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

As the title suggests, Smarsh uses this chapter to explore the American idea that poverty is shameful. Society usually views being poor as a personal failure, because the American Dream assumes that anyone can succeed through hard work. Failure to succeed—poverty—must therefore be the result of a personal failing. Smarsh also points out that being poor and white is seen as a worse kind of failure, since white people have certain racial advantages. As a result, wealthy whites tend to hate poor whites as if their failures reflect badly on the entire race. Thus, poor whites are more or less invisible in popular culture.

This invalidation presents as internalized shame such that poor whites often refuse to apply for welfare and hate the idea of “handouts” more than anyone. They feel more ashamed of accepting help than of needing it. In many ways, society has monetized this shame—imposing restrictions on welfare assistance that favor banks, for example. The justification for these costly restrictions is the perception that the poor make worse decisions than the wealthy. However, the reality is that “the poor just have less room for their errors, which will be laid bare in public for need of help” (130).

Still, society’s view that welfare is shameful has been internalized. Betty once admitted to being on welfare for a few weeks but was incredibly ashamed of that fact. Smarsh points out that the perception that people in welfare programs are lazy is untrue, citing the fact that she and her brother benefited from assistance programs at school even though their mother worked extremely hard. 

On a personal level, Smarsh recalls understanding that her existence was resented—both by her mother, whose teenage pregnancy caused many of her life’s difficulties, and by society in general. She was often told how much worse her mother’s childhood had been, just as society is quick to point out how much more difficult the lives of previous generations were. The implication is that one should be grateful, since it could be worse. However, Smarsh also understood, even as a young girl, that she was not worth less for being born poor in Kansas. In fact, “class, like race and all the other ways we divide ourselves up to make life miserable, is what I’d later learn is a ‘social construct.’ That’s what my family calls bullshit” (136).

Due to the fact that the poor stand to lose more for any error or mistake, there is a heightened awareness in the low-income community of the financial cost of mistakes. For example, a speeding ticket might not cost much for many people but could spell financial ruin for someone living paycheck to paycheck. This awareness results in a mindset that is focused on failures and the dangers of failure, rather than on achievements. For example, Smarsh is shocked on one occasion that Arnie calls her smart; acknowledging achievement is simply not done.

In another example, Smarsh is moved into the gifted program at her school, but when she tells other people about this success, she is scolded by Betty and told not to brag. While failure in the impoverished community is shamed, so is achievement because it sets a person above their peers. As Smarsh explained in a previous chapter, there is a distrust in the poor community of anyone with more power or opportunities than they have.

Smarsh recounts memories of going with her grandma Betty to her job at the courthouse where she counselled people on probation. Betty’s hard life makes her ideally suited for this job because she herself is a survivor. She has faced down bullies and abusers, found ways to care for her children, and kept herself safe—all within a system and society that is more or less stacked against her. So, the “tough love” approach she takes with her charges is calibrated to help them survive within the law and the same system she navigates.

Smarsh witnesses something similar with her father and Chris, the woman he married after he divorced Jeannie. Nick was always a kind man, but Smarsh sees the pressures of his life, including his poisoning by his employer, cause extreme stress as he continues to work hard and continues to struggle. Similarly, though Chris cares for her father, Smarsh sees her struggle through drug addiction; even as she overcomes her addiction and helps others through theirs, her friends and society in general see her past as a personal failure of will. 

Additionally, Smarsh struggles with her own issues related to the contradictory perception of poverty and shame. She developed a shoplifting habit as a girl, which she knew objectively was wrong; however, she also felt that the money system that prevented her from buying her coveted baseball cards was wrong, too. She was brought up to believe that the world owed her nothing, which she understood, “but it also seemed the world wouldn’t give me anything that I didn’t reach out and grab for myself. To do so, though, was both a mark of moral failure and something that could ruin my life, if I got caught” (157).

To emphasize how clearly impoverished communities, internalize shame and place the blame for their situation on themselves, Smarsh tells the story of winning a speech contest at her school. The subject was the War on Drugs, and her speech was entirely about how avoiding addiction was a personal responsibility for everyone. Although her family’s lives were evidence that personal responsibility is only half the story, they were all extremely proud that she won.

Finally, Smarsh acknowledges that her own success in life seems to support the “American narrative of a poor kid working hard, doing the right thing, and finding success” (166). However, she points out that much of her success is due to blessings in her life, like her kind father and Teresa’s encouragement. Additionally, she explains that her invention of August helps her make decisions, as she asks herself what she would want for her daughter.