The male and female border

Earlier this semester we discussed some of Mary Austin's short stories and a few other works that dealt with the idea of the woman in the wild as apposed to civilization. In Austin’s “The Bitterness of Women” both the woman and the man are portrayed as sad characters; sad in the sense that neither of them needed one another, but felt that it was as good as it was going to get for both of them. The woman may have thought she loved him, but she is in a southwestern town where the options for women are not the same. In the same way the man would not have gone back to her had he not been mauled by a bear and become disfigured. It is amazing that SHE allowed him to walk back into her live after he dumped her to the curb. Austin was trying to convey the complex relationships between men and woman and the reality of men’s nature. The main character was not the most attractive girl in the town and maybe not the brightest, but she devoted herself to him after his accident without a single complaint, even finding some joy in playing the role of his caregiver, yet he, even in his state of deformity did not feel anything for her. He could only think about the many women that he would not be able to have a good time with. The bitterness of women in this story is that men can’t see past the physical in order to see women for who they truly are, therefore leading to the man’s own unhappiness.

Poverty of Today

How the Other Half Lives made me think of the many homeless and poverty stricken families that are still living in tiny apartments or on the streets today. Many times people do not think of those who can barely feed themselves week to week let alone their families because these families tend stay under the radar. If you can't see the problem, then maybe it is not there. When we were asked to think about crossing borders earlier in the semester, the issues talked about in How the Other Half Lives never crossed my mind and I believe it's the same reason mentioned above; it is not a an easily visible issue, especially around here. Racism and sexism on the other hand is visible and dealt with everywhere on one level or another. Another difference between some of the other borders we have crossed this semester is the very fact that living in poverty happens to any race, sex, or ethnicity making the problem universal instead of labeling the problem to a certain group.

The United States is seen as one of the world's riches countries, yet the level of poverty is more pronounced than most believe it to be. According to hungerreport.org, 37 million people live in poverty, including 13 million children under the age of 18 in 2007. There are a larger percent of minorities than whites in this category as well. 21.5% of Hispanics and 24.5% of black live in poverty compared to 8.2% of whites as of 2008, according to the website. More than one issue can be seen through these statistics. Why do Hispanics and black have a higher number of people living in poverty than whites? What is causing such a high poverty rate in general, especially when it has gone up since 2000 instead of down? In our present recession, it is more likely that the number will increase again.