feel inferior because of past or present socio-economic
Most everyone knows what Greg Hardy brings to the table. He was pro bowler in 2013. Hardy’s stacked up an average of 13 sacks and 40 solo tackles in his last two full seasons with the Carolina Panthers. He’s extremely explosive off the edge and has elite hands that make it almost impossible to block him for an entire game. Hardy will be a huge upgrade for the Cowboys. With one position improved in the “rush men” rotation, who else can the Cowboys count on to contribute not only during Hardy’s four game suspension but also for the entire season.
David Zucchino’s captivating book, Myth of the Welfare Queen, sticks to his journalistic roots and reads like an extended news article as it captures two separate yet interconnected stories of women struggling to get by in Northern Philadelphia. Philadelphia was—and is—an impoverished city in many ways, with huge percentages of the population struggling to get by at or bellow the poverty line. Zucchino spent much of 1995 with woman and families on welfare as it was a time when welfare was a particularly hot topic directly preceding the passing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. Zucchino strove to cut through the stereotypes and misinformation surrounding welfare and those relying on it. In his own words, “this book is the story of
John “Crash” Coogan is the typical jock; he lives in Pennsylvania and is starting his second year of middle school as a 7th grader. I thought the main theme of the book is don’t judge a book by its cover. At least what most of us have in mind as a jock? Crash had always picked on his neighbor Penn Webb because of his choices and his lifestyle until later he realized something about Penn that he was his meant- to- be best friend. Crash has a wonderful life, until life deals him a hand that he could not have expected. When Crash 's grandfather unexpectedly has a stroke, Crash instinctively steps back and re-evaluates his life without even realizing he 's doing it. Suddenly, his cool friend, Mike doesn’t seem so cool anymore. Things that
One new experience can bring a whole other dimension. Viewpoints on life change, knowledge is gained through mistakes, and one may find themselves trapped in a maze-like situation that they need to find a way out of. However, making the best out of one’s position through determination, perseverance, and courage can slowly reverse the difficulty of handling it. Eventually, as strength is regained from tough obstacles, the desire to obtain their dreams escalates even further, which aids in working harder and striving to reach their goals. Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed, depicts the financial struggles of single mothers who raise their families through minimum-wage jobs after the welfare reform affected their lifestyles. In the novel, Ehrenreich tests the limits of living in poverty by accepting any scarce job that was offered, and provides insight that although it was exhausting to balance her needs and her hectic work schedule, by diligently laboring, constantly persisting in seeking the better, and voicing out the wrongs, it can eventually lead to the attainment of the American Dream.
The third image is that of the welfare mother… the new version that sees the welfare mother as breeding animals who have no desire to work, but are content to live off the state (Woodard Mastin, 273). This character is typically not a major or supporting character within the story. This stereotypical black woman is part of a protagonist’s hardship that they must overcome in some way. One example of this character in popular culture is from the film Precious, which was released in 2009. In this film, the protagonist, Precious has been impregnated by her father twice and if forced to live with her abusive mother. Both women in these film represent this stereotype of the welfare mother but her mother is the one who depends on the government’s help to support herself. In one scene, the mother tells Precious that she needs to quit school and go to welfare to get the help she needs to support her family. In reality her mother only wants the food stamps and other government help for herself. She still receives some welfare from Precious but wants more now that precious has two children. In another scene, she explains through a voice over that her mother collects the welfare for her children as well as herself. A social worker then enters the scene to ask about the child and the mother’s work finding status, she tells her that she has tried finding work but has not been successful (Precious). But in other scenes during the film she is just sitting in the house
At a campaign rally in 1976 Ronald Reagan talked about welfare queens and poverty. He said, “She used eighty names, thirty addresses and fifteen telephone numbers to collect food stamps, social security and veteran’s benefits for four nonexistent deceased veteran husbands as well as welfare. Her tax free cash income alone has been running 150,000 thousand dollars a year.”The welfare system is full of gender stereotyping. Stereotyping is when we make perceptions on what we make about others. In the past forty years America welfare system has been designed around Reagan’s fake welfare queen (Black, Sprague). This slur has had negative effects for the families on welfare that urgently need support and are struggling. This paper will discuss the lies of the welfare queen and how it originated and its negative effects on African American families and young girls.
