Struggle Is Multidimensional
Struggle can be defined as a conflict, war, or fight that someone has to face. Some may agree that struggle is favorable. It is favorable because while someone is going through a struggle they can sometimes have an epiphany. Going through a struggle can make them realize something that they couldn’t realize before. An example of this is someone going from riches to rags or rags to riches. On the other hand, others may say that struggle is rough. Much analysis has been conducted on this topic. This essay will argue that although what some accept, struggle is multidimensional and has many implications that can harm and negatively change us.
Struggle is multidimensional. We identify this in Breaking Through. For example, one of the struggles Panchito experiences is being undocumented (see figure 1). The results of Panchito’s struggle are fear and deportation. Some examples from the text that provide evidence of this situation are that he says, “As I got older, my fear of being deported grew.” Another example is, “My brother’s face was as white as a sheet.” The last example that shows fear is when Panchito starts crying because la migra comes for him during class time. In conclusion, being undocumented affects lots of things including living in fear and deportation.
Along the lines of struggle being multidimensional, we can also identify its implications (see figure 2). Once again using Breaking Through, Panchito struggles with poverty. Poverty affects Panchito’s education, treatment, living conditions, and health. There are examples of the book that show the implications of poverty. One example is since they have to move from place to place it affects Panchito’s education because they keep on moving schools and he has to keep meeting new people. The second example is the quote, “The motel room was small, like the cabins we lived in at the cotton labor camps” (Jimenez,10). This shows how poverty affects living conditions because since they have to keep moving houses and having to stay in places like motels, Panchito and his family have a hard time adjusting to it. “The nurse then checked my weight and height. “A hundred pounds and four feet eleven inches. You’re a bit small for your age,” she declared” (Jimenez,13). This shows that Panchito has not been growing due to not having money to buy enough food. Finally, the last example is, “Whenever I came near them they yelled, “You stink like a Mexican.” (Jimenez,12). Here it shows how poverty affected how people treated Panchito because Panchito’s family didn’t have the money to properly heal his ring worms, he had to deal with them until it healed by itself. As you can see, poverty can affect education, health , living conditions, and treatment.
In addition to Breaking Through the implications of poverty are also found in various internet sources. Poverty affects education and according to www.ascd.org , “ The poor have more untreated ear infections and hearing loss issues, greater exposure to lead and a higher incidence of asthma than middle- class children. Each of these health- related factors can affect attention, reasoning, learning, and memory.” This is an example of how poverty affects health, which can also affect your education because it gets you more distracted and during class time you won’t be able to focus because they will be so caught up with how they can’t listen clearly. Also, www.postsecondary.org states that “Just 8% of kids growing up in low- income communities gradate from college by age 24.” According to a comparison between Compton High and Mira Costa High, 10% of 2,460 students at Compton High take at least one AP course. Unlike Compton Highschool, 28% of 2,445 students take at least one AP course at Mira Costa High. This states that Compton High doesn’t have a lot of classes or money for their students to attend AP classes or their students are more distracted and they can’t afford more teachers. This leads to unequal educational opportunities. Finally, “Recent evidence suggests that the complex web of social relationships students experience---with peers, adults in the school, and family members---exerts a much greater influence on their behavior than researchers had previously assumed.” This is trying to tell us that students having relationships with other students and teachers can influence their behavior. So, it is important for them to have good relationships with others at school. In conclusion, these are examples of sources that prove how poverty affects education.
Another thing that poverty affects is health, research states that many infants born into poverty have a low birth weight, which is associated with many mental and physical disabilities. Not only are these infants more likely to be irritable or sick, they are also more likely to die before their first birthday. In addition, children raised in poverty tend to miss school more often because of illness which is also an example of how poverty affects both health and education. Research also states, “Poverty creates ill-health because it forces people to live in environments that make them sick, without decent shelter, clean water, or adequate sanitation.” This points out that people who live in poverty also live in places and homes that aren’t really good places for people to live because they can get sick easily. WWW.povertyaffectshealth.org states, “Poverty affects health because it can cause health problems. It can cause mental and stress issues. It also heavily influences stress level, which include uncontrollable situations, financial status, illness, lack of sleep, work overload, and social isolation.” All in all, poverty affects health because it causes stress issues, mental and physical disabilities, and people who live in poverty tend to live in unsanitary places.
The third thing that poverty affects is one’s treatment. Sources states that, “It’s easy to pour scorn on someone in a bad situation, and claim they only have themselves to blame if you’ve never been there yourself – most of us do it to some group in society at some point in our lives” (“Why are poor people and homeless treated with no respect?”). The example that this source gave us is that it is easy to look at some smelly guy with a bottle in a paper bag sitting under the bridge and think that you would never let yourself get like that. Another source states “Unemployment rates for African Americans are typically double those of Caucasian Americans. African American men working full time earn 72 percent of the average earnings of comparable Caucasian men and 85 percent of the earnings of Caucasian women (Rodgers, 2008).” This is trying to say that African Americans are most likely to be paid less and this can cause living in poverty or not being able to pay off things well. In conclusion, a lot of sources prove and explain how poverty does affect how someone is being treated.
