Les Miserables Labor

70% of migrant workers are children who work in terrible conditions. Two-thirds of which drop out of school and aren’t able to get a proper education. In the short story “The Circuit” by Francisco Jimenez he puts his experience into creating a family of Migrant workers. In his story, Panchito is a young boy traveling place to place following the harvest. Francisco Jimenez uses language and setting to display the hardships Panchito and his family face.

Poverty and stress take away the pleasures of childhood from the children unfortunate to be born into such families. In Salvador Late or Early, a short story by Sandra Cisneros, tells us about the stressful lifestyle of an underprivileged boy named Salvador. Salvador The author believes Salvador is an interesting character because he’s a boy with responsibilities of an adult, he is a solitary and misunderstood kid at school, and because throughout all the pain and suffering he’s been through, he remains unbroken.

In a column written by Nicholas D. Kristof, he quotes a 19-year-old girl, “I’d love to get a job in a factory, at least that work is in the shade.” (120) This 19-year-old girl is striving for a job that many outsiders are striving to eradicate. In these impoverished countries families bring in so little money they are forced to ask their children to seek work so their families can survive.

In a column written by Nicholas D. Kristof, he quotes a 19-year-old girl, “I’d love to get a job in a factory, at least that work is in the shade.” (120) This 19-year-old girl is striving for a job that many outsiders are striving to eradicate. In these impoverished countries, families bring in so little money they are forced to ask their children to seek work so their families can survive.

“The International Labor Organization estimates that at least 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are working, mostly in the developing world.” Many Americans view child labor as wrong or dangerous, but they do not realize how essential child labor can be in developing countries. In the article “Regulated Child Labor Is Necessary in Developing Countries,” by John Tierney, a current author for the New York Times, focuses on child labor and why it is essential in some developing countries. Tierney creates a sympathetic tone for the readers to try and understand the struggles regarding child labor in developing countries.

The amount of children trapped in child labor makes up nearly 11 percent of the overall child population. Not only in America, but all over the world, shocking cases of child neglect, whether it would be by working them or mistreatment, are present. The novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card shows multiple examples of the problems of child labor and abuse happening in society.

“ Worldwide, there are an estimated 246 million children engaged in child labour. Some 180 million children aged 5–17 (or 73 percent of all child labourers) are believed to be engaged in the worst forms of child labour, including working in hazardous conditions such as in mines and with dangerous machinery. Of these children, 5.7 million are forced into debt bondage or other forms of slavery, 1.8 million are forced into prostitution or pornography and 600,000 are engaged in other illicit activities.”

In this paper I’ll discuss the life of enslaved children and what those experiences tells us about the institution of slavery. Over the course of the semester we have been introduced to several readings concerning the enslavement of Africans. I will be basing my paper on information gathered from these readings, “African American Voices,” By Steven Mintz, “Prince Among Slaves,” By Terry Alford, “Lose Your Mother” By Saidiya Hartman and lastly a secondary piece of literature by Frederick Douglass, “My Bondage My Freedom.” The life of a child captive in slavery would vary depending on their environment and whom they belonged to. Their experiences ranged from what was perceived as normal, aside from the fact that they were slaves all the way to cruel and unusual punishment. Childhood is essential to understanding slavery, focusing on children brings attention to the brutality of slavery, and also brings to light the system of enslavement children and parents dealt with regarding its sufferings and horrors. Even though some enslaved children had normal lives and were unaware that they were slaves at all; slavery was very harsh for most children. They were expected to do adult work, and punished when unable to do so, also many children were separated from their families at a young age.

This collection of stories begins when the narrator Yunior and his brother Rafa who are 8 and 12, are sent to live with their uncle for the summer so their mother can work. Their father abandoned them when Yunior was 4 and their family lives in poverty, sometimes having to forgo food for clothes and other necessities. Their mother works sometimes 14 hour shifts, at a local chocolate factory while their grandfather watches them. When Yunior is 9 his father returns from the United States to bring them back. They live in an apartment and set up a new community in New Jersey. Although they still live in poverty, they do not want for food or other basic necessities. The stories then jump forward years to when Yunior is in high school and living with his mother. He works and helps pay the rent and other bills

It was just another ordinary Thursday for my mother in the small town of Oratorio de Concepcion in rural El Salvador. Just like any other eight year old in 1980, she got up, brushed her teeth, quickly pulled her knotted hair into a high ponytail, and left for school. The short distance she walked was filled with the sounds of worn out shoes hitting the dirt road as children ran by excited to start a new day at the town’s only elementary school. After hours of sitting in a classroom surrounded by grey concrete bricks, once the last bell rang, she would wait at the entrance gate for her younger brother and cousin. They walked back down the dirt road together while kicking a deflated soccer ball to their home where their grandmother would be waiting for them with a little snack. My mother, her older

The work that employers gave to the children did not benefit them in any way. As seen in the Lewis Hine videos, children lacked the physical capability to work with factory machinery, which led to several accidents where a child might lose a finger or in some cases even worse. A significantly more useful task for these children would be giving them the opportunity to a full time education, but they could not do so due to the work they must complete. Additionally, the work that they completed often times left them drained of energy, therefore leaving them malnourished and fatigued. In the case of Johnny from The Rebel, his frail and skeletal stature revealed the toll that the alleged “useful” work took on child laborers. Not only was the work given to these children extremely dangerous, but their wages were insufficient as well, therefore proving the fact that employers were not really doing the poor much of a favor at

Child Labor is one of history’s most wicked phases, having brought along years of psychological, emotional and mental abuse upon children. A prime example of such torture would be the child labour present in 19th century England and it’s capitalist exploitation on children, or whom they referred to as “little adults”. It was an outrageous time to be a child in that era, with intense family and societal pressure; poverty conditions, and uncertainty of ones own safety constantly hounding their developing

“Media coverage and the threat of regulatory action mobilized the international cocoa industry to collaborate with other stakeholders to eliminate the worst forms of child labor from cocoa production” (Schrage, E. J , & Ewing, A. P. 2005). The harsh conditions of the farms has been discussed for many years. Some of the owners of the farms are rumored to be engaging

Les Miserables is a prime example of two individuals conflicted by the “letter of the law” and the “spirit of the law”. The two main characters, Jean Valjean and and Javert, have two different views on morality. There is a difference between the “letter of the law” and the “spirit of the law”. Obeying the what the laws specifically says defines the “letter of the law” and obeying the overall message of the law defines the “spirit of the law”.

"Please, sir," replied Oliver, "I want some more." No one will ever forget the simple plea made by the poor hungry little orphan named Oliver Twist. Nobody will be able to omit from his mind the painful blows that Oliver suffered. Nor will anyone cease to recall what it felt like to be young and helpless in a much bigger and stronger world. In an effort to bring the ostracized poverty situation of so many children to the public's attention, Charles Dickens wrote an unforgettable book to touch the hearts of millions. Whether he knew it then or not, he was also bringing a new connotation and worldwide innuendo to the term "child labor".