Maricela Martinez
Mr. Medina
Humanities H7
03/06/14
Struggle
Struggles can be defined as ways to achieve something in the face of difficulty and resistance. Some may claim that struggle is okay. It may be true because some people say that struggle can help you achieve things that are difficult or hard to do. Others assume that struggle is harmful. Much analysis has been conveyed on this topic. This essay will argue that regardless what some think that specific struggles, especially poverty and racism are multidimensional and have implications that can harm us.
Struggles are multidimensional. We see this in Breaking Through, by Francisco Jimenez. One of the struggles Panchitos experiences is being undocumented. The struggle causes him to live in fear and to be deported. Some examples from the text that provide evidence of his fear is in the part of the book when he describes that he felt panicked and scared when some men in green uniforms came into his classroom for him (p.g 4). Another example is that he has been living in the U.S ten years without papers, and all those ten years he has been scared of being deported (p.g 4). The last, example of him being deported is when Panchitos and his family are forced out of the U.S because they don’t have papers. From all this, you can see that struggles can be multidimensional.
Along the lines of struggle being multidimensional, we can also examine its implications (see figure 2). Once again using Breaking Through Panchitos struggles with poverty. Poverty affects Panchitos education, living conditions, food conditions, and health. There are examples from the book that show the implications of poverty. One example is “ When we were living in Corcoran and would go into town in the evenings looking for food in the trash behind grocery stores ” (pg. 9). This shows that their food problems aren’t good because they would eat from trashcans because they didn’t have the money to buy food. Another example is Panchito’s education; he had missed many days of school due to the fact that he had to help his parents in the fields to earn more money. This shows that because not having enough money the kids had to miss school to help parents earn more money. A third implication is Panchito’s families living conditions. When they went to a hotel they had to sleep all cramped, and the parents on the floor due to the fact that they didn’t have enough money to pay for a bigger one. This explains why they couldn’t afford to buy a bigger space so they could all sleep comfortable. My last example is that poverty is also affecting their health. This is true because Panchitos dad was unable to make enough money due to the fact that his back was in pain. That is why it was harder to get money. All in all these are all examples that can show struggles that have to do with poverty.
After all, there are implications of poverty that are found in other resources as well. Poverty affects health; Researchers say that a reason why poverty affects health is because of low income. Due to low income people can’t go to the hospital to get medical attention (“Long-term health, how poverty affects us”). Another example, according to the article “ Four ways that Poverty hurts Americans” is that poverty prevents people from buying healthy food, and that causes people to buy junk food and become obese which also causes health problems. Another resource states that most of the people that smoke is because they are in poverty. By smoking and consuming alcohol can also cause health problems. From “helthpovertyaction.org” it says that people that are in poverty have bad health because they are infected with diseases and neglected. I think this is true because most of the people that are in poverty live in unstable conditions, which cause to have bad health. Throughout this, you can see the different ways poverty can affect people’s health.
In addition to health, the implication of poverty on education can also be found in other sources. In the resource of “11 facts about education and poverty in America” it states that children that live in poverty have a higher chance of not going to school because they have to work or take care of their family. I think this is true because families that live in poverty need the most help they can get so they can make more money. From “P.a.p.-Blog//Human Rights Ect.” It says that the reason why most kids that live in poverty don’t go to college because they can’t afford it. It can be because they don’t have the money so they can be educated. Another resource that talks about education is “ Do something, how poverty affects education.” In this resource it says that most kids aren’t ready for middle school, because they don’t go to primary school. It also states that children that live in poverty are most likely not to go to college. I think this is true because you rarely see people with low incomes in college. In another source (“How does Poverty affect Education”) it talks about how poverty is affecting children’s education. That not having the right clothes or materials can really affect their education. Now, you can see that there are also resources that talk about how poverty affects people’s education.
