CSEC COMMUNICATION STUDIES IA

Poverty and its effects on children

Subject: Communication Studies

Name:

School:

Candidate #:
 Acknowledgement
The researcher would firstly grant gratitude to God for giving her the ability and

intelligence to complete this project. Additionally, appreciation is also given to her

parents for providing her with the resources for the completion. Lastly, she would also

give thanks to her teachers for their knowledge and assistance.

Introduction
The theme that I chose for this portfolio is focused on Poverty. I chose this topic because of the

penury and privation of citizens that is seen in my country. I believe that poverty is a parlous

condition that is not taken seriously worldwide, as people help in the circumstances, but they do

not do anything to change these situations. In accordance to Investopedia, poverty may be

defined as a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and

essentials to enjoy a minimum standard of life and well-being that's considered acceptable in

society. There are two types of poverty; absolute poverty and relative poverty. As previously

stated, I was inspired to write this topic due to the hardships that is seen in my country; as

people have no choice but to suffer every day of their lives. Men, women and children pass

away every day due to the increase in poverty, not only in Jamaica, but worldwide. Recently,

there has been destruction to the islands of the Caribbean due to hurricanes and earthquakes.

This has increased absolute poverty of individuals living in these islands as they are unable to

receive food nor shelter.

Reflection
The Walls Could Talk
I was disrupted from my lovely dream by the sounds of a young girl screaming. I already

knew what had happened; Ashley, my neighbour’s daughter, was running from the belt

from her mother again. Our houses were so near to each other that I could hear every

whip her mother made on her skin, much less her tears as they fell to the floor.

“Who don’t hear will feel!” Her mother screamed at her. At this point, I was already

peeping through the window.

“Mama, but ma never teef di money!” Ashley said.

“Ma know ya teef di money out ma drawer. What we gon’ eat now, Ashley?” She asked

rhetorically.

“We can ask di neighbours dem for food, mama.” Ashley suggested. We were her

neighbours that she suggested; my mother, my two brothers and I. Unfortunately, I had

gone to bed without supper as well. Our last loaf of bread was to be used before school

tomorrow, to at least get us through the day.

My brothers were seven and five years old; both younger than me as I was twelve years

old. I was old enough to understand the conditions in which we lived in. My mother was

a phenomenal music teacher at our school, but in the recession that we were in, she

only got paid $500 a month which all went to necessities. We were unable to afford

electricity anymore, so we had candles all over our home to provide us with some light.

My father was not around, as he had passed with Leukemia two years ago. For my

tenth birthday, he gave me a watch that was now cracked due to the rebellion of my

brothers. I struggled to decipher the time due to the dim light and cracked glass, but I

believed it was about ten o’clock in the night. I went into the living room where I saw my

mother sleeping on the couch with the radio on. I had not had any supper and I was
starving, so I went into the kitchen cupboards to see if there was even one piece of

cracker remaining. As I opened and closed the empty cupboards, I heard someone

behind me.

“Bianca,” I turned around to see my little brother.

“Yes, hon’?” I asked. “Why are you awake?”

“I hungry.” He said as he rubbed his stomach.

“I know, so am I.” I stated. I took off a small piece of the last loaf of bread that we had

left and I gave it to him. “Sssh. Okay?”

He nodded. “Thanks.”

Before he had even gotten the chance to finish swallowing his bread, we were disrupted

by a loud knock on our front door. It woke my mother out of her sleep as well. She had

not glanced at the kitchen, she just opened the door.

I heard her gasp loudly as she stepped back. “What are you doing?” She asked.

“I am sorry to have to do this to you, Shari.” A familiar voice said. “I need all the money

that you have.”

My mother stepped back further and glanced to the kitchen, “Run.” She said to us.

I took my brother’s hand and began to run to the rooms. I glanced back to see Ashley’s

father with a gun pointed at my mother. I ran to the room in which my brothers slept in

and before I knew it, I heard a gunshot. I locked the door and woke up my other brother.

He had already started to protrude through the door. Our rooms were connected

through a bathroom, so I used the candle and lit the curtains on fire. We all ran to the

bathroom and as the he got into my brother’s bedroom, we then locked the door with a

locked the bedroom and the bathroom with a key. I grabbed both of my brothers’ hands
and ran to the living room, where we met our mother covered in blood; not a sign of life

in her. I could hear our once kind neighbour scream for his life as he burned in the fire.

We ran outside and left our mother in the house, as she was already gone. My brothers

cried, but there was no time to weep, I pulled them outside and we watched our home

burn down. We now had no mother, no home, no money; we had nothing all due to the

fact that our neighbours were greedy.

Preface
The persona in the story is a young girl who happens to be living in destitution as her

mother is unable to provide for the household with the job that she has. The story

depicts that actions taken by individuals in order to provide for themselves due to

poverty. It also shows how people actually suffer and live every day of their lives.
The researcher wrote this story with three main objectives; Firstly, the purpose is to

educate individuals that indigence exists worldwide and that it needs to be fixed.

Secondly, is to portray the actualization of how poverty affects individuals in a country.

Lastly, this story may be eye-opening to readers, as it may educate them of the

hardships that people must go through every day just to survive.

The intended audience are individuals of all ages as they should be educated about the

privation that exists in the world. It should allow readers to be grateful for what they

have and that they should always give towards others that are deprived. They will also

be knowledgeable that they are never sure what a person is going through just to

survive, therefore, it is best not to be judgemental.

Analysis

The reflection, “Walls Could Talk” depicts the challenges and hardships experienced by

a young girl who lived in poverty. In the story, there are registers, dialectal variation,

attitudes to language and communicative behaviours seen. The two that will be

examined are language registers and dialect variation.

Dialect variation refers to changes in language due to various influences. These include,

social, geographic, individual and group factors. There are three categories in which
dialect variations take place; these are acrolect, mesolect and basilect. Acrolect is seen

where the armed neighbour spoke to the persona’s mother, “I am sorry to have to do

this to you, Shari as this was said in standard English. Furthermore, mesolect is

portrayed when Ashley’s mother asked Ashley, “what we gon’ eat now, Ashley?” as this

was said Standard English creole. On the other hand, basilect is shown when Ashley

and her mothered argued, “Mama, but ma never teef di money!”

Registers refer to specific lexical and grammatical choices as made by speakers

depending on the situational context, the participants of a conversation and the function

of the language in the discourse. Two types of registers which have been identified in

the reflective piece which are: Casual/Informal Registers and Intimate Registers.

Casual/Informal registers describe language is a broad term for speech or writing

marked by a casual, familiar, and generally colloquial use of language. An example

found in the reflection is: “We can ask di neighbours dem for food, mama.” Intimate

registers are used to describe language between persons who share a close

relationship. Examples of registers found in the reflection are: Intimate register was

found where the replied to her brother, “Yes, hon?”. This register is applicable because

she called her brother, ‘hon’, rather than calling him by his name, which depicts the

closeness of their relationship.