Coincidence and the Poor Man’s Fate
As his neighbor with a deteriorating mind is pursed by the local police for trespassing into the now-destroyed and abandoned, once-his-home, trailer park community of Times Beach, Missouri, the unnamed narrator “carefully considered both coincidence and fate” (26). The heart of “Book of Songs” by John Dalton struggles with the narrator’s contemplation: it was not a coincidence that detrimental waste oil ended up contaminating a trailer park, yet it was inevitably their fate. The truth this story illustrates is simple: the poor’s earth is valued less, simply because it is the poor who inhabit it.
The narrator describes himself as an uneducated man that “only [knew] ancient China” (6). His beliefs are in line …show more content…
The contrast is exemplified by the billboard on the highway that reads: “Deer Run Estates: Believe The Difference.” The narrator states that he and those of Monument Trailer park have seen the display homes, which made them “believers” in the difference. These estates (“notice I do not use the word homes”) are located along the hill behind the trailer park. They are “impressively complex in their design,” as they have wooden “decks upon decks leading into other decks.” The people who inhabit these estates are clearly of a higher economic status than those who have no choice other than to live in a trailer park. The more wealth a person has, the more opportunities they will be gifted to live by different standards in life. They can afford to splurge on a huge, luxurious “estate,” with presumably much showier add-ons than dishwashers or cable TV. Thus, the difference those of Monument Trailer Park are believers in is one of economic status. Deer Run Estates, towering over the trailer park on a hill, forces the displaced residents to recognize the difference between the quality of life each location provides. It is this difference that leaves them feeling “suddenly poorer”
As his neighbor with a deteriorating mind is pursed by the local police for trespassing into the now-destroyed and abandoned, once-his-home, trailer park community of Times Beach, Missouri, the unnamed narrator “carefully considered both coincidence and fate” (26). The heart of “Book of Songs” by John Dalton struggles with the narrator’s contemplation: it was not a coincidence that detrimental waste oil ended up contaminating a trailer park, yet it was inevitably their fate. The truth this story illustrates is simple: the poor’s earth is valued less, simply because it is the poor who inhabit it.
The narrator describes himself as an uneducated man that “only [knew] ancient China” (6). His beliefs are in line …show more content…
The contrast is exemplified by the billboard on the highway that reads: “Deer Run Estates: Believe The Difference.” The narrator states that he and those of Monument Trailer park have seen the display homes, which made them “believers” in the difference. These estates (“notice I do not use the word homes”) are located along the hill behind the trailer park. They are “impressively complex in their design,” as they have wooden “decks upon decks leading into other decks.” The people who inhabit these estates are clearly of a higher economic status than those who have no choice other than to live in a trailer park. The more wealth a person has, the more opportunities they will be gifted to live by different standards in life. They can afford to splurge on a huge, luxurious “estate,” with presumably much showier add-ons than dishwashers or cable TV. Thus, the difference those of Monument Trailer Park are believers in is one of economic status. Deer Run Estates, towering over the trailer park on a hill, forces the displaced residents to recognize the difference between the quality of life each location provides. It is this difference that leaves them feeling “suddenly poorer”