Socioeconomic+Inequalities+in+America+Reflection

The theme of this page focuses on the socioeconomic discrepancies that exist in America and the way that it affects our everyday life. I chose to center this wall around a photograph by Sara Hobbs called Overcompensation. The picture displays an obscene amount of gifts atop a plain dinning room table. The photograph symbolizes our material desires, which are often selfishly directed towards impressing other people or momentarily pleasing ourselves. We often do not think about the needs of others nor do we willingly extend helping hands to the poor, which is clearly demonstrated in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The excerpts show that the wealthy have the tendency to selfishly manipulate the poor for fear of losing their own power and material comforts. When in need of help, the poor are much more likely to lend a hand to someone even if they can hardly support themselves. Regardless of the “monster” and its efforts to tear down the spirits of the poor, they are stronger and push on even in the direst circumstances. One can easily see the strength in Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother, a mother just like Ma Joad, in search of new opportunities to keep her family together. Such a woman needs to be tough and her heart must be impenetrable as the wealthy men and those who can afford to give are anything but charitable. Yet being an upper-class American, though it is the epitome of the American dream, is not quite as sublime as one might expect. Take Daisy and Nick, a married couple from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. While they are a wealthy couple living in a luxurious house in Long Island, both are plagued by boredom to the point that Nick finds himself in the midst of an adulterous affair. Furthermore, Daisy is so insecure and bored by her day-by-day routine that she fears her life is meaningless. My final piece of art is a song by The Whites called Keep on the Sunny Side. Though it resonates particularly well with the poor migrant families kicked off their farms, I’m sure Daisy Buchanan could have found this song soothing. During the depression music such as this was necessary in lifting spirits regardless of the unending sorrow the era seemed to produce.