There aren’t just struggles on health and education, but there are also struggles on living conditions. Just like these two other examples there are also a lot of resources that talk about how poverty can also affect peoples living conditions. In the source (Wikipedia.org/ living conditions) it talks about how 27% of the people that live in poverty have either had house problems. Problems such as not having gas or electricity, and also not having a stove or a refrigerator. This research shows that people that live in poverty don’t have a lot of money to depend on. Another resource says that about 27% of the people that live in poverty have reported crowding and not having enough food. This is true because is a family household has a lot of people and they don’t earn that much than it is possible that they don’t have enough food for everyone (Publications). In “Living in Poverty,” it also talks about poor living conditions. It says that some families don’t have telephones or cars to go to work every day. I also think it is true because most of families that are in poverty can’t afford insurance fro cars and don’t really have phones to communicate with other people. The last resource about living conditions comes from “Living Conditions of American Families.” It talks about how people who are poor are always in danger. They are in danger of being injured, not having enough money, and are in danger of not having somewhere to live. This I also true because the majority of the people that live in poverty don’t have enough money to pay their rent and then not have somewhere to live, and other things like not having enough money to pay for injuries. From all of this, you can see that there are many reasons of why the people that live in poverty don’t have good living conditions.
Following from the rest, poverty also affects how people are treated. “Washington post.com” talks about how people say that poor people are kind of a bad influence because some are always drinking alcohol and smoking. This shows that poverty affects how some are treated because not all the people that live in low budgets drink and smoke. Some actually would do anything to earn money for their families. Another website says that some families that are in poverty are treated worse because some get free food from food banks or maybe because they grow up to be nobodies in life, with no education. This is true because some “poor people” because they don’t have enough to buy good food in stores or afford well educated schools either (wethepeople/blog). In “stereotyping the poor” it shows that some poor families are treated as dumb, dirty, and low life. This resource shows that poverty affects how they are treated because without money you can’t really go to good schools, afford clean water, or good life. The final resource talks about how poverty affects how poor people are treated due to the fact that they get governmental help, food stamps, and free health care. (How the poor are treated) I agree with this because people who don’t live in poverty say things that help the poor and not them. It is like if they are jealous if something doesn’t benefit them but it does to the poor. Due to this they treat the poor badly. In addition to the rest of all this, you can see that poverty can affect a lot of things, even the way how you are treated.
All in all, you can see that struggle specifically poverty, has implications that can negatively hurt and affect us. Even if some people argue that struggle is good, because it could teach us to do things and it could help us get better. My argument though is that struggle (specifically poverty) is bad. Poverty could cause some people to live in poor conditions, be treated differently, have medical issues, and not a good education. Now you can see that struggle is both good and bad.
Poverty is not the only struggle that has negative implications; Racism is just as damaging. Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. So as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. In other words racism is when people make fun of other people that are not from the same race, and they discriminate others from a different race. Also it is when a race is superior to the others. The following will show other examples on how racism also has implications.
There are also examples of implications of racism in the book Breaking Through. It says that Peggy stopped talking to Panchito because he had told her parents that he was Mexican. You can see that this example shows that Peggy and her family started to avoid Panchito. (Jimenez 39). Another example is that it says, “ Have you thought of what you want to do after high school? Before I had a chance to answer he added, we have excellent vocational programs in car mechanics, electronics, and wood shop, we also have programs on future farmers” (Jimenez 75). You can see that Panchito’s counselor started to say what he could do after high school. Just because he was Mexican the counselor started saying jobs that people in poverty can do. Since Panchito was a different race he was given other examples of low achieving jobs. The last example says how some friends of Panchito make fun of him and cal him names because he brings Mexican food to school for lunch (Jimenez 105). This made Panchito not bring tamales or taquitos to school anymore, so they wouldn’t make fun of him. This shows that racism can also hurt us, because in the book, it made Panchito change what he did.
The movie, 42, about the Jackie Robinson, is a story that shows examples of racism and its implications. An example in when Jackie and his wife are at the airport and the plain lady sees Jackie’s wife go into white’s only ladies room, and once she comes out the lady tells them they can’t aboard their plain because she gave their seats to other people. This might of made Jackie and his wife feel confused because the lady shouldn’t have had given their tickets away. Not only that but it also might of made him angry because maybe the lady did that because Jackie’s wife went into the bathroom for only white ladies. Another example is when the other baseball coach tells Jackie that he shouldn’t be playing with white people and he also called him a nigger. This caused Jackie felt angry and frustrated, because the other coach was being racist to Jackie.
There are also other examples of racism that are found in the movie, 42, that have implications on Jackie Robinson. An example is when an officer tells Jackie that he couldn’t play on the field or else he would go to jail. This is racist because the officer was saying that he couldn’t be there because he was a different color, and that someone that color can’t be on the field. This might of made Jackie feel different and like an outsider because he was the only dark colored on the field and the others a lighter color. This also caused him to not play on that field. Another example that shows racism and its implications is when the colored people have to sit somewhere else than the white people in the baseball games. Its implications of this might be that it could make the colored people feel less and unimportant because they are treated different than the whites with less importance. These are two other reasons of how there is racism all around us and that there are also implications of racism.
