Living in Poverty
The real-life characters in the book live under the relentless specter of poverty. The primary thematic exploration of this in the story tries to explain what poverty means aside from its statistical economics definition. Poverty is revealed as being far more than merely an economic indicator. The stories of the two girls at the center of the narrative become a microcosm of the kind of lives they live at large. Living in poverty is demonstrated to be an outcome dependent to various extents upon factors including race and sex as well as generational struggle. The book ultimately exposes how the idea that it is in any way easy to climb out of the cyclical nature of poverty is a myth which is itself part of the social design necessary to maintaining the existence of widespread poverty.
The Cycle of Crime
A significant aspect that keeps poverty on a generational wheel is the cyclical nature of criminal behavior. The story is set in the New York City borough of The Bronx. The Bronx has a long history of being an epicenter of criminal activity going back at least to the 1970s. The fact that little had changed in the world of gangs and drugs well into the 1990s setting of parts of the story says much about the cyclical problem. The younger men in the story have little role models to aspire to as a means of making money other than the older drug dealers. As a result of this limited potential, the situation almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for many living in the area that they will eventually become associated with the drug trade at some level as their only entry point to making more than minimum wage. The problem being, of course, that life as a criminal is unstable and subject to prison or even death without warning.
Misogyny
Misogyny is a fundamental operating principle within any subculture of America but it is especially difficult in this milieu. Almost as soon as they are born, girls are objectified and subjugated to the dominance of an especially violent patriarchal social construct. One of the most uncomfortable revelations in the entire story is that most women living in this setting cannot attest to knowing any other female who does not have a story of sexual abuse. The nature of poverty intensifies the effects of rage and the psychological makeup necessary to succeed in a life of criminal behavior infuses a dangerous sense of entitlement. Ultimately, the combined effects of all these factors create an environment that fosters misogynistic violent ranging from child molestation to gang rape and, in turn, these consequences contribute to the generational difficulty of climbing one’s way out of a life of poverty.
