Poverty In Favio's Home, By Gordon Parks

Understanding that there is a big separation between rich and poor, Gordon Parks was in for a rude awakening in ‘Flavios Home’ when he came face to face with a family doing all they can to survive. Parks comes across a young fellow named Flavio da Silva who was struggling to carry water in a tin over his head and is immediately intrigued to learn more about him. Having an assignment over poverty, Parks took the chance to get better insight by following Flavio home. Recreating the environment and interactions he had creates an awareness that is able to give those not in nor around those in poverty to make a change. Parks goes beyond just going through the events by using descriptive words that allows readers to accompany him.

In our country, hundreds of people are apprehended every day for misdemeanors crimes. Our local justice system will then charge these individuals with fines that can be as much as $2,000 or more. Failure to pay this said fine can immediately result in potential jail time. Yet, if you can pay your bail, you will spend no more than 24 hours in a local facility. Many of these people are poor, while the remainder of these people tends to be middle to upper-class citizens.

The story ¨Fly Away Home¨" By Eve Bunting is an example of one of the world's biggest issues, which is poverty. Fly away home teaches the younger generation to be thankful for what you have. Fly Away Home theme is about being thankful for you, what have because Andrew doesn't have a place to call home, does labor instead of education, and hopes for a better future even with all of his anger and his misery.

Flavio lived in a place full of poverty, the shack he and his family lived in were in terrible conditions and was located in a dangerous environment. The walls of his shack were; beaten down,holes in them, patched up. The home was located on Chicago's south side. Flavio's family was desperately in need of saving up revenue to the point where they had to reuse the water that they would use to clean the rice then they would reuse it to clean one of the girls feet, afterwards, they would put soap in the water and clean each child. To top that off, Flavio’s siblings did not get along; they would constantly fight, but they would fight when one child got a taste of food before anyone else. Flavio’s parents had to work a lot in order to have enough money for all of the children; therefore, they did not have enough time to give to their kids. The author saw the severe poverty that an urge to help the children grew on him. After a while, Parks realized that Flavio was ill so the author decided to take him to the doctor. Unfortunately, Flavio was told that he was going to die, a fact that did not scare him nearly as much as the idea of leaving his family behind.

In “Flavio's Home”, Parks describes the terrible conditions that many families face in a favela called Catacumba, specifically focusing on one family when he encounters a boy named Flavio in the streets. Parks concedes that Flavio takes care of the family by cooking, cleaning, collecting water, and bathing his siblings while his parents are away. He observes Flavio's frequent cough throughout the day, his initial reaction is to flee, but he stays and makes the conscious decision to help Flavio. He concludes on helping the him after being informed that his father cannot take Flavio to the doctor, due to him refusing to take down his store. In the final part of this article, Flavio makes it to the doctor, where the doctorhe tells Parks that the boy is sitting on his deathbed, and will only live for roughly one more year. Parks explains that the doctors couldn't do anything to help with dozens of other patients,the same or worse, who can’t receive treatment. He concludes with telling Flavio that he will be okay, effectively making the reader feel sympathetic towards a boy who will never experience the life of a privileged child.

Parks talks about Flavio and his family, describing the everyday struggles of Flavio as he tries to grow up in Catacumba. Flavio’s siblings are viewed as rowdy and unable to get along. Parks also shows how impoverished the da Silva family is when he finds out Jose da Silva, the father, earns seventy-five cents regularly. Parks also describes how hostile the favelas are during the night, and how they are no place for a child to be nurtured in. Later in the passage Parks describes another side of Brazil when he goes to the hotel he stays in, which is much more fortunate than the favelas. To conclude, the reader finds out Flavio will not live long when he is taken to the doctor, where the doctor proceeds to tell Parks and the da Silva family the news. Parks then ends the article by telling Flavio everything will be okay, upon which Flavio replies with saying he’s more concerned for his sibling than his own well-being Leaving the reader feeling compassionate towards Flavio and his family.

In “Another Holiday for the Prince” by Elizabeth Jolley the author draws upon many themes, one in particular that Jolley illustrates is how poverty influences changes in the individual lives within one family. To begin with the head of the family; a father is never mentioned in the story, not even once. But by not having a father figure in the story the reader can understand a lot. In society the man is the one who earns the money and provides all the essentials for his family, however this story is presented in a society were the mother has to be the man of the family. Ones self-esteem can be diminished as a result of poverty, alienation; destructive effects of a week personality or society on the individual. The author effectively

Jonathan Larson lived a short life in poverty. He was born in New York 1960 and died 1996. During his short 36 year life he is credited for a few plays and received many awards as either a playwright or a composer including Tick, Tick Boom and the opera La Boheme inspired, Rent.

