The criticism of American culture from which Jhumpa Lahiri took her collection of short stories, The Interpreter of Maladies, can be summarized by one line describing an American traveler in the homeland of her Bengali ancestors:
"Mrs. Das gave an impatient sigh, as if she had been traveling her whole life without pause."
Such is the cancer that riddles the western world, always moving, but going nowhere. The climate of the story is one of agitation, within the Das family and toward it. The American hallmark of disconnect to other humans and nature are particularly irritating to Lahiri. The same themes are found in her work, The Namesake, in which she shows the beauty in arranged marriages, respect for family and tradition, the harmful effects of western culture. Lahiri tends to write of American culture in an abrasive, almost ugly way, as if the force of assimilation to it is so overwhelming that when drowned in it there is nothing left. This disenfranchisement, the sense of loss, is what propels the motion of unconsciousness described in the quote above.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Living in America
In the television series 30 Days, host Morgan Spurlock explored what it means to be one of the working poor in America (episode no.1), by landing in Columbus, Ohio with no job, no car , no insurance, and just $300 dollars. Ted kennedy, seen in a clip on the show, gave his thoughts on minimum wage at the Center for American Progress:
"“The wages that we pay our workers make a profound statement about who we are as a nation. The American Dream is about working hard to build a better life for your family. In the wealthiest country on the face of the earth, no one that works hard for a living should have to live in poverty. So raising the minimum wage is a profoundly moral issue. It is wrong that hard-working men and women cannot afford to put food on the table or heat their homes. It is wrong to give billions upon billions of dollars in tax relief to the wealthy, but turn your backs on the hard-working families who live in poverty each day, and the 14 million children who go to bed hungry each night. (http://www.tedkennedy.com/content/685/senator-kennedys-remarks-on-the-minimum-wage-at-the-center-for-american-progress)"
The argument generally given against a living wage is that it will drive cost of living up, negating the increase in pay. If the rate of pay had increased for the lowest paid workers as the economy and executive wages rose, this wouldn't be a problem. Ted Kennedy was chosen as the expert on fair wages and standards of living for workers as Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee- yet every time he introduces a clean bill to the senate, it is defeated.
A family of four is considered below poverty level at 28,000 annually. Who can live on this? Where is the hope in $7.15 an hour when gas is nearly $5/gallon? For some, higher education is an option, but in order for a working person with family- living at the poverty level- to survive, it's almost absolutely necessary to take government assistance in the form of insurance, food stamps, and/or subsidized housing. the embarassment of using food stamps, and the dysfunctional social/emotional behavior that racks low income and Section 8 (government paid)housing and daycare leaves working parents settling for what they can get. Our society needs to understand that We don't want to live off the government. We want a living wage, dignity, healthy environments for our children, and opportunity.
Sevral ideas to accomplish this:
1. a living wage bill must be passed, first and foremost
2. oil companies must pay their taxes, and the money be distributed to small business owners
to balance the wage raise,
or used to create new and sustainable housing and beautify the areas in which the poorest people live
3. end the war and spend the money on national healthcare
The hospital bills Spurlockand his fiance incur in two visits to the emergency room reach nearly $1400. Nearly 47 million Americans, or 16 percent of the population, were without health insurance in 2005, and this figure rose to 90 million people - about one-third of the population below the age of 65 spent a portion of either 2006 or 2007 without health coverage(http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml)
Working America is the AFL-CIO's voice for workers http://www.workingamerica.org/ , and provides an "ask a lawyer" service for inquiries about rights, opportunities to get involved, tips on avoiding foreclosure, and articles and links to other sites that offer analysis about the real state of the union, and, amazingly, how to improve it!
Follow these links to read about:
unemployment> http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/06/06/busted-unemployment-rise-worst-in-20-years/
interviews with workershttp://www.workingamerica.org/blog/2008/06/02/no-leave-for-hospital-worker/
better jobs/ pay http://www.workingamerica.org/issues/jobs.cfm
"“The wages that we pay our workers make a profound statement about who we are as a nation. The American Dream is about working hard to build a better life for your family. In the wealthiest country on the face of the earth, no one that works hard for a living should have to live in poverty. So raising the minimum wage is a profoundly moral issue. It is wrong that hard-working men and women cannot afford to put food on the table or heat their homes. It is wrong to give billions upon billions of dollars in tax relief to the wealthy, but turn your backs on the hard-working families who live in poverty each day, and the 14 million children who go to bed hungry each night. (http://www.tedkennedy.com/content/685/senator-kennedys-remarks-on-the-minimum-wage-at-the-center-for-american-progress)"
The argument generally given against a living wage is that it will drive cost of living up, negating the increase in pay. If the rate of pay had increased for the lowest paid workers as the economy and executive wages rose, this wouldn't be a problem. Ted Kennedy was chosen as the expert on fair wages and standards of living for workers as Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee- yet every time he introduces a clean bill to the senate, it is defeated.
A family of four is considered below poverty level at 28,000 annually. Who can live on this? Where is the hope in $7.15 an hour when gas is nearly $5/gallon? For some, higher education is an option, but in order for a working person with family- living at the poverty level- to survive, it's almost absolutely necessary to take government assistance in the form of insurance, food stamps, and/or subsidized housing. the embarassment of using food stamps, and the dysfunctional social/emotional behavior that racks low income and Section 8 (government paid)housing and daycare leaves working parents settling for what they can get. Our society needs to understand that We don't want to live off the government. We want a living wage, dignity, healthy environments for our children, and opportunity.
Sevral ideas to accomplish this:
1. a living wage bill must be passed, first and foremost
2. oil companies must pay their taxes, and the money be distributed to small business owners
to balance the wage raise,
or used to create new and sustainable housing and beautify the areas in which the poorest people live
3. end the war and spend the money on national healthcare
The hospital bills Spurlockand his fiance incur in two visits to the emergency room reach nearly $1400. Nearly 47 million Americans, or 16 percent of the population, were without health insurance in 2005, and this figure rose to 90 million people - about one-third of the population below the age of 65 spent a portion of either 2006 or 2007 without health coverage(http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml)
Working America is the AFL-CIO's voice for workers http://www.workingamerica.org/ , and provides an "ask a lawyer" service for inquiries about rights, opportunities to get involved, tips on avoiding foreclosure, and articles and links to other sites that offer analysis about the real state of the union, and, amazingly, how to improve it!
Follow these links to read about:
unemployment> http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/06/06/busted-unemployment-rise-worst-in-20-years/
interviews with workershttp://www.workingamerica.org/blog/2008/06/02/no-leave-for-hospital-worker/
better jobs/ pay http://www.workingamerica.org/issues/jobs.cfm
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