Tag Archives: poverty

The Cost of Poverty: “Unnatural Cruelties”

By Robin Bates | Published: September 20, 2011

As the Census Bureau reports the highest number of poor people since it has been publishing figures, it’s worth turning to George Bernard Shaw’s “Major Barbara,” which reveals the true cost of poverty.

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It Sucks to Be Poor

By Robin Bates | Published: August 30, 2011

Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” offers a response to those who want to blame the recession on the poor.

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Reaching Out to the Needy in Tough Times

By Robin Bates | Published: April 18, 2011

Yet having nothing, the Joads still share. In the final scene of The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck taps into the legend of “Roman Charity” where a daughter breastfeeds her starving father. In this case, however, Rose of Sharon feeds a starving stranger. A new human family is rising out of the ashes of the old.

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Forget Bootstrapism – We Need Each Other

By Robin Bates | Published: October 7, 2010

  Always be suspicious of people who talk about pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps. The image is an excellent one since you can only rise if you have help from others. Yet many people think they are somehow diminished if they can’t claim to have risen on their own. Thanks to Dickens, there […]

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