Hey guys, It’s Ruwani and today we are going to be talking about….World Issues!
Poverty is a word that many of you hear all the time and something that you are familiar with. You have probably read millions of books and watched millions of inspirational movies about how people overcame the obstacles of poverty and after it was rainbows and butterflies. However, that’s usually not the case, and the terrifying cycle of poverty is very hard to overcome as we can see in the book “The Absolutely true Diary of a Part Time Indian”. But before we get deeper into the topic, let’s define the word.
Poverty is a condition where people's basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter are not being met. (Business Dictionary). And there are 2 kinds of poverty: relative and absolute. Relative poverty is when an individual does not have enough resources to live a healthy life in comparison to the environment they live in. Relative poverty can change over time. (Business Dictionary) Absolute poverty means that an individual does not have the money to afford basic human needs. Absolute poverty affects almost everyone living in an area and does not change over time. (Business Dictionary). This is the case with the Aboriginal people just like the ones living in Arnold’s reservation. …show more content…
Most people victimized by poverty would like to forget about their struggles, and drinking is the most common solution. Infact, one of the most common reasons for substance abuse is to forget. (Reasons for Alcohol Abuse). The whole reservation of wellpinit is plagued with alcohol, including Arnold’s father. Almost all of the deaths in the novel have come kind of relation to alcohol. Mary, Arnold’s sister, was so drunk that she didn’t wake up when she was being burned to death, his dad’s friend, Eugene, was shot by a drunk friend in the middle of an argument, and their grandma was killed by a drunk