Poverty

Poverty is shown to impact all aspects of Zoey’s life and creates many barriers for her that she must overcome in order to achieve happiness. Zoey is a seventh grader, but poverty prevents her from being like the other kids in her school whose only concerns are crushes, homework assignments, and school dances. Instead, Zoey must help her mother be a caretaker for the family.

Poverty is generational, and Zoey grows up just as poor as her own mother did, which makes her feel as if there is no escaping the confines of poverty. Zoey’s mother was so poor as a child that she could not afford dental care, and she ended up having to have five of her teeth removed because they were rotting and infected beyond the point of repair. Zoey’s mother has four children by three different men, and two...