Not only has Jackie Robinson experienced racism and its implications, but it has also happened to some people that know my grandparents. An example that they told me was about racism and its implications. The example was about two sisters who both had little girls and the grandmother of the little girls only liked one of them. The one she liked was white with blue eyes; she didn’t like the other girl because she was black and had brown eyes. She would treat her favorite granddaughter better than her other granddaughter. This is racist because it is saying that the grandmother only liked one of the girls because he had a lighter skin color and would treat her way better than the other girl. So all in all, you can see that there is racism all over us even in family. Racism and its implications can hurt everyone.
In contrast to all I have shared, Kelly McGonial provides an opposing perspective. She talks about how to make stress your friend and that struggle in good for you. One reason why she says that stress is good is because it helps your health. Kelly said thinks it is good for your health because it makes you pump more blood into your heart and it also makes you breathe in more air. Another reason why she states that stress is good and your friend is because it helps you get more social and also helps you be more social and strengthens close relationships with people. Not only does stress help your health and your social live states Kelly McGonial, but it also helps believing that stress is good. This might be true because if you think that stress is bad your body will react to stress in a bad way, but on the other hand if you tell yourself that stress is good then your body will also think that it is doing you good and will react in a good way, which will help you instead of harming you. All in all, you can see that there are ways that stress can actually be good for you.
From all you can see, there are a lot of examples of struggle and its implications. Examples such as how struggle can affect poverty, like education, health, living conditions, and how people are treated. Not only can struggle be found in these examples, but it can also be found in books such as “Breaking Through” and in the movie “42”. In the movie “42” not only does it talk about struggle, but it also talks about racism. Still, after all of these examples of how struggle can affect us in a bad way, some people still argue that struggle is good for you specifically stress. For example Kelly McGonial talks about how stress (struggle) is your friend and that it is not bad for you. Finally, you can see that struggle can be found everywhere and that sometimes it might be good and sometimes it could be bad.
Mr. Medina
Humanities H7
03/06/14
Struggle
Struggles can be defined as ways to achieve something in the face of difficulty and resistance. Some may claim that struggle is okay. It may be true because some people say that struggle can help you achieve things that are difficult or hard to do. Others assume that struggle is harmful. Much analysis has been conveyed on this topic. This essay will argue that regardless what some think that specific struggles, especially poverty and racism are multidimensional and have implications that can harm us.
Struggles are multidimensional. We see this in Breaking Through, by Francisco Jimenez. One of the struggles Panchitos experiences is being undocumented. The struggle causes him to live in fear and to be deported. Some examples from the text that provide evidence of his fear is in the part of the book when he describes that he felt panicked and scared when some men in green uniforms came into his classroom for him (p.g 4). Another example is that he has been living in the U.S ten years without papers, and all those ten years he has been scared of being deported (p.g 4). The last, example of him being deported is when Panchitos and his family are forced out of the U.S because they don’t have papers. From all this, you can see that struggles can be multidimensional.
Along the lines of struggle being multidimensional, we can also examine its implications (see figure 2). Once again using Breaking Through Panchitos struggles with poverty. Poverty affects Panchitos education, living conditions, food conditions, and health. There are examples from the book that show the implications of poverty. One example is “ When we were living in Corcoran and would go into town in the evenings looking for food in the trash behind grocery stores ” (pg. 9). This shows that their food problems aren’t good because they would eat from trashcans because they didn’t have the money to buy food. Another example is Panchito’s education; he had missed many days of school due to the fact that he had to help his parents in the fields to earn more money. This shows that because not having enough money the kids had to miss school to help parents earn more money. A third implication is Panchito’s families living conditions. When they went to a hotel they had to sleep all cramped, and the parents on the floor due to the fact that they didn’t have enough money to pay for a bigger one. This explains why they couldn’t afford to buy a bigger space so they could all sleep comfortable. My last example is that poverty is also affecting their health. This is true because Panchitos dad was unable to make enough money due to the fact that his back was in pain. That is why it was harder to get money. All in all these are all examples that can show struggles that have to do with poverty.
