"The Pinch of Poverty"

The major factors of poverty, in my opinion, are drugs and alcohol as well as other forms of substance abuse.. Substance abuse is the reason for many of the homeless today. This is because these substances make their consumers unable to make correct decision and properly think things through. Another major factor is that sometimes families are larger than the guardians can actually provide for. This is a really big issue because these families are less likely to have suffice amount of food and income in order to properly maintain themselves. Those of lower social class are also more likely to suffer the effects of poverty. This is because it is usually harder for them to get a job because they are less educated. Since they are not educated, they don't know proper work ethics that will help them get a job. Therefore, they are not provided with a high enough income suffice to help them maintain themselves. 


The "Pinch of Poverty" by Thomas Kennington portrays the concept of poverty. The way it does this is through the colors and color tones used by the artist. There is little to no bright colors, and the painting is full of dark colors (black, gray, brown). This kind of color scheme gives the viewer a gloomy feeling. However, there is a yellow color represented in the flowers that the girl is holding in her basket. This, I feel, has an impression of hope to the viewer as though poverty didn't have to be forever, that that gleam of hope truly existed. The message I think that the artist was trying to get through to the viewer is that although poverty may be hard, it doesn't mean that that's all that will be for one, that there is hope for those in poverty. This is also evident in expressions on the faces of the subjects. The mother and the son have a gloomy expression on their faces, while the young girl is looking ahead, holding her flowers with a sense of pride. She's standing aside from her mother and brother, as they seem depressed with a lost look in their faces, and the artist contrasts her hope to that of her family's.