Aibileen was being treated like as if she wasn’t a human, because she wasn’t allowed to use the same bathroom in the house that she cleans and takes care of every singe day, but instead was built her own separate bathroom. She was treated bad and was also paid badly. The money she was being paid is not even enough for her to put together a household and to pay bills. While all this was going on, she found a way to fight back by helping a young girl write a book that exposes how “The Helps” were being treated in the households they take care of.
I recall growing up when my mother would lecture me prior entering a store. My mother would say, when we go in the store, do not touch anything because she did not have money to pay for broken items; or do you have the money to pay for it? I grew up poor, on welfare, and lived in the projects, so I can relate to Sylvia. However, my mother instilled in me that being poor do not define me, but that education is vital for survival. Just because one the lack resources for a better education, do not mean one must give up; perseverance and determination make you strong. If you think it, you can achieve it was my mother’s motto.
Often throughout the book she mentions that it is said that "you're paid what you're worth", saying that little pay results in you not being to good of a person. With that label they were looked down on and viewed kind of as untouchables. They had low pay, long hours, no overtime pay, and no benefits which leads to low socio-economic-status a job that no one wants to pursue. She stressed that poverty wasn’t a sustainable condition, it's a state of emergency. Citizens in the lower classes are left to fend for themselves and the ten, eight, or six dollar jobs are all that's there for them. What she would encourage them to do is to demand to be paid what they're worth because in the end they will be better off.
The film Precious is an emotional movie that deals with the unfortunate realities of everyday life for some individuals. The film that stares Gabourey Sidibe who plays the main character Clarice “Precious” Jones is based out of Harlem in the year of 1987. Precious is a sixteen year-old obese and uneducated teenager whom has had to grow up in a severely dysfunctional family environment. Her mother verbally and physically abuses her, often times using her as a personal servant. Her father has been sexually abusing her since childhood, and has impregnated her twice. Precious has lived with the ugly truth that because of her weight, skin color, and sexual abuse, she does not fit in
First off, lets discuss the essay of Angela Locke. Angela grew up in a household that was poor. Her mother worked at the E-Z Bargain Center. When not working there she spent her time picking up after her four kids, and
I felt that this movie addressed numerous forms of abuse such as verbal, physical, sexual as well as neglect. Her father, resulting in her having two children, sexually abuses Precious. Her mother verbally and physically abuses her at home. Numerous emotions were at play while watching the movie such as anger, sadness, empathy, as well as hope. Precious was able to tackle all the hardships she faced and persevered. She exemplified courage and strength through adversity. Precious had some very influential people in her life, however, which may have saved her life and her children’s lives. Firstly, the principal at her original school noticed Precious and helped her. She could have ignored Precious and moved her along in the school system.
From the beginning of the story, we are shown racial inequalities. Ellison introduces us to our character who is a broke and hungry African American economically struggling to save his lady friend’s, Laura’s, life. The protagonist “got no birth certificate to
Experiencing further unstable environments, these children are forced to move from one foster home to another. They rarely develop meaningful relationships and constantly endure lack of care and protection by adults. Sabreen, another gifted student, was able to excel in school despite her unstable environments. She, too, became a ward of the county battling to find a stable home, constantly being placed in unstable environments, environments that do not encourage any achievement. When her situation becomes untenable, she goes AWOL, like Olivia, refusing to return to county supervision. Corwin masterfully frames the problem that wards, like Olivia and Sabreen, face when they feel that going back into the system is not an option. The additional struggles can be seen through Olivia and Sabreen accepting jobs with long hours in order to make enough to pay their bills. The responsibility on taking care of themselves financially detracts from their studies, which quickly can become a vicious, never-ending cycle.