The Haves And Have-Nots Essay, Research Paper

English 12 Honors Kagefumi Mizoguchi

Mr. Devine 3rd Quarter Project

America; the land of opportunities. How many times have we heard this phrase in our lives? This is the promise land and here, you will be treated equally and will be guaranteed freedom and justice. Maybe it is so in legal terms. However if we look closely, there are many injustice going on that is not protected by our constitution. Perhaps the most obvious one is the difference between the rich and the poor or the haves and the have-nots. First line in the constitution states; all men are created equal. Is that so? I see a tremendous disadvantage being born to a family of poverty than being born to the wealthy family. It?s not a just a matter of being able to be educated properly but a life or death situation. Money, just a thin piece of paper, is something that has become essential in our lives and also a thing people live and die for.

?Jack in the Pot? is one very melancholic story. This story left me heart broken for a while. Mr. and Mrs. Edmunds get along together very well. They both care each other greatly, understands each other and everything seems to be what an ideal marriage is. Except for the fact that they are extremely poor. Mr. Edmunds explains their quality of living in this quote: ?We don?t live human. I never see a paper ?cept when I pick one up on the subway. I ain?t had a cigarette in three years. We ain?t got a radio. We don?t have no company. All the pleasure you get is a ten-cent movie one day a week. I don?t even get that.?

One day, Mrs. Edmunds hit the jackpot of $55 at a 10-cent movie theater. Because it was an income that was not planned, she gets confused how to use the money. Around the same time, Mr. Johnson, a very kind janitor of the apartment, had a baby that caught pneumonia. He was also extremely poor and could not afford to treat the baby properly, and the baby eventually passes away. Mrs. Edmunds is heart broken by this story. Its hurt her even more when she heard that Mr. Johnson didn?t seem to be able to hold a funeral for the baby. Because of the type of person she was, she was afflicted over what she should do. Should she go out and buy herself clothes, which she has long wanted? Or should she donate her money to Mr. Johnson for his daughter?s funeral? Thinking about this gave her headaches. Her morals choose to give the poor baby a funeral and she hurries to Mr. Johnson. But she was a bit too late. Mr. Johnson, with nothing to do, has given the baby to student doctors. Now, the ten five dollar bills, which she literally worshiped all of a sudden, changed to stones in her purse. The money, which has chosen the destiny of a small child that must have had so much ahead in her life, was too much of a weight for her. It was the money that killed the child, not pneumonia. Feeling extreme anger and depression toward money, she hides the money as atonement toward the guilt she felt of her incapability to make up her mind. Only if she were a couple of hours faster, the baby would have at least had a burial place instead of being used in some experiment. That guilt just would not leave her mind.

?The Gift of the Magi? was a very similar type of story. It is about two very loving couple, Della and Jim Young, again, very idealistic except for the fact that they were extremely poor. They barely make a living by an income of $30 a week that has just been cut to $20. If you subtract $8 of rent from that, it is obvious that they will not be able to afford each other Christmas presents. Especially when they have high standards of the quality gift they want to give to each other. With no other options, both of them give up their most precious treasures. Della sells her beautiful long hair. Jim, his gold watch which has been past down for generations. With that money, they buy each other very thoughtful gifts. Gift that suit what the other treasures the most. It was too bad they both sacrificed their treasures. Della bought a chain for Jim?s watch and Jim bought a hair comb for Della?s ?long? hair. Both gifts were quite useless now, however because of this incident, these two were able to receive something that cannot be replaced by the biggest block of gold, the purest diamond, the Mickey Mantle rookie card, or anything else that exists! It was a symbol of true love that gifts cannot usually express. Most of all, it showed both are willing to give up anything for each other.

Although ?The Jack in the Pot? didn?t have a pleasant ending as ?The Gift of the Magi?, both protagonists deserves the same credit they should get for their generosity. They definitely deserve much more than what society gave them. Both characters are very warm-hearted people, and know what is important in life. Lucky or not, their poverty taught them to become who they are. These people knew what true quality is. Something that is priceless, without a shape, that is metaphysical. Something that is deep within us. Money and objects can be stolen or can be lost, but these ideas and the feeling within ourselves are with us as long as we are alive.

People have forgotten how to smile from the bottom of their hearts. That is because the society in which we live in, money tends to blind people and turn them into demons. People will do anything to satisfy their ego of becoming wealthy and powerful. Have we forgotten what?s really important in life? In the time of where most people tend to be cynical because of such harsh society, based of capital, we live in, I believe that these generous people can save our corrupt society. Bring back the joy in our lives again so we can laugh happily like we did way back when we were innocent children.

After reading these two stories and many others in this series of The Haves and Have-Nots this made me feel very sad and at the same time, gave me tremendous anger toward the structure of our society. These innocent people are barely alive the way they are being treated when they was done nothing wrong. Raised in a dangerous neighborhood, couldn?t afford proper education, and so they end up working long hours when they can only receive very little. They?re born in poverty and they die in poverty. Heredity controls their destiny after all. We call this free! There is no way it is! As a matter of fact, not much seems to have changed since the feudal ages. It doesn?t say anywhere but a barrier that cannot be seen unless you look closely, that divides the rich and the poor, also divides our society. Only few out of millions succeed in becoming a member of the higher society. No way this is an American Dream. I believe this is an illusion that is advertised through propaganda by the government, so the poor won?t revolt. The government is deceiving them, acting as if they are treating everyone equally as said in the constitution, which in reality they are not.

What can we do to solve this problem? To be honest, there isn?t much we can do. But as one of the ?haves?, I believe it is our deed to lend a helping hand for these people. Go back to the basic principle of humanity; love and care for all. It is stated like that in all religions. It is also as important to try and increase the number of people that will follow along with you. As Helen Keller once stated: Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

Bibliography

The Haves and Have-nots

edited by Barbara Solomon