Although he was only an infant, just growing up and knowing that your parents put you on junk heap and left you there would tear you up on the inside. In addition, he didn’t have a significant male figure in his life to teach him how he should treat his family if he should have one. Every young male needs that in his life, just as a female needs a significant female figure in her life. He needs this male to tell teach him all that he had to learn. Without this guidance he didn’t have the slightest clue on how to treat his own family.
His family sometimes did not even have enough for him to eat. Richard was hungry and there was nothing that could have been done about it in his mother’s eyes. At one point, Richard’s mother had to send him to an orphanage because she did not have enough money to feed him. “Once again I knew hunger, biting hunger, hunger that made my body aimlessly restless, hunger that kept me on edge, that made my temper flare, hunger that made me hate leap out of my heart like the dart of a serpent’s tongue, hunger that created in me odd cravings.” (103) Richard knew how hunger felt, and he did not like it. “My life now depended upon my finding work, and I was so anxious that I accepted the first offer, a job as a porter in a clothing store selling cheap goods to Negroes on credit.” (179) Another evident hunger in Richard was his hunger for money.
The main reason why they lacked money was because his father, Malachy, would always waste the entire dole on alcohol. When McCourt was younger he did not understand why they never had enough money for food, but as he matured he realized his father was the reason they had to experience a life in poverty. “We’re on the seesaw. Up, down, up, down. Malachy goes up.
Jeanne and her family are struggling dealing with Manzanar. The camp is not physically ready to be lived in. Cramped living conditions, poor food, unfinished rooms, and dust that enters through any crack. This was diminishing the Wakasuki family, but the birth of the first grandchild brings the family as one. Racism is the major theme in this book.
Growing up in poverty-stricken Detroit with his mother and older brother, Curtis, Ben would never have guessed how his future would turn out. When 9-year-old Ben's father abandons his family, his heart is broken. There were many temptations and challenges for Ben that could have caused him not to be the successful doctor he is today. Ben's mother, Sonya, is the driving force in her sons' young lives. Sonya was born in Tennessee and had 23 sisters and brothers.
The following year, his family suffered from losing their fortune in the financial panic of 1907. Due to this, Adam’s mother spent a lot of time stressing her husband over his inability to get back their fortune, which ended up leaving an emotional imprint on Ansel himself. But, his father was very supporting and loving towards him. His traits, such as his shyness and intelligence, as well as his earthquake affected nose caused him to have a lot of problems when it came to fitting in at school. He was unsuccessful in all the schools he had attended, which resulted in him being home-schooled by his father and aunt.
Growing up without a father is hard. It’s hard whether you are black or white, a boy or a girl, rich or poor, and whether you never knew your father or if he left your family in the middle of the night. Sadly, I have first hand experience with this. When I was about six years old my father was taken away from my family and I by a case of Prostate Cancer that was left untreated until it was too late. I didn’t know my father that well since he didn’t live with us, but I’m sure the pain I felt was just as bad as any child that lost their father.
Teens struggle with life to make ends meet. Stuck at minimum wage jobs, teens find hard to support their finances. They’re occasionally late paying rent and utility bills. In which they need assistance from family members to help support them. The food supplies in adolescent’s households are scarce and they depend on friends and relatives to provide their meals.
But for many Americans, the term “leftover money” does not exist in their vocabulary. Statistics from the Commerce Department prove, “The savings rate for Americans is the lowest it has been in 73 years” (Wallechinsky, para 10). Saving money is nearly impossible, let alone paying monthly bills. Also, benefits from jobs such as healthcare and bonuses are decreasing along with businesses being stricter about missing work. When Richard Oden was not able to return to work fast enough after getting a major surgery, unfortunately, “to help support his family, Oden had to dip into his 401(k) fund, paying a penalty for premature withdrawal” (Wallechinsky, para 8).
To me food tells us someone’s culture and where they come from. In the book, Kothari’s mom did not let her eat pork. To us if someone doesn’t eat pork you would say that they are Muslim or lived in the Pacific area of Asia. Her family ate dishes like Dal and had spices like haldi, jeera, and hing. In India, they could not eat ice cream, salad, cold food, or any fruit you could not peel and definitely no meat.