Serena Asturias

Mr. Parker
English 101
15 November 2015
The sad truth is that not everyone is given equal opportunities.
Children who are born into poverty are not given basic opportunities to
better themselves. Instead, they have more serious tasks like taking
care of their families and fighting to stay alive. For this reason they
cannot advance from their positions and the cycle continues to repeat.
Economic systems have a massive effect on shaping culture and how
people live their everyday lives. In most cases, countries with bad
economic systems deny people the opportunities to progress and
change their futures.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has a population of over 6 million people.
In the 19th century, Rio was the richest State of Brazil. The main
products of Rio are sugar cane, oranges, and coffee. Today, it is the
fourth richest city in Latin America. The city contains a healthy
economy, providing large-scale employment. With that being sad,
poverty is evident as it is in every country. In Brazil there are many
favelas that make up the geography of the town. A favela is basically a
hill filled with houses upon houses. Some favelas are truly unique
enhanced by many different colored houses. But other favelas are
mere slums, and hardly able to function. The people who live here are

generally poor, struggling, low cast citizens. It is not uncommon for the
roles to be switched in a typical family. Children are taking care of their
families. There is an example of this in Flavios Home by Gordon Parks.
In this short story, Gordon explores the everyday life of a young boy
living in a poor favela. In his account, the boy struggles with his own
health while trying to provide for a family of 7. There is nobody helping
this young boy and it becomes apparent that he will probably die soon.
This is a sad but typical story where it is evident that the rich get richer
and the poor stay poor. Because of Flavios familys economic status,
he is not able to do regular things that you would think he should dolike go to school. So he has to struggle all of his life and misses
opportunities to pursue an education in order to get ahead.