The isolated Appalachia community faces a myriad of problems spanning from hopelessness, poverty, depression as well as alcoholism. Most of the issues facing the Kentucky community are social in nature while some of the atrocities facing the same society are inflicted by individuals themselves. Abject poverty is a problem that trickles down the Appalachia community from one generation to the other leading to other social problems such as lawlessness, drug and substance abuse as well as depression ( Sawyer, 2009). In the very same society, individuals’ resort to alcohol and drug abuse owing to personal problems related to depression and thievery.
In Appalachia, social problems such as poverty and lawlessness have made society need to deal with individual problems such as depression and drug abuse. Cortney and Mary narrate how the behavior of their mother had affected their lives. Cortney explains that they lacked money to feed themselves and that makes her mother engage in alcohol abuse. The family cannot afford $523 that then need to spend monthly on food ( Sawyer, 2009). Angel, a thirty-year-old mother of the two drugs, explains her reasons for drug abuse as being depressed for not being able to feed their families. Joblessness in Appalachia is attributed to lack of industrialization in the hilly community.
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The success or failure of a human being is pinned on individual factors such as hard work and resilience even in the wake of social problems such as poverty ( Boden & Fergusson, 2011). Shawn Gram an American football player and senior student proves that the success of a person depends on their hard work and persistence even in a neighborhood filled with thievery, alcoholism, and lawlessness ( Sawyer, 2009). Shawn has to live in his truck and fend for himself as a student since his parents are poor and therefore not able to cater for their family. In spite of all the challenges he lives with, he beats all odds to become the best football player in Appalachia owing to his personal attribute of hard work, resilience and being focused ( Sawyer, 2009). Shawn’s story is a vivid revelation that the success of a person depends on personal factors than social factors such as poverty.
However, there is an extent to which social factors such as poverty dictates the success of people and their siblings. In an event that poverty and alcoholism lead to the inability to access quality education or start income generating activities the success of the individual as well as their dependents would be jeopardized ( Halleröd & Larsson, 2008). Cortney and Mary recall how their mother Angel used to disappear for some days when she was under the influence of drugs such that they could not go to school. In such a scenario, it becomes definite that social problems such as drug and substance abuse directly affect their lives of the dependents such as children which in turn may contribute to their failure in life ( Halleröd & Larsson, 2008). In the Appalachia community, Shawn Gram is an example of how social factors such as poverty and alcoholism dictate the kind of life one lives and consequently their success in life. Shawn’s siblings do not go to school owing to the poverty in their home and are thus destined in the same path as their parents.
References
Boden, J. M., & Fergusson, D. M. (2011). Alcohol and depression. Addiction , 106 (5), 906-914.
Halleröd, B., & Larsson, D. (2008). Poverty, welfare problems and social exclusion. International Journal of Social Welfare , 17 (1), 15-25.
Sawyer, D. (2009). A hidden America: Children of the mountains. Special edition of , 20 , 20.