The last thing that poverty affects is living conditions. One source states that “Poverty and low incomes prevent people from accessing potential housing options, and make others hard to sustain.” In addition, it also states that “Low rents are important in reducing poverty”. This states how low income can also affect where people in poverty live. The article “The Linking between housing and Poverty” states “Financial aid is the main cause of living conditions. This may also be the reason why a certain group of people may not be able to live in a proper house.” This acknowledges that financial aid is an important cause that turns out in poor living conditions because they can’t exactly afford better living conditions. All these examples prove and talk about how poverty can affect where a person in poverty lives.
So far, this essay has shown all the major implications and multidimensions that struggle and poverty has that can negatively change us. Some may argue that poverty is good for you. It can make you realize many things you couldn’t notice before, but it can also jack you up in the head. I believe that it can also do some damage to your mental health. This essay has explained and proved how struggle and poverty can affect health, living conditions, treatment, and health.
Poverty is not the only struggle that has negative implications; racism is just as damaging. The definition of racism is the belief in racial superiority. In other words, it is when people believe that their race is better than other races.
Racism is also shown in the book Breaking Through. Panchito and his family also face some racism. Racism has many implications , some of them include name calling and bullying, dating and relationships, and it also makes it hard for them to even admit their ethnicity due to being judged or being treated like they aren’t very important. There are examples in the book that show effects or implications of racism. One example is Panchito gets called mean words such as “chili stomper.” One of the quotes are “ I asked Mama not to make taquitos for my lunch, because a few guys made fun of me when they saw me eat them.” (pg. 103) The next example is that racism affects relationships with people and dating. When Roberto went to go meet Susan’s parents he told them he was Mexican and there was dead silence. Susan’s dad stopped her from seeing Roberto. This shows that due to Susan’s family being racist or discriminating Mexicans that ruined Roberto’s relationship. The last example that shows implications of poverty is that Panchito and Roberto aren’t able to admit their ethnicity. “The janitor at Main Street School who is Mexican told me that Panchito and I could pass for Americans because we’re light.” (pg.126) Admitting their race can affect opportunities, but if they could pass as Americans they would have more chances of doing what they want then if they were to admit they are Mexican. These are many examples why racism has many implications.
The movie, 42 , about the Jackie Robinson, it shows examples of racism and its implications. In this movie, Jackie Robinson faces many forms of segregation, bullying, and treatment. The first thing that Jackie encounters is many ways of segregation. For example, in the baseball arena it is separated in half, one half of it is for all the white people and the other half is for all the black African- American people. This is showing how many people believe that white and black people should be separated. The next thing that Jackie faces is many mean ways of bullying. Explicit language is used on him constantly by coaches and other players. In the movie, the manager of the Phillies was using profane language and bothering him while Jackie was up to bat. The reason they do this is because of racism and of his color skin, they think that he doesn’t belong.
Finally, the last way that they show racism is how he is treated during and outside of the baseball games. During the game, the umpire made a bad call when Jackie was actually safe, he gave him a bad look. Jackie thought that he did this because he is African- American. Another example, that shows how he is treated is when the whole team stopped at the hotel that they always stay in, but this time they aren’t letting the whole team stay because they have Jackie in the team. This is an example of racism. In conclusion, these are all examples of how racism and its implications come up in the movie, 42.
Not only does racism come up in the movie, 42, but it also can come up and it does come up all around us. An example of racism around us today, is during a meeting that my friends went to, they met a man named Ruben. Ruben is a counselor at the University of UC Berkeley. Ruben got stereotyped when he earned admission and scholarship to this university. When he earned his scholarship, the people who worked there stereotyped him because he is a Mexican. They believed that Mexicans wouldn’t take advantage of the scholarship or admission because they believed most Mexicans used the option of dropping out. What these people didn’t know is that Ruben wasn’t thinking of dropping out and he actually took advantage of his acceptance. Ruben graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree to set a good example for his family and thank his parents for everything. Don’t judge or stereotype anyone because of their race. In conclusion, this is a good example of how we still have racism in today life, but most of us don’t notice it.
In contrast, to all I have shared about poverty and struggle and its implications, Kelly McGonial provides an opposing perspective. Kelly McGonial claims that stress is your friend. She states that when you can change your view about stress, you will stress out less and you can also have a less risk of dying because of it. When she talks about stress and struggle I think that she is talking about a different kind of stress and struggle. I think this because what I have learned about struggle and its implications is that it can mentally and physically mess you up. Struggle is multidimensional and has many implications that harm and can negatively change us. Stress is a main part of struggle because while going through all of it, you have many worries and can cause you anxiety. Anxiety is stress that can come from any event that makes you feel frustrated, angry, and nervous. All of these examples of ways you can feel while going through a struggle, is also many ways a person that is going through it feels. All in all, these are my reasons of why I disagree with Kelly McGonial and how stress can’t cause a lot of damage to your mental health if you only think of it in a different way.
This essay has brought up many different kinds of topics of struggle and its implications. It has shown us that struggle can effect to many things that can harm and negatively change us, physically and mentally. This essay also states how struggle is multidimensional and how poverty affects many things including living conditions, treatment, health, and education. In addition, poverty is not the only struggle that has negative implications. It brought up how we see racism in the movie, 42 and showed examples of how we still see racism and all its damage today. It has shown us how all of these examples of struggle, poverty, and racism can cause a lot of stress, which can only effect in many harming ways. All in all, struggle is multidimensional and has many implications, it has shown how struggle can damage your mental and physical health.