After all, there are implications of poverty that are found in other resources as well. Poverty affects health; Researchers say that a reason why poverty affects health is because of low income. Due to low income people can’t go to the hospital to get medical attention (“Long-term health, how poverty affects us”). Another example, according to the article “ Four ways that Poverty hurts Americans” is that poverty prevents people from buying healthy food, and that causes people to buy junk food and become obese which also causes health problems. Another resource states that most of the people that smoke is because they are in poverty. By smoking and consuming alcohol can also cause health problems. From “helthpovertyaction.org” it says that people that are in poverty have bad health because they are infected with diseases and neglected. I think this is true because most of the people that are in poverty live in unstable conditions, which cause to have bad health. Throughout this, you can see the different ways poverty can affect people’s health.
In addition to health, the implication of poverty on education can also be found in other sources. In the resource of “11 facts about education and poverty in America” it states that children that live in poverty have a higher chance of not going to school because they have to work or take care of their family. I think this is true because families that live in poverty need the most help they can get so they can make more money. From “P.a.p.-Blog//Human Rights Ect.” It says that the reason why most kids that live in poverty don’t go to college because they can’t afford it. It can be because they don’t have the money so they can be educated. Another resource that talks about education is “ Do something, how poverty affects education.” In this resource it says that most kids aren’t ready for middle school, because they don’t go to primary school. It also states that children that live in poverty are most likely not to go to college. I think this is true because you rarely see people with low incomes in college. In another source (“How does Poverty affect Education”) it talks about how poverty is affecting children’s education. That not having the right clothes or materials can really affect their education. Now, you can see that there are also resources that talk about how poverty affects people’s education.
There aren’t just struggles on health and education, but there are also struggles on living conditions. Just like these two other examples there are also a lot of resources that talk about how poverty can also affect peoples living conditions. In the source (Wikipedia.org/ living conditions) it talks about how 27% of the people that live in poverty have either had house problems. Problems such as not having gas or electricity, and also not having a stove or a refrigerator. This research shows that people that live in poverty don’t have a lot of money to depend on. Another resource says that about 27% of the people that live in poverty have reported crowding and not having enough food. This is true because is a family household has a lot of people and they don’t earn that much than it is possible that they don’t have enough food for everyone (Publications). In “Living in Poverty,” it also talks about poor living conditions. It says that some families don’t have telephones or cars to go to work every day. I also think it is true because most of families that are in poverty can’t afford insurance fro cars and don’t really have phones to communicate with other people. The last resource about living conditions comes from “Living Conditions of American Families.” It talks about how people who are poor are always in danger. They are in danger of being injured, not having enough money, and are in danger of not having somewhere to live. This I also true because the majority of the people that live in poverty don’t have enough money to pay their rent and then not have somewhere to live, and other things like not having enough money to pay for injuries. From all of this, you can see that there are many reasons of why the people that live in poverty don’t have good living conditions.
Following from the rest, poverty also affects how people are treated. “Washington post.com” talks about how people say that poor people are kind of a bad influence because some are always drinking alcohol and smoking. This shows that poverty affects how some are treated because not all the people that live in low budgets drink and smoke. Some actually would do anything to earn money for their families. Another website says that some families that are in poverty are treated worse because some get free food from food banks or maybe because they grow up to be nobodies in life, with no education. This is true because some “poor people” because they don’t have enough to buy good food in stores or afford well educated schools either (wethepeople/blog). In “stereotyping the poor” it shows that some poor families are treated as dumb, dirty, and low life. This resource shows that poverty affects how they are treated because without money you can’t really go to good schools, afford clean water, or good life. The final resource talks about how poverty affects how poor people are treated due to the fact that they get governmental help, food stamps, and free health care. (How the poor are treated) I agree with this because people who don’t live in poverty say things that help the poor and not them. It is like if they are jealous if something doesn’t benefit them but it does to the poor. Due to this they treat the poor badly. In addition to the rest of all this, you can see that poverty can affect a lot of things, even the way how you are treated.
All in all, you can see that struggle specifically poverty, has implications that can negatively hurt and affect us. Even if some people argue that struggle is good, because it could teach us to do things and it could help us get better. My argument though is that struggle (specifically poverty) is bad. Poverty could cause some people to live in poor conditions, be treated differently, have medical issues, and not a good education. Now you can see that struggle is both good and bad.
