Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 1

Chapters 2-3

Chapters 4-5

Chapters 6-7

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Social Class Divide in America

The enduring theme throughout Heartland is the socioeconomic divide in America and how social order maintains this divide, often for financial reasons. Smarsh’s experience growing up as a member of the poor working class in the Midwest as well as her experience “escaping” this lifestyle give her a rare perspective on this divide.

Throughout the book she argues that being born poor in America almost always means staying poor, no matter how hard you work. She deftly debunks popular stereotypes, such as the idea that poverty is the result of laziness or ignorance. In fact, farmers and laborers are shown to work incredibly hard and must be clever, resourceful, and careful just to scrape by. Despite all of this, the odds are so very much stacked against people born into poor families that few ever escape.

Lack of opportunities in rural areas compounded with no financial means to seek out those opportunities means there is little movement across the divide. As a result, the wealthier classes have little to no idea what it means to live in poverty. Yet, these are the people enacting policies that directly affect the lives—and often survival—of people in the working class. The disconnect has only served to make the poor poorer still, and ensure that the children of the working class face more difficult futures than their parents.

On the other hand, Smarsh points out that the disadvantages to the impoverished that are inherent in the social system have not changed the fabled American Dream. The idea that hard work should lead to success is deeply ingrained in the working class, despite evidence to the contrary. As a result, most impoverished people are more inclined to blame themselves for their situation, as opposed to politics or society.

Perhaps worst of all is the fact that “class” in America as a whole is rarely acknowledged, and so little is done to attempt to fix its inherent inequality. The book serves as the author’s testament to her upbringing and her class. She aims to shine a light on this issue, to call it to the public attention in the hopes of a brighter future. She invalidates the argument that poor people are somehow inherently less deserving or less willing to work for their success. In the end, Smarsh concludes that the class divide is “a difference of experience, not of humanity.” (125).

Cyclical Poverty

A secondary theme in the book, which is related to the socioeconomic divide in the U.S., is the cyclical nature of poverty. Smarsh not only means to call attention to the class divide but to offer some kind of explanation for why this divide continues to exist. Her conclusion is that the structure of the economy and society disproportionately disadvantages the impoverished such that it is extremely unlikely that a person born into poverty will ever be able to permanently escape it.

The social and economic difficulties of early pregnancy, lack of exposure to opportunities due to wealth or geography, and the physical toll hard labor with no healthcare takes on a body are just some of the reasons Smarsh gives for why the cycle of poverty is so hard to break. The stories she tells about her own family working difficult, dangerous jobs only to encounter roadblocks and, in at least one case, near death due to employer negligence show how hard work simply isn’t enough.

Smarsh pays special attention to the plight of women in poverty, as they are often the most maligned and misrepresented group. Prior to Smarsh herself, the women in her family got pregnant young, just like their mothers, and struggled to care for children without resources or good help. This struggle defines their lives, usually makes them resentful, and influences the lives of their children who are apt to repeat the cycle. After all, “economic power is social power. In the end, for all her hard work and tenacity, the poor woman lacks both” (225). In fact, Smarsh’s own ability to avoid pregnancy significantly contributes to her ability to break the cycle of poverty. The fact that she must give up motherhood—or at least delay it—in order to do more than simply survive is staggering. This is why she concludes near the end of the narrative that “this country has failed its children, August, failed its own claims about democracy and humanity” (288).

Shame

Shame is a theme throughout the book; it is both the result of the experience of poverty in modern America and one of the causes of its cyclical nature.

First, the very foundation of the country, the American Dream, equates poverty with failure. The resulting implication is that poverty is something to be blamed on the individual and is something of which the individual should be ashamed. This is a damning system all things being equal, but the fact that the economy is structured to keep the poor in poverty means that being born poor is tantamount to being born into shame.

Second, many laws and public systems are designed to shame those in need of help. For example, welfare is so stigmatized that many who need this assistance do not apply for it at all. This results in cost savings for the government, which is a profit for the wealthy classes. Plus, it only serves to deepen the same and humiliation felt by the needy.

Lastly and most tragically, Smarsh explains how this shame is not only outward, but has been internalized by many people in the working class. They have accepted, in many cases, that they will not be able to better their lives and yet are ashamed of those lives, as if working harder than they already do would somehow have allowed them to thrive.

This toxic cycle has endured for generations, as attested to by Smarsh and her family. Ultimately, Smarsh’s argument is that there can be no material change to the class system in America without the removal of the shame and stigma from those simply born with fewer opportunities. Although she herself seems to fit the “American narrative of a poor kid working hard, doing the right thing, and finding success,” she is careful to point out the advantages she had and all that it cost her to do the near-impossible (166).