Rural Poverty

In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, several characters suffer from rural poverty. In this book Harper Lee uses two different families to compare and contrast the ideas of rural poverty. The Ewells who sour in their rural poverty as their father spends the money they do make on alcohol. The Cunninghams who have never borrowed a penny and live happily with each other on their farm. At the end of the book when life becomes particularly nasty for the Ewells, their father lashes out at everyone, finally bringing him to attack the children of the man he hated. Rural poverty pushed Mr. Ewell to attack children, children who are innocent of any crimes too young to have ever done anything. Desperation pushed him over the edge, tired of living in rural poverty and being ignored by his fellow citizens. Mr. Ewell's dogmatic ways lost him his little dignity then his life. The Cunninghams greatly contrast the Ewells although they also live in rural poverty. It comes down to choice. How will you choose to act when times are tough? http://www. This link explains how rural poverty is still a major problem in other countries. These countries main economy is agriculture. A video in the link explains how people in rural poverty, an example being Madagascar, make only $2 a day. The population is growing too fast and is expected to double by 2030. Riots and food shortages push people in rural poverty to seek else where. Education is too expensive too afford but pulling children only repeats the cycle of rural poverty. Diseases kill fast where no medical attention can be found. Families who lose family members must work twice as hard to make up for that persons absence. Families have no choice but to pull their children out of school to help around the house and find food. Most kids must live with malnutrition because their families can not feed them. The obvious answer to this problem is to leave the rural poverty and go else where except even moving can be expensive and traveling can be dangerous. Places like Madagascar don't make enough food to support their rapidly increasing population. Rural poverty can push people to do terrible things and although Harper Lee might emphasize it with a white and dark example the truth is clear. The Cunninghams accept and live the best they can with what they have. They do not seek pity even though they can't feed their children or themselves. The citizens around them respect them for this. Their is something honorable about making it with what you have. The Ewells are angry at everyone for their misfortune, even the children behave badly before others. The Ewells don't help each other either. They fight among themselves for food and one is left to do all the chores while the others whine for food when they could help. They only went to school on the first day to avoid breaking the education law but they still don't help out at home.