Poverty is not the only struggle that has negative implications; Racism is just as damaging. Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. So as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. In other words racism is when people make fun of other people that are not from the same race, and they discriminate others from a different race. Also it is when a race is superior to the others. The following will show other examples on how racism also has implications.
There are also examples of implications of racism in the book Breaking Through. It says that Peggy stopped talking to Panchito because he had told her parents that he was Mexican. You can see that this example shows that Peggy and her family started to avoid Panchito. (Jimenez 39). Another example is that it says, “ Have you thought of what you want to do after high school? Before I had a chance to answer he added, we have excellent vocational programs in car mechanics, electronics, and wood shop, we also have programs on future farmers” (Jimenez 75). You can see that Panchito’s counselor started to say what he could do after high school. Just because he was Mexican the counselor started saying jobs that people in poverty can do. Since Panchito was a different race he was given other examples of low achieving jobs. The last example says how some friends of Panchito make fun of him and cal him names because he brings Mexican food to school for lunch (Jimenez 105). This made Panchito not bring tamales or taquitos to school anymore, so they wouldn’t make fun of him. This shows that racism can also hurt us, because in the book, it made Panchito change what he did.
The movie, 42, about the Jackie Robinson, is a story that shows examples of racism and its implications. An example in when Jackie and his wife are at the airport and the plain lady sees Jackie’s wife go into white’s only ladies room, and once she comes out the lady tells them they can’t aboard their plain because she gave their seats to other people. This might of made Jackie and his wife feel confused because the lady shouldn’t have had given their tickets away. Not only that but it also might of made him angry because maybe the lady did that because Jackie’s wife went into the bathroom for only white ladies. Another example is when the other baseball coach tells Jackie that he shouldn’t be playing with white people and he also called him a nigger. This caused Jackie felt angry and frustrated, because the other coach was being racist to Jackie.
There are also other examples of racism that are found in the movie, 42, that have implications on Jackie Robinson. An example is when an officer tells Jackie that he couldn’t play on the field or else he would go to jail. This is racist because the officer was saying that he couldn’t be there because he was a different color, and that someone that color can’t be on the field. This might of made Jackie feel different and like an outsider because he was the only dark colored on the field and the others a lighter color. This also caused him to not play on that field. Another example that shows racism and its implications is when the colored people have to sit somewhere else than the white people in the baseball games. Its implications of this might be that it could make the colored people feel less and unimportant because they are treated different than the whites with less importance. These are two other reasons of how there is racism all around us and that there are also implications of racism.
Not only has Jackie Robinson experienced racism and its implications, but it has also happened to some people that know my grandparents. An example that they told me was about racism and its implications. The example was about two sisters who both had little girls and the grandmother of the little girls only liked one of them. The one she liked was white with blue eyes; she didn’t like the other girl because she was black and had brown eyes. She would treat her favorite granddaughter better than her other granddaughter. This is racist because it is saying that the grandmother only liked one of the girls because he had a lighter skin color and would treat her way better than the other girl. So all in all, you can see that there is racism all over us even in family. Racism and its implications can hurt everyone.
In contrast to all I have shared, Kelly McGonial provides an opposing perspective. She talks about how to make stress your friend and that struggle in good for you. One reason why she says that stress is good is because it helps your health. Kelly said thinks it is good for your health because it makes you pump more blood into your heart and it also makes you breathe in more air. Another reason why she states that stress is good and your friend is because it helps you get more social and also helps you be more social and strengthens close relationships with people. Not only does stress help your health and your social live states Kelly McGonial, but it also helps believing that stress is good. This might be true because if you think that stress is bad your body will react to stress in a bad way, but on the other hand if you tell yourself that stress is good then your body will also think that it is doing you good and will react in a good way, which will help you instead of harming you. All in all, you can see that there are ways that stress can actually be good for you.
From all you can see, there are a lot of examples of struggle and its implications. Examples such as how struggle can affect poverty, like education, health, living conditions, and how people are treated. Not only can struggle be found in these examples, but it can also be found in books such as “Breaking Through” and in the movie “42”. In the movie “42” not only does it talk about struggle, but it also talks about racism. Still, after all of these examples of how struggle can affect us in a bad way, some people still argue that struggle is good for you specifically stress. For example Kelly McGonial talks about how stress (struggle) is your friend and that it is not bad for you. Finally, you can see that struggle can be found everywhere and that sometimes it might be good and sometimes it could be bad.