Poverty In Culture Essay

How does poverty affect different cultures? Poverty is defined as the state of being extremely poor or the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount. Poverty affects every culture, but each culture has a different take on how one is to live and act when they are in poverty. It also affects each individual who is suffering from poverty in a different way. The issue of poverty can be found in many works of literature, mostly by “writers who have suffered poverty in their youth and have written movingly about their situations”. (Morrow) Gabriel García Márquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” and Louise Erdrich’s “Love Medicine” display a different culture in their works of literature dealing with this situation. The authors …show more content…
In the story Lipsha calls the two, Grandma and Grandpa Kashpaw instead of aunt and uncle. Lipsha possesses “the touch” that can heal others. Even though he has this magical “touch” he admits that he has “never really done much with my life”. (Erdrich 362) He also reveals that he “never owned a television” and would go to Grandma Kashpaw’s apartment to watch his favorite television shows. (362) Lipsha does not have a job, which led his grandmother to call him “the biggest waste on the reservation” because he did not do anything to earn money and he failed out of school. (362) “Lipsha […] has stayed with them but is conscious that he is only tolerated by Marie. He thinks about his relationship with them, and of Nector’s declining memory. Lipsha has healing skills but, despite Marie’s urging, finds he cannot do anything for Nector; indeed, he is not sure he should try to help him.” (Speller) Lipsha remains on the reservation because he does not have the money to go anywhere else, whereas on the reservation he can live with Grandma and Grandpa Kashpaw and be provided with meals from them. Even though he does not know if he should try and help Grandpa Kashpaw, he still attempts to kill two geese for their hearts, thinking that will make Grandpa Kashpaw fall back in love with Grandma Kashpaw. When he couldn’t kill the geese, he decided to go to the butcher and get …show more content…
He chooses to continue the way he is living and make the most of his life. Lipsha could choose this way of life since he does not know much about his parents and his heritage. The reservation could be his comfort zone and he could have felt uncomfortable while away at school which led him to fail. He still cares for his caregivers that took him in even though they do not completely appreciate him. He tries to help his Grandpa Kashpaw get better, but when he ends up choking on the “medicine” instead, he tried to do everything he could to unlodge the turkey heart, but Grandpa Kashpaw still ends up dying. The death affected him since he had to witness it first hand, but “Marie is content, believing that he returns to her from beyond the grave.” (Speller) After the death and funeral, Lipsha does not do anything to change the way he lives, instead choosing to go out in the yard like Grandpa Kashpaw would and dig up dandelions with a