Poverty is something every place in the world has to deal with. Bartholomew and his family is just one example of extreme poverty in this case the poverty comes from Kingston, Jamaica. Bartholomew is in a family with twelve other siblings there is six girls and six boys is the family all of which do odd jobs to keep the family running. Their mother, who could not afford medication died a slow, painful, miserable death from disease that made all the kids fear the future that was destined for them. After their mother passed away their father fell into an endless deep depression that you could see in his eyes.

Peter Singer is often regarded as one of the most productive and influential philosophers of modern times. He is well-known for his discussions of the acute social, economic, and political issues, including poverty and famines. In his “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, Singer (1972) discusses the problem of poverty and hunger, as well as the way this problem is treated in the developed world. Singer believes that charity is inseparable from morality, and no distinction can be drawn between charity and duty. The philosopher offers possible objections to his proposition and relevant arguments to justify his viewpoint. The modern world does not support Singer’s view, treating charity as a voluntary activity, an act of generosity that needs

After reading the Akers article and watching the “Poverty” film I side with critics who claim drug users seek other drug users for companionship. That is very apparent in the Poverty film as majority of the drug users weren’t connected in any way besides the drugs. To support that statement, the interviewer asked each homeless person how long they’ve been on the streets, and each one gave a different answer…some were vastly different from others. Moreover, the social subculture that they live in is also a contributing factor to their content with living on the streets. Not only is their subculture a contributing factor to their condition, but society as well through a term known as anomie. Anomie is described as feelings of frustration and alienation that exist among individuals who see themselves as not being able to meet the demands of society (Levinthal, 2012). This was mentioned in the video by one of the experts by him saying that we’ve taught ourselves to overlook homeless people. The connotation behind that is essentially the definition of anomie; we’re overlooking them because we see them as hopeless.

Often times mainstream media fails to capture a universal meaning of "Poverty" and "Poor" mainly because there is no universal meaning to what exactly poverty is. For ratings and controversy media programs influences our society with a lack of understanding about poverty being that mainstream media don’t cover the issues of poverty accurately with comprehensive logic. Instead they rather use terms like "third world" or "underdeveloped" to portray places as inferior to other places specifically the United States. For example when people think of Africa the first thing they think of is poverty which is the media's fault. Generally I'd say the media does a poor job at educating what is considered poor and poverty. Not only do the media use “exceptionalism” as a way to tell us what is considered poor they also portray most people in poverty as drug addicts, loafers, alcoholics or just flat out criminals and that's pretty much worldwide.

The essay “Poverty is a state of mind”, is written by Bernard Hare in 2012. The story is about living and getting in and out of poverty. Bernard Hare grew up in a mining family in Leeds, where they lived in an environment filled with poverty. At an age of 19, hare escaped the bad environment, which he thought was holding him back. Hare then got a good education and a job, so that he could keep out of poverty. But in his mind, he knows that, “You can take the boy out of poverty, but you can't take poverty out of the boy”. And he returns to the bad environment again.

“It keeps growing... spreading like cancer… human excrement clogged the open sewers…a large hole in the far corner served as a toilet…The children ate with their fingers… desperate criminals hid out there...long lines waited at the sole water spigot...others waited at the only toilet in the entire mountainside...throughout the place came wailing of hunger and hurt…” poverty is everything but a laughing matter (Parks). Photograph and writer, Gordon Parks, in his essay, “Flavio’s Home” reveals the struggles of families in poverty in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, highlighting a social-political concern faces in many countries around the world. Parks’ essay, originally published in Voices in the Mirror during the 1990’s, adopts an evocative tone in order to appeal to the incognizant rich to persuade them to take action against the destitution of the citizens of Catacumba. Parks’ purpose is to convey the idea that those in penury are dying from disease and other harsh conditions, both of which are preventable with awareness and funding.

What is it like being poor? To live not knowing when the next meal is going to be? To not have a bed to sleep on? Gordon Parks answers this exact question about life in poverty in his essay titled “Flavio’s Home.” Gordon Parks, throughout his life, came to be one one of the most prominent African American photographers producing many great works. In Parks autobiography Voices In The Mirror which was written in 1990, “Flavio’s Home” which is an essay written for people interested in establishing the exact effects of poverty. The essay is based on Park's story behind one of his Photographics of a twelve-year-old boy and his family living in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. In the essay, Parks tackles the exact issues of poverty in the world that come from poverty in his essay “Flavio's Home” by describing the situation brought onto a twelve-year-old boy.