Personal Narrative: Working At Virginia Bank's Home

Had Jeannette never experienced poverty, had she never had to make do with what she had, she would never have thought to create her own braces. Hence, because poverty forces her to manage with the little she has throughout all of her childhood, Jeannette gains resourcefulness. Poverty’s final gift to Jeannette and her siblings is the desire to survive. Throughout her childhood, Jeannette is forced to survive. She must survive burns from a freak accident and cuts from falling out of a car. She must survive constant moving around and repeated incidents with sexual predators. All of these incidents instill in Jeannette a desire to survive. As a junior in high school, Jeannette flees to New York City where she finishes high school and begins college. Jeannette works hard to support herself but eventually runs out of money. Instead of quitting and falling through the cracks, Jeannette works harder; she refuses to give up and continues to live her life in the face of difficult circumstances. Thus, the Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle changed my views about poverty by revealing that poverty can produce more than negative outcomes; it can foster resiliency, ingenuity, and a desire to succeed.

Unfortunately, the loss of housing occurs frequently and takes a psychological toll on the people affected by depression. Desmond displays how Arleen is very troubled when she gets evicted, thrown into the cold, and stranded with nothing. It takes a toll mentally when she realizes she has no home to get away from the cold, but also the eviction will be on her record for the next move. When people get evicted there is so much going against them, that mentally they can’t keep up and become depressed. Desmond describes the depression of a Hispanic woman and her three children during an eviction. At first, she had “borne down on the emergency with focus and energy,” then she started wandering the halls “aimlessly, almost drunkenly, her face had that look, the movers and the deputies knew it well”(125). Desmond adds, “It was the look of someone realizing that her family would be homeless in a matter of hours”(125). With vivid imagery, Desmond truly shows the mindset of a woman who knows she lost everything. Eviction scars people and that it makes a lasting mark on how they mentally feel as if they are worthless.

Many people tend to take things for granted. We overlook the things that some people wished they had so they can live without struggle. It usually just comes so easily for us and we don’t realize how hard other people’s lives are. Jeannette Walls knows firsthand what it’s like to be without these modern luxuries. In her memoir, “The Glass Castle” she writes about how she sometimes grew up without things like a place to live, clothes to wear, food on the table, electricity to power the house and keep her warm. In her upbringing, her parents never really supplied her with the things she needs or took very good care of her so she learned how to survive with the little she got. She learns throughout her life that she should never take anything for granted and to appreciate the good things in life because she doesn’t get most of the essentials that other people have normally. Throughout the story she always knew to be grateful and value every little thing she got because she didn’t get much.

Imagine you’re driving down a road and arrive at a red light. As you glance to your right, you see a woman standing there with a sign that reads, “Without work, anything will help”. Do you stop and give the spare change in your purse? Do you look the other way? Poverty is a difficulty that affects numerous families not only in the United States, but around the world. Jeannette Walls shows in her memoir, The Glass Castle, which describes her hardships as a child, that some poverty-stricken families chose to remain silent, afraid of the embarrassment they feel they’d face, or in denial of their situation. Despite the various drawbacks that weighed down the families hopes of survival, it only lit a fire in Jeannette to become a strong woman who appreciates what she has, knowing it could all disappear in an instant.

Liz Murray is an influential student because she sets an example for students with struggling homes by pushing herself to live a better life and by going out to speak out and encourage other struggling students to live a better life. While Liz Murray could have done nothing to improve her life, she pushed herself to improve her awful life. For instance, according to reporter Rebecca O’Brien, Liz Murray “completed high school in two years, all while living on the street—rather than with an abusive grandfather who housed her sister—and occasionally spending the night with friends or in the subway”( O’Brien N.P.). This demonstrate that Liz worked hard in school, completing high school in half the time than most people.

This book taught me just how important it is to pay attention to those around you and not just contribute to the bystander effect. In many cases throughout this story it was obvious that the there were some terrible issues going on within this family that still some how seemed to go unnoticed. Both parents being alcoholics, their son going to school with bruises and injuries daily, having to steal food from classmates and having to wear the same dirty clothes all year round. To me those all seem like obvious red flags, yet for some reason the numerous adults in this memoir who knew what

We have all seen the poor or homeless people on the streets. They look cold and lonely. We don't really think about what their life is really about. But have you ever realized that most of them had a good life before they became poor or homeless. The book Almost Home by Joan Bauer goes over this, that the people who are less fortunate are still people and that they had a good life too. This and many other good lessons are gone over in this book.

