Oscar Lewis |
La vida: A Puerto Rican family in the culture of poverty--San Juan and New York |
| New York: Random House. 1965. |
the section of the Culture of Poverty from the introduction (pp. xlii-lii)
in contrast
When papa died, my mamá, had no help from anywhere and didn't work, so she had to take another husband. I loved my stepfather as he were my father. ... When I was eight or nine years old I said to myself, "I take care of things around the house, like getting the water and the firewood and all that, so why can't I go out and earn a few dollars and help them out, or least pay for my own clothes and shoes?" I spoke to my stepfather and asked for permission. I began earning half a dollar for eight hours a week, helping out a family. Every time I got paid I would go home and say "Here, mamá, so much for you, so much for [my step father]," and the rest went into into a little bank I had. Well, that is how I kept on struggling and struggling. (p. 347)