3 0 0 POVERTY

Poverty

In some of the quotations below there is an explicit contrast drawn between poverty (JOB, LAZARUS) and wealth (Midas, Dives). CINDERELLA may be considered to represent the transition from pennilessness to prosperity, while Job's journey is in the opposite direction. • See also Failure,

Wealth.

Brer Rabbit Brer Rabbit is the trickster hero of many of the tales told by Uncle Remus in Joel Chandler Harris's various volumes of folklore tales published between 1881 and 1910. He can be alluded to as someone who is used to enduring hardships and deprivation and will use their wits to survive.

Dusty ride, isn't it? I don't mind it myself; I'm used to it. Born and bred in de briar patch, like Br'er Rabbit.

WILLA CATHER A Death in the Desert, 1905

Cinderella Cinderella, in the traditional fairy story, finds herself living with a stepmother and two stepsisters after her father's remarriage. She is kept in poverty, dressed in rags, and maltreated by the other women in the family who force her to carry out menial tasks in the house. Her fortunes change, however, once, with the aid of her fairy godmother, she is able to go to the ball and meet the prince who has come to be known as Prince Charming. •See special entry n CINDERELLA on p. 56.

We were driven home—in a hired Rolls—to think it over. You know, to a pokey topfloor flat in Belsize Park. Like two Cinderellas.

JOHN FOWLES The Magus, 1977

Stephen Spiro, professor of respiratory medicine at University College London Hospital, believes lung cancer has long been perceived as a Cinderella disease. 'It is seen as a disease of the working classes. Everyone knows the cause. It has connotations of guilt so patients are not demanding enough.'

The Independent, 1998

Bob Cratchit Bob Cratchit is Ebenezer Scrooge's clerk in Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843). He is poorly paid (15 shillings a week), and the father of five living in a small four-roomed house in Camden Town. His youngest son, Tiny Tim, is weak and crippled. Despite his poverty, Cratchit is a devoted husband and father.

St Francis of Assisi Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) was born the son of a wealthy merchant but converted to a more pious life after a severe illness, founding both the Franciscan order, a mendicant order of friars, and the 'Poor Clares', the Franciscan order for women. The Franciscan orders were devoted to chastity, poverty, and obedience, with the emphasis on poverty.

Great Depression The Great Depression was a prolonged period of economic depression in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere during the 1930s following the Wall Street stock market crash in 1929.

3 0 2 POWER

is found the next morning, frozen to death in the snow.

I tripped through the sleet like the little match girl.

The Observer, 1996

Skid Row Skid Row is believed to be derived from 'skid road', originally a track for hauling logs and later used to refer to a part of town frequented by loggers. The term is used to refer to a part of town where the poorest people live, the haunt of drunks and vagrants.

Oliver Twist In Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist (1837-8), Oliver is born a pauper in a workhouse and suffers the cruel and restrictive conditions of the regime under the parish beadle, Mr Bumble. Inadequately fed, he infuriates the authorities by asking for more food. He later runs away to London, where he falls into the hands of a gang of pickpockets.

This is the worst Christmas Day I have ever spent. . . . I feel like Oliver Twist in the workhouse.

v. s. NAIPAUL A House for Mr Biswas, 1961

Poor Davey! How you have starved! A real little work-house boy, an Oliver Twist of the spirit!

ROBERTSON DAViEs The Manticore, 1972

Power

This theme concentrates on the political or institutional power that makes it possible to control other people's lives, and also on other types of influence over people, as illustrated by the figures of MESMER, the PIED PIPER, PETRUCHIO, and SVENCALI. Other powerful figures are included in the themes Dictators and Tyrants and Leaders. • See also Strength.

Big Brother Big Brother is a character in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). He is the head of the totalitarian Party and dictator of the state in which Winston Smith lives. His portrait, with the caption 'Big Brother is watching you', is ubiquitous. • See also ORWELL.

It's a world I don't know. The world of the computer and the microwave oven. . . .

Younger people growing up will find it easier to contend with, but I doubt it. They'll conform because it's the only way to go. Big Brother is there. I think they will become digits. I don't see myself as a digit, but I know I'm becoming one. It's necessary for me to have my Social Security number available or my driver's licence, because I don't have credit cards. It's un-American. Anywhere I gotta pay cash. You see, I'm not a digit yet.

STUDS TERKEL American Dreams: Lost and Found, 1980

He censored our reading, selected our playmates—we weren't allowed many—and watched us like Big Brother.

BARBARA MICHAELS Search the Shadows, 1988

POWER 3 0 3

Labour's Shadow Social Security Secretary rules it out as a Big Brother scheme. Jack Straw reiterated Labour's long-standing objection to compulsory ID cards, but supports a voluntary scheme.

The Independent, 1996

Faust Faust is the subject of a medieval legend and subsequently of dramas by Marlowe, Dr Faustus (1604), and Goethe, Faust (1808, 1832). In the Marlowe version, Faustus, greedy for earthly power, sells his soul to Mephistopheles in exchange for twenty-four years during which Mephistopheles will provide anything he wants.

The object of the exercise . . . was not to enhance others' enjoyment and understanding of Jane Austen, still less to honour the novelist herself, but to put a definitive stop to the production of any further garbage on the subject. . . . The thought gave him deep satisfaction. In Faustian moments he dreamed of going on, after fixing Jane Austen, to do the same job on the other major English novelists, then the poets and dramatists.

DAVID LODGE Changing Places, 1975

Kafka The novels of Franz Kafka (1883-1924), a Czech novelist who wrote in German, portray the individual's isolation, bewilderment, and anxiety in a nightmarish, impenetrably oppressive world. In The Trial (1925), Joseph K. is arrested and subjected to a baffling ordeal by sinister figures of authority. The corresponding adjective is 'Kafkaesque'.

When she brought them in, he understood her apprehensiveness at once. He could see that they were men of tremendous authority. He had never read Kafka, but if he had he would have recognized them. They wore black suits, and did not smile when they greeted him, or offer to shake hands.

ALAN PATON Ah, But Your Land Is Beautiful, 1981

Mesmer Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) was an Austrian physician who had a successful practice in Vienna, where he used a number of novel treatments. He is chiefly remembered for the introduction of hypnotism, known as mesmerism, as a therapeutic technique.

Like some magical Mesmer, he has persuaded his people to feel well about themselves.

The Observer, 1997

Moloch Moloch was a Canaanite deity referred to in several books of the Old Testament, to whom worshippers sacrificed their children. The Israelites moving into the land of Canaan were expressly forbidden to worship Moloch (Lev. 18: 21). Anything that has great power and demands a terrible sacrifice can be described as a Moloch.

The reduction of the Premier League to 20 teams will help by easing the fixture list but certain dates should still be declared no-go areas for that insatiable Moloch, television.

The Guardian, 1994

Orwell In George Orwell's novel Nineteen Fighty-Four, the character referred to as Big Brother is a dictator whose portrait with the caption 'Big Brother is watching you' can be found everywhere. Orwell's own name can now be used to allude to the power and omnipresence of a dictatorial state. The related adjective is 'Orwellian'. • See also