It is no secret that Jeanette’s family is dirt poor. The children sometimes do not have lunch, they can not afford a home of their own for prolonged periods of time, and they have little to no money management skills. There have been recent studies on the effect that the brain plays in poverty. There was a particularly interesting article named “How Poverty Taxes the Brain” by Emily Badger. The article claims that people who are struck by poverty have less mental bandwidth in comparison to their more wealthy counterparts. The whole idea of the article is to show that since poor people have such a “massive cognitive load” that they have “little bandwidth left over” that can be used to help get them out of poverty (Badger). This is a lose-lose situation for the impoverished, they are so focused on the idea of poverty that it is hard to think of anything else, and do anything to help it.
Now obviously this does not apply to all families or people. Some people who are born into poverty manage to not only raise themselves out of poverty but manage to become very wealthy. In Jeanette’s case however, I feel as though the information from the article applies. Her family has had many chances to better themselves and become middle-class at the very least. Jeanette’s grandmother was rich and when she died they inherited a large sum of money that the parents promptly spent on beer and art supplies. The family makes splurges that are rash and unnecessary, like buying steaks for the entire family, knowing that there would be no money for groceries the rest of the week. These examples prove to me that her family does not have the mental capacity to save money, and instead splurge on luxury items that are not essential to the family’s survival. By doing so they prove the article to be true.
Now obviously this does not apply to all families or people. Some people who are born into poverty manage to not only raise themselves out of poverty but manage to become very wealthy. In Jeanette’s case however, I feel as though the information from the article applies. Her family has had many chances to better themselves and become middle-class at the very least. Jeanette’s grandmother was rich and when she died they inherited a large sum of money that the parents promptly spent on beer and art supplies. The family makes splurges that are rash and unnecessary, like buying steaks for the entire family, knowing that there would be no money for groceries the rest of the week. These examples prove to me that her family does not have the mental capacity to save money, and instead splurge on luxury items that are not essential to the family’s survival. By doing so they prove the article to be true.