It is the middle of the Great Depression and Jacob’s parents were in great debt. Jacob’s father owned his own practice and when people could not afford to pay him he would let them pay with eggs or other items, and sometimes nothing at all. They also took out a mortgage on the house to pay for Jacob’s school tuition, so the house belonged to the bank. Jacob kept walking, not knowing what else to do or where to go. Since Jacob’s family emigrated from Poland he has no other family, no home, and no degree.
They have to work to send money to their families in Mexico. So their families in Mexico could buy food, clothes, and be able to build a shelter. Even though we put our hard work in the field picking up strawberries it is not enough because, we get paid the minimum wage. The minimum wage is eight dollars and forty-five cents not even close to put food on the table for one day. According to my father an immigrant himself, said that approximately about two hundred people cross over each night.
The mule, owned by Abner, is a very cheap alternative to a horse. The symbol of the horse and the mule is showing the difference of money in each family. With Abner always having to move due to his actions towards other, he is never able to make enough money to buy an actual horse, having to settle with a cheap mule to pull all of his family’s belongings. Another way that class distinction is shown in Barn Burning is Abner’s issues with families having a massive amount of money. Abner believes that people who don’t earn their money themselves have forgotten what their ancestors went through to make that money.
Jonathan says “In the early nineties, when I reached the point of having no money at all, I began to borrow people’s houses” (Franzen). Most people in this situation will go out and make their own money to try to get their own house, if not the society as a whole will label them as lazy people. A hornet’s nest becomes prevalent in the story when Jonathan finally decides to actually mow the lawn. This conflict can be described as man vs. nature. As described in the actual story, this was a very unpleasant situation for him.
The widow’s cow, Milky-white, stopped giving milk one morning and so the family had to find a new source of income. The widow was very worried about having to find food and money to live off of, but Jack said: “Cheer up, mother, I’ll go and get work somewhere” (156). The mother replied back, “We’ve tried that before, and nobody would take you” (156). This shows how Jack is treated as a little boy at this time in the story. Jack can’t find work possibly because he is too young or too small to provide a service for anyone.
The need for crop production was fueled by the lack of economic prosperity. This occurred right after World War II, which could explain why “more than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery.. Their food is inadequate.” (3) People were faced with little to no food sources and disease. Because of World War II, the lands were fought on and filled with dirt, which was not usable for developing farms. It did not help the prosperity of agriculture in those lands. “The land is tired, worn out, depleted of plant nutrients.”(4) Document 3 is the inaugural address of the US president Harry Truman.
He hasn't eaten since breakfast and late at night while he waits for Corley to return with money, he orders a meal of peas and vinegar with a bottle of ginger beer for his dinner. He simply doesn't have the money for a proper meal. And, his future looks dismal: it will only get worse. By showing this detail, readers are not as quick to judge Joyce's character, and while we certainly can't like this leech, we can perhaps understand and view him in a sympathetic light. In "Clay," the older unmarried character Maria lives a life of diligent sacrifice for a pittance.
We forget in our day and age that our ancestors had hard times when trying to figure things out it was not as easy for them as it is for us. When our ancestors lived they had to go out and harvest the grains in order to make bread or they would not get bread that is how they got to eat everyday. For our ancestors it was life and death if the fields were not harvested they would starve. Today we just go to the
There are very specific details that show how miserable her life is. For example, "Besides, the invariable squabble for money on Saturday nights had begun to weary her unspeakably” (Paragraph 5, line 11). Her father would never give her money so she always gave all of her money and Harry sent what he could as well just to help. Her father said she used to squander the money and that he wasn’t going to give her his hard-earned money to throw about the streets. In the end, he would give her the money because he wanted Sunday’s dinner.
In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorrain Hansberry conflict is in the drama by the face the Youngers live in a decade of poverty and have to live by pay check to pay check. Walter Lee and Ruth fight over the simplest things like Walters liquor store that he has dreamed about, but no one approves of because they will lose money that they do not have. They argue so easily because of the stress of not having any money. For example, in Act 1 line 27, Travis asks Ruth for fifty cents and Ruth could not give it to him. He was so stressed out about the money that he needed for school that he asked to go to the local grocery store and help carry groceries to cars.