In any case, Ascher's work for the most part spotlights on the best way to be sympathetic towards the needy while Quindlen's work concentrates more on the genuine significance of having a home. Quindlen starts her article presenting Ann, a vagrant who demonstrates the writer a photo of the house she once possessed. Starting a story with an account produces tenderness. The writer utilizes Ann to tell the readers that "house is the place the heart is and there is no place like it" (189). She expounds on the qualities that a home has and accentuates that the world's most concerning issue these days is

The happiness that I received from giving to the needy has helped better prepare me for my job and it has given me special skills to help me with my current and future job. Jonathan E. Booth wrote,“Wilson emphasized that knowledge acquired from volunteering can lead to socioeconomic achievement in the workplace, which may result in a more positive reputation on the job, help in finding future work, or enhancement of the quality of [the current] job (Booth Pg 233).” The knowledge that I left with after feeding the homeless has helped me to be effective in job and my everyday life. It has helped me to have a more positive attitude and has made me more equipped in my job and my hobbies. Mr. Booth said,“While

In a passage from her book Twenty Years at Hull House, author Jane Addams uses rhetorical devices such as anecdotes of her experience living in Hull House and vivid imagery as powerful tools of social advocacy especially for the elderly who cannot care for themselves. Throughout the passage three anecdotes describing the lives of old women brought to the Hull House after no one else was left to care for them are used to show first hand what living in poverty is like. . Firsthand experiences give more credibility to claims because the person becomes a primary source. The first anecdote used describes an old woman who does all she can to avoid the dreaded poorhouse. This woman even goes as far as to sleep on the floor of a stranger’s house.

Karly Segrave was a fifteen year old girl when Hurricane Katrina Hit. Her mother worked at St. Tammany Parish Hospital, so when it was time to evacuate she stuffed everything she could into a backpack and went on her way. Most of the employees at the hospital brought their familys with them, so space was limited. Karly slept under her mothers cubical for three weeks. “At first it was fun,” she watched movies, played games, and had tons of people to talk to. Then days turned into weeks and the hospital begun to run low on food. She began to realize that it wasn’t all fun and games.

One night in the winter, Miss Maudie’s house caught fire. The Abbottsville fire truck was pumping water and the fire awoke the whole town. “In the heat between our house, Miss Rachel’s and Miss Maudie’s, the men had long ago shed coats and bathrobes. They worked in pajama tops and nightshirts stuffed into their pants…” (Lee 80) The neighbors definitely show compassion in this part of the story. The neighbors definitely show compassion in this part of the story. Although it was late at night and frigid outside, the neighbors still jumped out of bed to help. Instead of standing outside watching her house burn down and being pitiful, they jumped right in the house to help her out. They didn’t need be friends with her or have knowledge of her well enough just to help her. No one needed to climb out of their beds to help, yett they chose to, because it was the right thing to do and they were neighbors and that’s what neighbors

Authors use their point of view of a story to develop the central tone of a story, or to better institute what their purpose may be. Some authors may have the same purpose of different stories, or may have significant differences. Anna Quindlin (author of “Homeless”) and Lauralee Summer (author of “Learning Joy from Dogs without Collars”) both discuss having homes as a top priority when it comes to a childhood, and a feeling of normalcy and security; “Learning Joy from Dogs without Collars” was written to foretell how a home can affect one’s childhood, while “Homeless” was written to tell how “home is where the heart is” (834).

Immediately I was introduced to an unimaginable degree of poverty. Hungry families were living in small rundown shacks. Soon after sunrise construction began- building a volunteer bunkhouse and renovating families homes. With growing mold, broken utilities, and overall structural deterioration, homes were unsafe living conditions for any human being, let alone a family.

We had lost our sense of generosity and we were filled with bitterness and anger. But there was still a job that needed to be done so we couldn’t let our emotions get the best of us. Our next and final home was on Holton Street. As the minutes passed on our way to the next home I hoped that this experience would be different. As we neared our destinations the quality of the homes was deteriorating. Shoes hanging on power lines (usually a sign pf gang presence or drug trading), trash all over the sidewalks, and sadly seeing a family of 3 in nothing but T-Shirt and shorts sitting outside on a bench in below freezing temperature. Seeing all these I had a feeling that the area we were entering wasn’t only poor, but unsafe. We arrived to the home and knocked on the door. A boy no older than 14 answered the door and an enormous grin appeared on his face. Boom. This is exactly the type of reaction we loved. This home was in abysmal condition. There were holes in the wall. floorboards were creaking at every step, and there were cobwebs seemingly in every corner of the kitchen. As we placed the food on the counter we noticed that the mother was watching us from the living room. She came out to meet us and to our shock, she was in a wheelchair. “My God mam, are you okay? How did this happen?” said amo. In a very heavy English accent she replied, “Car accident.” In the corner of my eye I also spotted two toddlers sitting in a crib. How is this woman