Growing Up Poor

The belief that in the United States everyone can achieve whatever they set their mind onto—if only they work hard enough—is still strong but rarely comes true. It is actually a dangerous myth since it provides the basis for blaming the poor for their fate.

Filling a critical void, this study focuses on the depiction of impoverished children and youth of minority groups, to determine if their portraits pose an exception from the ideology of hard work and if they could renew debates on the probability of leaving American poverty solely by means of effort.

Growing Up Poor investigates contributions to American poverty discourse across four different genres: literary journalism, documentary photography, fictional literature, and fictional film. By means of exemplary close readings and selective reviews of the works’ reception, it aims to single out each text’s impact on contemporary poverty discourse.