“It is, though—bad. Bad that Junior's already weighing dollars. Even worse is the oil slick of relief that runs over Henry as soon as that internal, automatic arithmetic crunches out a figure that's a third of what he's budgeted for this birthday treat.”
The cycle of poverty has hounded Henry’s past, and present, and now it seems like his son Junior is about to experience it too. Having to struggle for basic needs has accustomed Junior to not expect more than his father can deliver. What’s more, there is the urge to place their budget before their daily fulfillment ranges from food to medication. The bare minimum lifestyle that Henry has over time passed down to his son is both a terrible thing but also a relief to him. Though Junior understands the financial situation of the family he is still a child who does not need to be tasked with such a burden. The dropping figure in each chapter shows the financial pressures they must consider with every expenditure.
“The bank teller had that impostor polish of a poor kid trying not to look poor. The type who'd been duped into believing good behavior and strong grades might get him a rung higher on the ladder, maybe even transport him to either coast someday, to anywhere other than the scorched quicksand of these plains he'd been so unjustly born into”
Income and wealth inequality is a subject at the crux of this story that delves into the facets of the modern capitalist system. Though the system is a free market, a couple of variables render it difficult to attain the same capital gains as the next person. For Henry, the familial past and a criminal record inhibit his chances of achieving the same lifestyle akin to an educated individual with a clean record. The bank teller Henry encounters describes the lot that adopts the ideal persona of an upstanding citizen towards success. The passage expresses that though that is all that is required to win in a capitalist society, there will always be unscrupulousness in the system.
“It's bad that he doesn't want a burger-flipping future for his son. Even worse that he thinks himself better than a greasy, minimum-wage job when he doesn't have even that. The last field of every job application. Check the box. Admit to convicted felon status. This bars him from so much more than nine-to-fives and food stamps.”
In the land of dreams, the poor with all odds against them hardly experience these dreams but rather ‘nightmares’. Not to mention the inability to secure certain jobs since employers shun ex-convicts in their workforce. Now a single father, obtaining a better future for his son is his ultimate goal, even though he can barely get a minimum-wage job himself. As a convicted felon Henry is also denied government reliefs such as food stamps due to the drug possession criminal record. It demonstrates the limited locus of control for individuals below the poverty line and gets worse with every mistake.
