Global Issue in "We Need New Names" & "Embarrassment of Riches"

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo is a novel that follows the journey of a young Zimbabwean girl, Darling, through her childhood in Zimbabwe and America after she emigrates there to live with her aunt in hopes of a better life and captures her experiences and struggles.

“Embarrassment of Riches” by George Monbiot is an essay that talks about  how the people who become rich are only because of the poor and how a lot of the environmental issues present in our current world is because of the actions of the rich. Monbiot raises some negative traits about people who are rich and mentions his thought on the idea that money brings happiness.

Field of Inquiry: Politics, Power & Justice

Broad Global Issue: Wealth gap

From “Embarrassment of Riches”:

“…Even when they mean well, the ultrarich cannot help trashing the living world.

The disastrous effects of spending power are compounded by the psychological impacts of being wealthy. Plenty of studies show that the richer you are, the less you are able to connect with other people. Wealth suppresses empathy. One paper reveals that drivers in expensive cars are less likely to stop for people using pedestrian crossings than drivers in cheap cars. Another revealed that rich people were less able than poorer people to feel compassion towards children with cancer. Though they are disproportionately responsible for our environmental crises, the rich will be hurt least and last by planetary disaster, while the poor are hurt first and worst. The richer people are, the research suggests, the less such knowledge is likely to trouble them.

Another issue is that wealth limits the perspectives of even the best-intentioned people.”

From “We Need New Names”:

Pg 265 and Pg 268-269

 

In WNNN, the pages mentioned above contain the interaction and conversations between Kate, Darling and Eliot. In these pages, Darling\’s poverty even after moving to America is seen and it also shows the contrast of her life and Eliot and Kate’s life. We see what seems to be Eliot’s wealth and how it seems to talk away his ability to feel for Darling (like Monbiot mentions the richer you are, the less you\’re able to connect with people) as he misses his drink cap and leaves it where it is for Darling to pick up. He also wants to go hunt in Africa and wants to learn Darling’s language (which shows Monbiot\’s point of the rich can\’t help but thrash the world for their own good). Darling also mentions how Eliot has been all over Africa but has only ever seen the animals and parks which also supports Monbiot’s ideas being presented about rich people not being able to connect with others. In addition to that, although Darling invalidates Kate\’s struggles thinking her struggles have been significantly worse, the readers also see that Kate doesn’t really sympathize with Darling either.

Refined Global Issue: the unnoticed impact of wealth gap on the rich and the poor