The Missouri Reader Vol. 36, Issue 1 | Page 82

Issues Living in
Poverty
How is poverty
defined?

Class Relations
How are class
relations
imagined?

Solidarity & Social
Change
How is social
justice imagined?

Health; hard
work;
climate; basic
needs not
met;

Danger; no
access to
government;
undeveloped
infrastructure;
corruption of
government.

Dangers of
homeless
shelters;
hunger.

Child labor;
working
conditions;
danger of
border
crossing.

Danger of streets

Sacrifices

Sacrifices and
compromise

Small space to live;
rent vs. own;
being cold

Hunger,
mother isn’t
emotionally
available to
kids; school
isn’t
mentioned.

Instability in
housing;
unstable
education.

All in book
are poor but
the kids at
school make
fun of her
“rag coat.”
There is a
comparison
of material
items.

No mention of
affluence but
there is a visual
depiction of the
barrios on the
mountainsides
overlooking
Caracas. The
conflict between
the mayor vs. the
barrio.

Lady in the box
juxtaposed
against Circle
Deli. Store
owner v.
homeless.

Owner of farm
v. the workers.

No connection
between poverty
and affluence;
the young girl is
seen as better off
than a woman
who is homeless.

None
offered.

Father gets
fired but
there is no
mention of
who fired
him.

Alliances with in
class but not
across classes.
Castles v. other
kinds of houses.

Those who
own land and
those who do
not.

Migrant farm
workers and
farm owners.

Women
working
together to
quilt a coat.

Community
working
together;
children as
agents of social
change.

Volunteerism of
mother and
children at soup
kitchen;
advocacy by the
mother for the
woman who is
homeless.

Solidarity
within the
family but not
across
workers.

All people in the
book are
represented as
individuals; the
young girl is
acting alone to
make changes in
her community.

None.
Individual
family
enduring
poverty.

None.
Individual
family has
each other
for support;
no mention
of other
workers who
were fired.

Hard work will
result in home
ownership;

None.
Isolated
family.

unemployment.

Exploitation is
represented
but no
mention of the
exploiters.

No mention of
solidarity
amongst the
workers.

People work
together with
Habitat for
Humanity.

© The Missouri Reader, 36 (1) p.82